Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  “Listen to yourself, Darlene.” He covered her hand with his and squeezed it gently. “You still defend them, even after their disrespectful behaviour.”

  Darlene hadn’t realised that she had until he mentioned it. “I’m just too forgiving.” It didn’t come as much of a shock to her that she’d already forgiven Amulius as well. Even so, now Darlene just didn’t know how to handle this situation. What was she going to do with Paul?

  “You all live like corralled horses, is it no wonder that you do not behave as you should. My enemy has, for once not swarmed, attempting to change every human in his sight.”

  Darlene suddenly remembered why Paul had begged her to stay and opened her mouth. She just had to tell him.

  The First Father clamped his hand over her lips. “Hush, I know what your words will be. I know of this because I sense just a one of two individuals in various areas around this settlement, dreaming the deep dream. If Desmonus had swarmed, there would be hundreds more, hiding under this settlement, waiting for the sun to finish her slow journey across the sky.”

  He struggled to his feet. “No, it will take me too long to adjust to this world, my darling wife. I also suspect that Desmonus will soon discover, to his horror, that the ones he changes will not behave as he desires.”

  Darlene looked back into the storage room, wondering if Paul was still there. “What are you trying to say?”

  He placed his hands on his shoulders. “The Swarmers will leave this settlement. That, I am sure of.”

  She felt his powerful fingers dig into her shoulders. He then spun her around, slid his hands down her side, and rested them on the top of her firm thighs. “I think that perhaps we should follow the Swarmers plan and leave this settlement too. We can travel to a land far away from here.”

  “What did you want to recite to me, my wife?” he asked, impatiently. “Hurry your words, they are returning.”

  Paul’s words flooded back, so did the image of his tender eyes and soft kiss, while trying to calm her down and plead with her to follow this plan through. “There are four Swarmers just minutes from the sport centre, holed up in the market.” She looked at his confused face and realized that he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “Four of our enemies are hiding in another building in this settlement, Amulius. There is a tunnel that will take us straight to them.” He just stood still, staring at her, not saying a word. “Aren’t you even listening to me?” she snarled. “We could end this right now.”

  He sighed. “We would be sending our untrained, ill disciplined rabble to their deaths. The Swarmers are seasoned warriors; just one of them would devastate them.” No, I admire your enthusiasm, but it is too risky.”

  Darlene walked over to Amulius and grabbed his crotch. “Have you lost your balls. I overheard them, they will strike as soon as it gets light.”

  “They will attack us?”

  For the first time, she actually saw a flash of life in his dull eyes. “They don’t have a clue that we’re here. They don’t care about us anyway, we are just small fry to them. There’s over a thousand strangers camping out in the fields around our town, it’s them who they’re going to go for. Their First Father will have his own army by this time tomorrow.” She took his hands. “You know that then, he’ll go after us. He’ll have no choice, we’re his enemy.”

  “We spent almost two hundred years locked in conflict, my lovely wife. We fought over diminishing supplies, over food and lands. Our war spiralled out of control. It almost destroyed us, it almost made you extinct. In the end, the few scattered tribes of humans took to hiding in places unknown to us, we were starving to death.” He stroked the side of her face. “He will not go after us, we are, as you said, small fry now.”

  “I can’t believe that you’ve just said that, Amulius. You must know, deep down, that they’ll hunt us all down. We both know how they operate. In a month’s time, they’ll be thousands of Swarmer vampires, every one of them, hunting us down! You might want to commit suicide, but I don’t!”

  They both turned as the other vampires walked towards them, Darlene glared at her daughter. She clamped her mouth and clenched her fists, trying so hard to control the whirlpool of extreme emotions that flooded her body. None of the others had noticed the pain she was going through. Amulius’s new clan was too busy staring in utter lust and her beautiful daughter. Darlene watched her glide through the slavering vampires. She approached her mother and stopped in front of her.

