Pity that it was killing me at the same time.
I tried to scream, but was too busy enjoying the taste of my own blood.
The pain from the feedback increased ever more, like a thousand angry hobos had invaded my body and set trash fires in all of my organs, but still, I held on.
It felt as if my blood was heating up to the boiling point, cauterizing me from the inside out. I couldn’t take much more. A few more seconds and...
I felt a hand take hold of mine.
It was Christy’s. I looked up and found her eyes open and her smiling at me. Hopefully, it wasn’t because I was about to become the punchline of some great cosmic joke.
She gently pulled my other arm from around her shoulders, all while keeping my claws in place upon her stomach. She took hold of my now free hand, steadied it, and folded the fingers until only my index and middle fingers were still pointed. Even if I had wanted to stop her, there wasn’t anything I could do with my nerve endings on fire. I had to trust she knew what she was doing.
She pointed that hand down toward where I thought the floor was and then closed her eyes again.
After a moment, a brilliant blue light suffused her, then spread until it covered me as well. I had no idea what she was doing or how that would help us, but then a torrent of white-hot energy shot out from my hand toward the floor.
I opened my mouth to cry out, partially in pain, but mostly because it was fucking cool to watch. Pity I hadn’t been in control of my own faculties because I’d have definitely shouted out, “Kamehameha!”
Oh well, at least I thought it.
As the brilliant energy hit the blackness of the orb around us, the two began to cancel each other out. Where before there was nothing but the void, I could now see the rocky earth beneath us.
Better yet, I began to regain control of my body as the excess power was siphoned out.
The hole in the void beneath us opened wider, almost a third of the diameter of the sphere and then Christy threw both her arms around me. Before I could question why, gravity took hold and we fell out to the floor, me landing first with her atop. Guess that explained it.
Oh well, I couldn’t begrudge the poor girl a softish landing after what she’d been through.
Once we were outside, the rest of the spell collapsed and the black sphere above us winked out of existence, leaving no trace it had been there at all.
“Thank you,” Christy whispered. Sweat stood out on her brow and she looked beat to all hell, but she was alive. Now to keep her that way.
“Rest for a few. We’ll...”
“No time.” She pointed over my shoulder.
I probably should’ve guessed we weren’t alone. I turned to find a column of Jahabich advancing upon us. With the sphere of baby annihilation gone, they no longer had any reason to keep their distance. Fine by me. If they wanted some more, then I was happy to serve it up for them with a side of hurt.
“Come on!” I balled my hands into fists and raised them up ... then, just as quickly, wished I hadn’t. Gone were the mounds of muscle and the extra-long claws. I looked down and saw no sign of those awesome pecs Kelly had been admiring.
In short, I was me again.
Yeah, this could be a bit problematic.
The VIP Room
The diabolical brilliance of Calibra’s trap wasn’t lost upon me. It had sapped my power just as surely as it had been draining Christy’s. I had a feeling it would have done so to anyone – mage, vampire, or other – who tried to rescue her. In order to stop the sphere, one had to be inside it. But if one was inside it, one got juiced like an orange.
Not helping matters was the exhilaration of having saved Christy. An odd thought to have, perhaps, but right then a little unrestrained rage would have gone a long way.
“Stay behind me.” Even powered down, I was still a vampire. With any luck, I could bust a few heads before they shit-stomped me into paste. There was no way I would ever claim to be a brave man, but I valued my friends and was just a wee bit too stupid to know when to quit.
Sometimes that was enough.
And sometimes it wasn’t even necessary.
Something shoved me back and flashed past at incredible speed. When I looked up again, the faces of three of the Jahabich had been erased, gouged out by the claws of a rather smallish hand.
“Never thought I’d be glad to see her,” Christy said wearily from behind me.
“Perhaps one day I will be able to say the same of you, witch,” Gan replied, stopping just long enough to put her fist through another Jahabich’s chest.
She cocked her head, then quickly sidestepped as a lance of red power cut through two more of the monsters. As they went down, I saw Kelly and Veronica standing behind them and looking eager for a scrap.
“The cavalry has arrived!” Kelly gleefully announced.
Indeed it had. I took a moment to catch my breath and look around. It seemed that our newly released friends had been busy while I’d been practicing my zero-g maneuvers. The place had fallen into chaos. Scores of dead Jahabich stood fused to the ground where they’d been blasted. Even more lay in dismembered piles of rubble. They still had the numbers advantage, but my friends were doing a hell of a job playing catch-up. Never discount payback as a good motivator.
“Bill!”
I turned toward the sound of Sally’s voice calling from elsewhere in the cavern, although I couldn’t see where from my vantage point.
“It would appear your whore is summoning you.” Gan’s tone was conversational. Hell, she wasn’t even breathing hard. Little show off. “I reiterate, you should consider having her whipped for insolence.”
“Here in the states, we call that foreplay,” I replied. “I hate to ask, but...”
“No harm will come to the witch until such time as you wish it, my love.”
That was probably as good as I was going to get from her, which wasn’t all that comforting, actually. Christy’s sisters were in close proximity, though. I doubted they’d let anything happen to her even if Gan’s attention wavered.
