As he continued on with his target practice, he kept a steady eye on his watch, and when he realized it was a few minutes till show time, he put the guns away and staged everything at the edge of the roof, in case he needed to make a quick getaway.
After a final check of his equipment, he made it back to his lookout spot and closely eyed his watch as it ticked away the seconds. At the one minute mark, he put on a pair of safety goggles and a breathing filter. He then counted down in his head the final seconds:
Three
Two
One….
Chapter 43
Kane was hard asleep when a knock on his chamber door awakened him. He lifted his head and found the time was still only three o’clock in the afternoon. He begrudgingly made his way across the room to find out who was interrupting his rest.
The room was pitch black, but to Kane’s eyes, it posed no problem for him to find the door. “What is it?”
“Sir, there’s a problem you will want to be made aware of,” a voice answered.
Kane had a feeling he knew what the problem was, but he figured it would’ve been a little later before anybody else would have been aware also. He finished the trek to the door and prepared himself for the charade he was going to have to play, not knowing who else could be on the other side of the door. “What could be so important that you would be willing to interrupt my sleep?”
“Sir, it’s Rowland. We think we may have a problem. We think someone, uh, has attacked him,” the voice answered in an unsure manner of how to say it.
“What the hell are you talking about? Is it safe to come out?”
“Yes, sir, the room is secured.”
Kane slowly opened the door, anyway, just in case, but found the room completely darkened. As he opened the door all the way, he saw four security men standing in his office. “Okay, you have my attention. What are you rambling about?”
“One of the cleaning staff went into Rowland’s apartment to restock the bar and reported something strange on the floor,” the tall, older man reported. “They called us, and we found what looked like his body on the floor, but we’re not sure if it’s him or not. He looked almost petrified or something. We then checked his sleeping chamber, and he wasn’t there. We figured you would immediately want to know.”
“I would have you take me to him right away. Is there a safe path for me to travel there?”
“Yes, sir. We’ve covered every window between here and there,” the man answered as he started to head out the door.
“I will be there momentarily; I have a few things to do first. Go ahead and summon Benedictus and Heng. They’re on the floor below his. Tell them I sent for them, but nothing else.” Kane turned and headed back into his room. He grabbed one of his long black robes and put it on, just in case he needed it for protection from the deadly sunlight he might encounter. Then, before he turned to leave, he paused for a second and prepared himself for the big day ahead. It had been over six hundred years since one of his brothers had been lost, and he knew some of the Council would take it harder than others, while the rest would be out for revenge. Those were the ones he would have an easier time manipulating, allowing him to lay the blame elsewhere for the crime.
His mind raced at all the planning he had done to pull this off and how, with Rowland out of the way, he would finally be able to achieve his plans, plans that even Rowland, as much as he thought he knew, hadn’t any knowledge of. He took a long look around the bland decorum surrounding him and sighed, knowing it would be a little while longer before he could finally leave this place and head back home to where he belonged. He figured he had stalled long enough, and Heng and Benedictus should soon be arriving, so he turned and made his way out through his office to start the show.
As the doors to the elevator opened, he heard Heng weeping loudly, telling him that he’d timed everything perfectly. As the doors fully opened, he started to run toward the sound of his grieving brother. He found Benedictus pushing the security men out of the room as he entered. “What has happened here?” he asked, with Benedictus trying to act as surprised as possible.
Benedictus shoved the men out into the hallway and shut the door, locking it as he did. He turned to face the newly arrived Kane. “Prepare yourself, my friend. We have lost Rowland this day.”
Kane slowly approached the remains of Rowland, pushing past the grieving Heng to do so. He glared at the mostly petrified remains before turning to face his brothers. “Who could have done this to him? He was the strongest of us all.”
“That’s something we will have to find out,” Benedictus said. “But the better question is who here would’ve known what he was and how to kill him? This puts us all at risk.”
“I have a suspicion of who it could be. President Miller disappeared last night. I had my men looking for him, but Rowland called off the search. I’m now wondering if the two are somehow linked.” Kane moved towards Heng to comfort his more emotional brother.
“That doesn’t make sense, though,” Benedictus said to Kane. “How could a man like Miller have any way of manipulating Rowland to call off the search? And besides, your head of security said you were one of the last to see Rowland last night, right after he had them call off the search.”
“When did you see Michael?” Kane asked.
“He was the one that awakened me to come here. He said you visited Rowland last night just before dawn, and left shortly after arriving.”
“Yes, I saw him to get an answer for why he had called off the search, and after getting a reasonable response, I returned to my quarters to rest. Are you suggesting I might have had something to do with this?” Kane took a more aggressive stance facing Benedictus.
“By no means, brother. I was merely hoping you having seen him last might yield some clue as to what might have happened.”
“Sorry, the moment has caused me to be more emotional than I’m comfortable with. It has been a long time since we have lost one of our own, and I am clearly not in control of my emotions as I normally am.” Kane returned to look at the body of the fallen. “We need to summon the rest of the Council together to tell them of what has happened, and to make sure that all precautions are taken to keep it from happening again. Miller must also be found to answer some questions as to how he might have played a role in this.”