  “It’s so good to see you,” she said. The girl looked at the First Father. I heard your argument in the corridor and yes, “You’re right, those muscle-bound brain-dead dipshits wouldn’t last five minutes with those Swarmers.”

  It took Darlene considerable restraint not to sink her teeth into the little bitch’s pretty neck. How dare she stand there, looking so sweet like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, pretending that everything was hunky dory? She blanked her and focused on her one main problem, intending to deal with her at a later date.

  Paul had told Darlene that she needed to ensure that the clan stayed together and that meant she had to stay with them. He’d said that if the Deathgazers didn’t stop the Swarmers, then the vampire plague would spread like wildfire. She had looked into his horrified face, not understanding his dread at the prospect of the vampires running amok throughout the land. Even after gently reminding him that they were now vampires too, his alarm still remained.

  She watched the First Father wander over to his new clan, conversing in low tones, he looked like a Shepherd trying to calm a flock of sheep. Darlene now understood Paul’s fear. The vampires were quite content with their lot. She now saw the First Father’s reasoning, there were so many humans now, the Swarmers would forget his clan, the impossible job of keeping the Swarmer’s own clan in order would take up their First Father’s time.

  “Perhaps, there is a solution to this quandary?” he said, gazing at Darlene. “While I am certain that the Swarmers will butcher my new clan with ease, they would not stand a chance against my two beautiful vampire women.”

  The girl placed her hands on Darlene’s shoulders, leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. Mum, loose the stress; I didn’t let the randy old bastard anywhere near me. Nod and tell him that’s a wonderful idea, mum. If not, he’ll kill us, right now!

  She gazed at the First Father, digesting her daughter’s thoughts. Did she believe her? Before Amulius had his wicked way with her, she’d have just discounted her words as pure jealousy, just her daughter trying to drive a wedge between them, she had always been the more devious of her kids. Darlene watched the First Father’s expression, he was still waiting for her to reply. The one thing she did notice was that old man had gone away. She sighed again, of course he had, that persona vanished as soon as he got his fingers inside her panties.

  “Only if you’re sure, Amulius,” she replied. “Are you not coming with us?”

  He shook his head. “Go wait in the storage room,” he said to the male vampires. Amulius waited until they were out of sight before he turned his head. “Your strength, my beautiful wife, almost surpassed mine. Elsie has already proven herself in battle. You will triumph, of that fact, I am sure.”

  Elsie dragged her mother into the storage room. Darlene watched the First Father turn and hurry after the others. “Just what the fuck is going on, Elsie?” she hissed. Darlene watched her pull off the cover. “Wait, how did you know about that?”

  “The same way that I knew that your not so secret boyfriend, Paul, had told you what to say,” she replied. “Now come on, we need to get out of here before he realizes that he’s been had.”

  Elsie dropped to her knees and pushed her head into the gap, followed by the rest of her body. Darlene hurried after her daughter, completely confused by the turn of event. As she pushed her way through, into the damp, dark brick tunnel behind the wall, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being manipulated or at least pushed around like some pawn in a giant game of chess.


  Her daughter helped her on her feet before she bent down and replaced the grate.

  “I have no idea why I did that. It’s not like they don’t know where we went. Come on, mum, we had better put some distance between us and them.” Elsie chuckled. “It really is good to see you again, mum.”

  Darlene shrugged off her daughter’s hand. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on.” She saw her daughter’s happy smile fall off her face.

  “Mum, if we hadn’t moved right there and then, he would have ripped into you and torn your body into tiny pieces while his dogs had slaughtered me. He only allowed us to leave because he actually believed your bullshit story. As far as he’s concerned, he’s better off without us “

  Darlene shook her head, unwilling to believe that.

  “Sorry mum, but it’s true. I know you’re strong and I know you have a powerful mind.” The girl paused and ran her tongue over her lips. “I got mine from you, mum, I was also boosted up. Damien changed me then he bit me as well.” She laughed shakily. “If he knew just how powerful I was, he would have never let me leave, he’d have killed me on the spot. Well, at least he would have tried.”