I took off toward the direction Sally’s voice had come.
“My love,” Gan called after me, “perhaps now would be an ideal time for you to use...”
“Hold that thought,” I yelled over my shoulder. “I’ll be back.”
At least I hoped I would.
♦ ♦ ♦
I won’t lie. I really missed my buff form. He – err, I – was badass. Not to mention, I’d finally gotten my wish from my early days as a vamp. I’d finally become sexy.
Oh well, there was no use crying over spilled biceps. I was lucky to still be upright after the job Calibra’s power-sucking sphere had done on me. My healing was finally catching up, but my tank was starting to run dry. At the very least, the idiot light was on.
Thankfully, the Jahabich in the room had rightly concluded that Gan and the witches were the bigger threat right then and let me through. I still had to dodge and weave past them, but, oddly enough, it was much easier to fight when your strategy was to run away.
“Any year now!”
And yet I was actually running toward her voice.
Most of the Jahabich had broken formation once the shit hit the fan, but at least one group had remained as they were – standing together, forming the walls of a prison cell, inside of which I could see several figures.
There! Sally was standing right outside. There were a few dead Jahabich at her feet, but the ones currently playing living dollhouse seemed to be ignoring her.
I skidded to a halt by her side, just about out of breath.
“Took your sweet time.”
I flipped her the bird. “One for you and one for the high horse you rode in on.”
Rather than sock me one, she gave me the once-over. “Back to yourself, I see.”
“Yep. Saving Christy left me a bit deflated.”
“Pity. I have a thing for guys who are ...
well, the opposite of you. Christy okay?”
“Not sure on that point, but she’s alive.” I looked around. “Dave?”
“Over in the corner nursing a broken face. Physician, heal thyself.”
I gave her a single nod. Good enough. “So what’s up?”
“Follow me and see for yourself.” With that, she leapt over the heads of the Jahabich standing guard. “I’d hurry if I were you,” she warned once inside.
Story of my life. I followed, although it took more effort than I’d have preferred.
As I was airborne, though, I saw the Jahabich beginning to stir. That’s why she wanted me to move it. There was no way to perform a jailbreak without setting off the alarm.
And a jailbreak was apparently what she had in mind.
Several vampires sat inside, unmoving.
I landed and looked around, noting the glazed expressions. Compelled. That made sense. Now why were we...?
That’s when I saw Sally and, more importantly, the person she was standing over – James.
“Help me with him.”
She didn’t need to ask twice.
♦ ♦ ♦
“This must be the VIP wing,” she said. “Here, let’s get him up.”
I got an arm under James and dragged him to his feet. He stood on his own, but that was it. All around us, orange eyes turned our way. Time was short.
“How do we wake him up?”
“We can’t compel him awake,” she said, glancing my way. “Especially not now. So, let’s try the old-fashioned way.”
She slapped him across the face, hard enough so that it echoed in the cave. Had he been mortal, she’d have both cleaned and broken his clock. As if was, his head barely turned to the side from the impact. Unfortunately, that was it. He didn’t wake up. Fuck! That usually worked to snap vamps out of neutral compulsions, but we’d never tried it on someone as powerful as James. I had a feeling a punch to the face wasn’t going to get through to him.
No, not to the face...
“Buy me a minute,” I said as the Jahabich closed in on us.
“Isn’t it the guy who’s supposed to be protecting the girl? Never mind. Forgot who I was talking to for a moment.” With no further hesitation or snark, she threw herself at our enemies. “Make it count.”
I intended to, grabbing hold of James and sinking my teeth into his neck. There was only time for a quick sip, but that’s all I needed.
His power became mine the instant I swallowed. Then, before I could talk myself out of what was surely a suicidal move, I brought my knee up into his crotch.
♦ ♦ ♦
My logic was simple. A slap to the face was a good way to get someone’s attention, but there was simply no better method to ensure you had a guy’s full focus than smashing the shit out of his nuts.
James grabbed hold of his crushed junk and sank to his knees with a whoop of pain.
“Did you just kick a member of the Draculas in the balls?” Sally asked, momentarily diverting her attention from the Jahabich.
“Not my first choice among their group, but yeah.” Now to hope it worked.
There was no time to wait and find out, though. The Jahabich swarmed us, clubs swinging. Thankfully, I had a shitload more power than I did a minute earlier.
I put my back to Sally’s. “Mind if I have this dance?”
“Takes two to tango.”
I readied myself to kick some ass, but before that could happen, a pair of Jahabich in front of me were tossed to the side, revealing a sight for sore eyes.
“Perhaps we should consider something more suited to a threesome,” James said, dusting himself off. “The Electric Slide or even the Macarena. I always did favor that one. Never understood why it went out of style.”
The More the Merrier
His shitty taste in dance crazes aside, James helped turn the tide, telling us to wake up the other vampires in a similar fashion while he tore through the ranks of the Jahabich surrounding us.
Management-sanctioned kicks to the balls. That was a first. I tried not to enjoy myself too much. Sally didn’t even bother hiding her glee as she cracked some nuts.