“I will gather our brothers together and all the consorts. However, Donovan and his own left late last night, so we need to send word for them to return at once. I will have my personal guards take up the lead in searching for Miller. I would like to personally ask him some questions.” Benedictus walked up next to Kane in examining Rowland’s body. “He and I were never as close as the two of you, but he was the first to greet me when I was introduced into our new lives so many years ago. In fact, he was the one that showed me that we didn’t have to be as barbaric as our fathers, and even convinced me to rise against them. He will surely be missed.”
“He will be missed, but also he will be avenged,” Heng chimed in from behind. “I want Miller’s head on a stake by the next rising of the sun. The fact we have lost two of our own in such a short amount of time tells me we need to make a statement that we’re not to be trifled with.”
“Rowland would agree,” Kane stated. “I think the time is upon us to do a culling of the herd, and strike fear into the population, showing them we are their superiors.”
“I would suggest a little bit of patience here until we know better what we’re up against,” the always-calmer Benedictus said. “We are still vastly outnumbered and have no idea of how widespread our opposition is, or if this was just a chance occurrence.”
“We will let the Council decide our next action, my brother, but I for one am going to push for the harsher course of action,” Heng stated as he put his arm around Kane’s shoulder and started to walk them both out of the room. “We’re going to go to my room and have a drink for the fallen. Would you please join us for the tribute, brother?”
“I
will be right behind you,” Benedictus answered. “I would like a moment alone with Rowland.”
“We will see you shortly then,” Kane answered as he left the room in Heng’s clutches.
Benedictus kneeled to look at Rowland’s body, and was just about to get up when he noticed the severed head lying next to the statuesque body. He picked up the head and looked at the incision, making note of how perfectly smooth the cut was, indicating it had been done with a single slice. “Interesting,” he said as he gently placed the head down and walked away to grieve with his brothers.
Chapter 44
Hope could hear the footsteps coming back down the hallway before they stopped just outside the large steel door. She readied herself by taking a deep breath and playing out every possible scenario in her head at how it could go down when they finally came through.
She knew from some of Hunter and Morgan’s talk that Benjy and his people were very strong and fast.
She didn’t remember much about her encounter with the one she had killed back at Camp H on that dreadful night, but she remembered enough. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they at least had a fighting chance. Then she heard a voice call out from the other side of the door.
“This is your last chance,” said Antony. “We know you’ve had time to prepare, but know this, your bullets will do nothing but piss us off. If you lay down your weapons, we will kill you fast. However, for every bullet that hits us, we will extend your suffering by five minutes. Keep that in mind. I will give you a few seconds to open this door.” Antony looked over, grinning at his fellow consort.
“You know they won’t,” Wylan said. “Why must you play with them?”
“You have known me for so long and haven’t figured out that I like to play with my food a little for a reason. Getting them scared does something to them; their blood tastes so much better when they are full of adrenaline.”
Wylan was just about to comment when they got a shot fired through the door, hitting him squarely in the chest. He looked down at the bullet as if it were but a mosquito bite. “Well, we have our answer. Shall we go now, brother?” He changed his appearance to his vampire form before he turned his attention to the door.
Hunter put the rifle he’d just fired back down and picked up the salt-filled one to his side and got ready for the impending attack. He didn’t have to wait long as the door was almost knocked off its hinges by the first blow against it. A second quickly followed, and he saw their attackers run into the room as the door swung wide open.
Hope’s barrier did its trick as the first vampire slammed into the unexpected desk just past the door, slowing down his approach. Wylan quickly shoved the desk out of the way and started his advance again, but stumbled on a mop bucket he didn’t see at his feet, causing him to fall and slide deep into the darkened room. As he stopped sliding, he looked over and found he had come to rest within a few feet of one of the room’s defenders.
Morgan leveled her rifle towards the vampire on the floor in front of her and fired. The bullet rocketed out of the barrel, taking the salt with it. Her aim was dead on, as she hit her target just below the neck. She watched through the eerie green glow of the night vision goggles as the intruder at first paid no attention to the impact, until his exposed skin started to sizzle around the wound, and he started to writhe in pain on the ground, and scream and scream and scream as the salt did its trick.
Hope watched in the glow of Hunter’s flashlight trained on the door as the second vampire launched into the room. The path had already been cleared by his partner, so he had almost nothing in his way as he leapt through the air to cover the fifteen feet Hope had placed between her and the door. As he flew at her, she noticed his face was slightly disfigured, which was not at all what she was expecting after being around Benjy so much. His eyes were a little bigger, and slanted almost, creating a V-shape, and his forehead was wrinkled and layered, giving him a much older appearance, and it was showing its enlarged and sharp-fanged teeth. None of this, though, distracted her as she stood up and fired into him with the salt-laced weapon.