  She watched her daughter leap across the narrow channel that ran through the middle of the tunnels. A small rat scuttled between Elsie’s legs, scarper up the grime encrusted wall and disappeared into a hole a few feet above their heads. They both saw the animal and Elsie, just like her, didn’t even blink. They used to be terrified of rats and mice. Had her daughter ability to manipulate people around her improved since her change? Darlene tried to see into Elsie’s mind but just received static for her troubles.

  “Mum, that’s very rude,” said Elsie, turning around. “I wouldn’t look inside you, unless you gave me permission.” She put her arms around Darlene’s waist. “He knows that he can’t control us, mum. Do you remember Mr. Anderson’s dog?”

  She nodded. “Of course I do, that miserable old thing wouldn’t let anybody in the garden. It really hated anybody in a uniform. Oh, and kids, the dog couldn’t stand kids.”

  “Damien used to deliver the old man’s newspaper there. He used to have to just launch it over the fence cos the dog just went batshit as soon as Damien got close to the property. Well, one morning he did just that and for once, the dog didn’t come out and try to kill him through the wooden slats. It turned out that the dog had decided that he’d had enough of not being able to kill any passing pedestrian and decided to attack its owner instead. It didn’t kill the old man but he was in hospital for a few months after the attack. That old dog is just like the First Father, mum. I have seen inside his head. All that crap about wanting to take you away from all of this was just fantasy, he certainly isn’t prepared to just sit on the fence and watch the Swarmers take over the planet.”

  “So, what do we do now?” asked Darlene. When she looked at her daughter, she couldn’t stop the image of a queen sliding along a giant chessboard. Darlene was now just a pawn in this bizarre game, she no longer felt in control of anything anymore.

  “We, I think its safe to assume that we’re no longer part of Amulius’s little gang now. Even so, I still think that we ought to follow the original plan to take out those bloody Swarmers. It makes perfect sense to get rid of the highest danger first.” Elsie glanced over her shoulder. “We can deal with that old perverted bastard another night. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

  Elsie then slid her fingers up the damp bricks, stopping just below the small hole. The rat poked out its nose, it gave the vampire’s finger a tentative sniff before fleeing back inside the hole. “Did you see that, mum? Our flesh and blood is toxic to every other creature. The First Father even told me that the flies won’t even lay their eggs in our corpses. The only creature capable of digesting our bodies is another vampire.” She chuckled. “I can’t believe that, mum. I used to be terrified of the little bastards.” Elsie tapped the bricks. “I think the Swarmers are a bit like rats, you know. If we don’t stop them, they’ll be everywhere.”

  “Honey, tell me about your brother, tell me what happened.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t, mum. Look, all that matters now is that’s he’s just like one of them, he’s a dirty Swarmer.”

  “I won’t accept that, Elsie. He’s your brother, for crying out loud. We need to save him.”

  Elsie didn’t say a word, she didn’t need to. Darlene felt the anger flowing through the girl’s body. It was like standing under a power line. “I know he’s a Swarmer, but so were you, honey. Maybe, if we found Damien, we could…”

  “No mum!” she shouted. “His fate is sealed.”

  “But he’s your brother!” she persisted. “If we both bit him, passed on our own blood, well it could work.”

  “He killed my Ben!” she cried. The bastard dragged him out of my arms and threw his body at that pack of dirty Swarmers!” She choked back her sobbing. “I heard them rip him apart and all Damien did was laugh. I’m going to kill that bastard with my own hands.” She growled.

  The girl spun around and marched away, leaving Darlene shaking like a leaf.

  “I can’t kill my own son,” she whispered.

  “You daughter is right, Darlene. He has to die.”

  She spun around, gasping at the sight of Paul appearing from behind a brick column. He pressed a finger to his lips.