I’d been right. This was where Calibra kept the prisoners she either deemed important, dangerous, or just really didn’t like all that much. James was the only Drac in the bunch, but there were some other heavy hitters in here. Judging by what Calibra had said earlier, I had little doubt these guys were meant to be the front line in her new army of UV-resistant vamps.
Thankfully, they directed whatever anger they felt at their rude awakening toward their jailers. This was one area where Calibra and Alexander were alike. They both seemed to have forgotten vamps under compulsion might be loyal, but only because they had no choice in the matter. Turn that off, though, and you’d have nothing left except some royally pissed off vampires.
Vehron might’ve been a tool, but at least he’d seemed a true believer to her original teachings about freedom. I briefly wondered if, had he lived – and not killed my ass – whether he’d have fallen in line with her new way of thinking.
Maybe one day I’d pick up a Ouija board and ask him. For now, I helped in mopping up the rest of the Jahabich down here.
Once that was finished, James and Gan directed the other vamps to blockade the door with the bodies of our foes. It was the only way in here, or out, for that matter. We’d have to use it eventually, but all of us needed a few minutes to get our bearings before continuing on. There was also the fact that Calibra could simply ensnare most of this group again the moment she saw them.
While they worked on that, I returned to the far end of the cavern to check on Christy. Sally was already there with her, as were Kelly and Veronica.
Christy, for her part, looked like shit, but she smiled when she saw me approaching.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“We’re just finishing patching her up,” Veronica said.
“Go figure,” Kelly added, “magic works a bit better than iodine and Band Aids. She’s still pretty banged up, though.”
“At least that answers one question,” Christy said weakly.
“About what?”
“About my baby.” She put her hands on her stomach. “I’d been wondering if it was going to be a...”
“She,” I said.
“Excuse me?”
“She. Back when your stomach was glowing, I kinda got a pretty good look. Didn’t see any ... y’know ... between her legs.”
“Can’t help scoping out the dicks, eh?” Sally asked.
Before I could reply, Kelly smacked me upside the head. “Spoilers, asshole!”
“What?”
“I was really hoping to wait until ... she was born to find out,” Christy replied, a tinge of annoyance in her voice, “but it’s okay. Will make it easier to finish her room. Hah. Two big revelations in one day. We’re having a little girl, and she’s going to be a witch.”
“Hold on,” I said. “That was in question?”
“It’s no better than a fifty-fifty shot where a Magi and a human are concerned,” Kelly replied. “Not much different than being born with blue eyes or brown.”
“So how do you know for sure?”
“That bitch,” Christy growled, a crackle of red energy passing before her eyes. “She created a feedback loop, channeling my power into my baby. Said she would teach me respect through pain of loss. If it ... sorry, she’d been human, there was no way she could’ve survived.”
Sally knelt and took Christy’s hand. “She did, though. That’s the important part.”
Christy flashed her a look of gratitude.
Kelly stepped to her other side. “If she could handle all that and more, then she’s gonna be a real corker. Might need to bind her before she burns down her crib.”
The witches shared a laugh at that. Guess it was an inside mage joke or something. Speaking of witches, though... “Aren’t we missin
g someone?”
“Oh yeah, that mouthy brunette,” Sally said. “I kinda like her.”
“Meg,” Veronica replied. “We don’t know.”
“What happened?” Christy asked.
Kelly threw her hands up in frustration. “You know Meg. She just couldn’t zip it. Needless to say, Kala wasn’t too pleased.”
“Did she ... hurt her?” I asked.
“Like I said, we don’t know. Kala had her taken away. Said she needed to be taught the meaning of respect.”
“Respect?”
“Yep. Said she was unworthy of her power and needed to be taught to respect her mother or some crap like that.”
“Shit!”
“What is it?” Christy asked me.
“Calibra gave us a bit of a history lesson when we got here. Long story short, she seemed hung up on the whole motherhood thing, especially when it came to some of her kiddies.”
“Goddamn it!” Sally said. “The Source. She’s going to turn Meg into a Jahabich.”
Kelly stood up. “We need to get moving, then.”
I stepped in front of her and held up a hand. “Not so fast.”
“What do you mean? Get out of the...”
“What I mean is that we’re fucked if we go marching out that door all half-assed. I probably don’t need to remind anyone that Calibra is pretty much all powerful down here. Not to mention she has an army of both Jahabich and Magi.”
Veronica stepped up. “We’re not alone, though. We can...”
“I am afraid I must concur with the Freewill on this.”
I turned to find James and Gan heading our way, while the other vamps continued to work at the far end of the cave.
It embarrasses me to say this,” James continued, “but Calibra ... Ib...” There was a note of disgust in his voice as he said her chosen name. “Her powers of compulsion are like nothing I have ever seen before.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “As formidable a force as these fine fellows might be, they ... we would be helpless before her. You, too, my dear Sally. Only the Freewill has the power to resist her call.”
The Tome of Bill Series: Books 5-8 (Goddamned Freaky Monsters, Half A Prayer, The Wicked Dead, The Last Coven) Page 171