Hunter watched as Hope stood and fired into the second vampire, but then lost sight of them as he collided with her, taking them both to the ground. He was about to make the decision to run to help her, but, instead, turned to help Morgan with her assailant, knowing that Hope had a better chance of handling herself than Morgan. He ran over to the writhing creature on the ground in front of Morgan and shot it again, enthusiastically adding to its agony.
Morgan looked at Hunter as if she had no idea of what to do next. Hunter continued to fire until he had emptied his entire clip into the vampire, and then he did the only thing he could think of at the moment, and that was to reload and do it again. As he was putting a new clip into the gun, the creature stood and started to thrash about wildly, trying to hit anything within its reach. Hunter stood a little too close and his gun was struck by the flailing arms and sent flying across the room. Seeing this, Morgan finally snapped out of her shock and stood up from her cover to help out.
Hope tumbled to the ground with the vampire on top of her. She could see the bullet wound in its shoulder from her shot, but it was paying no attention to the injury. Instead, it was grabbing at her with long distorted fingers trying to get a hold of her neck. She blocked attack after attack as they rolled across the floor. They continued their almost choreographed assault on each other as they countered each other’s grabs until finally they slammed into the wall at the rear of the room. Hope used the wall against her back as leverage to finally shove the vampire off of her, but before she could get back to her feet, it pounced right back on top of her to continue its attack. She was pinned to the wall, but was able to hold the attacker at arm’s length, keeping its snapping teeth away from her face.
Antony was so very shocked at the strength of his victim, that he finally spoke in the midst of their struggle. “No human is this strong. What the hell are you?”
“I don’t know,” Hope said before she took advantage of the vampire’s slight pause in his attack to speak, by again shoving him away from her. But this time, she aimed her throw and tossed him into a shelving unit full of chemicals, hoping something there would hurt it. Her plan worked as something in one of the jugs burst, splashing onto him, and washing the salt that was sprinkled around the entry point of her bullet into it, and he let out a scream as the wound started to burn.
Morgan was about to approach her target when she saw something out of the corner of her eye in the goggles. She ducked as she ran past the flailing arms of the monster and grabbed for a mop that was braced against the wall. As she did, she snapped the mop head off the end of the handle with her foot, and turned to again face her assailant. She then found that during her detour for a weapon, Hunter had decided to take a more aggressive strategy and had thrown himself on top of the thrashing creature and was repeatedly stabbing it with his knife, wherever he could reach.
The plan might’ve looked solid, but Morgan saw how futile it was as the knife barely penetrated the skin, with only the blade’s tip sinking in a fraction of an inch with every stab. It also looked as if the creature was starting to become less crazed from its wound with the salt, and was calming down as it tried to grab a hold of Hunter and get him off of his back.
Hope used the momentary distraction of her target to pull out her knife and then lunge into him with it. She was a little more successful than Hunter, as she was able to fully penetrate the hardened skin on the vampire, as she stabbed into its chest, aiming for the heart, but it was wrested from her grasp as he thrashed about in pain from the burning in its shoulder.
Undeterred, Hope continued her attack with several kicks and punches, keeping her opponent off balance and stumbling backward until it slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the room. With it not able to retreat any farther, she was able to grab a hold of her knife again and pull it free. With her knife back in her grasp, she made one more swing with it, this time in a slicing motion
at the neck of the wounded vampire. She felt the resistance of its neck as it sliced almost clean through stopping only a few inches from coming out the other side. The vampire let out a scream that pierced the eardrums of everyone in the room, including his partner.
Hope, noticing that the incision was closing up before her eyes, realized she only had one last chance to put the creature down for good before it fully recovered.
Morgan uncovered her ears and advanced on the creature who had finally managed to grab Hunter and had thrown him off his back. As she twirled the improvised staff around, she attacked with a series of impressive blows that would have crippled any human opponent; unfortunately, her foe was far from human.
Wylan shrugged off each of her blows until she got too close, and he reached through her dizzying attack to grab her by the throat. He then slapped the staff out of her grip with his other hand as he lifted her up in the air and started to squeeze her throat until his prey started to go limp.
Hope slammed into her opponent and pinned him to the wall, which allowed him to get his hands on her, too. She leaned into him with all her might, keeping him pinned while she made one last attempt to finish him.
She jammed her hand into the still-healing incision from her knife in its chest, and shoved it through the chest plate, breaking the ribs. Just like in the attack back at Camp H, she found the monster’s heart and ripped it free from its home, showing it to the shocked vampire as she did. This time she was able to fully witness and remember the petrification of the creature as he turned into a solid dried out statue right in front of her, but not before letting out a death cry that put its first scream to shame.
Wylan was almost done crushing Morgan’s throat when he heard his brother’s death cry. The momentary distraction caused him to not hear the footsteps behind him before it was too late. As he turned to look for his brother, he was unexpectedly grabbed by the head and thrown backwards against the wall, crashing into it with such force that he almost went through it.
Juggernaut (Humanity's Hope Book 2) Page 22