  “Calm yourself, sweetheart. I don’t want Elsie to know that I’m here. I know how hard this is to accept but you need to believe me, Damien is no longer your son.” He looked over to the departing vampire. “Just like she is no longer your daughter. He’s a strong one, he could even make First Father. That means he’ll spread his dirty Swarmer blood far and wide. He just has to die.” He ducked back behind the column. “Catch up with her,” he whispered. “I’ll meet you at the end of this tunnel.”

  She turned around and saw her daughter staring at her. “Even rats look after their young, Elsie.”

  Her daughter sighed. “Not all the time. When they’re threatened, they’ll eat them. Look mum, I seriously doubt that he’ll be with that lot anyway. More than likely, he’ll have found his own little secluded spot to rest until the sun goes down. He might have even left town by now.”

  Darlene bit back her reply about him never straying too far from home and followed Elsie through the dark brick tunnels. She so hope that her daughter was right about Damien. Deep down, Darlene knew that Paul and Elsie were right about Damien and her blood would no doubt compel her to lunge for him anyway. There was no other way.

  “Oh, well would you look at that,” muttered Elsie. I did wonder when your absent boyfriend was going to make an appearance.”

  Darlene watched her Paul climb out from a small tunnel a few feet off the ground and drop down. Landing into the shallow stream of dark water. She noticed that his movements were a lot more fluid now. It might have been a trick of the dim light, but she was sure that he’d also filled out a little bit since she last saw him.

  “Elsie, I’m guessing that you knew about me and Paul before we all changed?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I’ve known for a couple of months now, mum. Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone.”

  Darlene didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh out loud. “Wait, how the hell did you find out? I made sure that we were very careful.”

  “It was just the little things, mum. Call it a female’s intuition? Like the faint smell of aftershave in the room. I’m good with smells and I know what dad and Damien wear. There was also the shining expression in your eyes when I got back from college. Although, I think that the biggest clue was when I found his necklace in my bed. The one with his name engraved in the back of it.”

  “Hello there, Elsie,” said Paul, when he reached them. “Who’d have thought that we would be meeting up like this?” He looked past them. “To be honest, I am surprised to see just you two. I expected to be hiding away as the Deathgazer Clan marched past me, ready to fuck up the Swarmers.”

&nb
sp; Elsie smiled back at him. “Well, the plans have been altered. There just the pair of us here. Oh, and you, I suppose. That is, if you have the balls to go up against the other vampires.”

  He stared at Elsie for a few second before he nodded. “There’s no other choice, is there?” Paul looked at Darlene. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Elsie climbed up the metal ladders bolted to the wall and used one hand to twist the handle on the cover. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Paul. We’ll protect you from those nasty vampires.” She chuckled before pushing up the cover and climbing out of the tunnel.

  Darlene looked and Paul and smiled. “She means well and she’s right, we will protect you, hun, I will anyway.” She gently pushed him over to the ladders. “Go on, up you go.” She waited for him to clear the tunnel before following him up.

  As she emerged into the market, the first thing she noticed was that darkness had already fallen. The second thin was that she was alone. Darlene frantically spun around and saw her companions racing down one of the aisles, heading for the main entrance. Darlene chased after them. It took her just seconds to realize that they weren’t alone. Directly in front of them was the largest vampire she had ever seen, he towered above Amulius. He was dressed head top foot in ancient black leather but his most distinguishing feature had to be his long mane of jet black hair. The vampire ran up to the entrance and burst through the window.

  Darlene joined the others and watched the vampire join his colleagues. They all turned, and laughed at them before disappearing into the night. She sighed and looked down at the stone floor, spotting something very familiar. Darlene stooped and scooped up a small silver bracelet. “Oh fuck, she cried, recognizing the present that she gave to Damien two Christmases’ ago.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The sight of the clear night sky, filled with stars and a heavy moon made Damien want to run through the deserted town, laughing and screaming at the top of his lungs. He had never felt this good. It was the best high that he’d ever had.