Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  “Please Cade. Don’t hurt him, Paul’s my step brother.”

  He watched the huge vampire gently wrap his hands around her waist. It shocked him to see how relaxed she was now. This monster was her step brother? It made him realize just how little he knew about the girl. He stayed on the ground, not daring to move. Unlike Katy, he hadn’t forgotten about the two other vampires. He didn’t know where they were but they couldn’t be that far away, his senses were still screaming at him.

  “That’s a big weapon you have there,” whispered a female voice right by his ear.

  Cade stifled a scream when he twisted his head and found himself face to face staring into the blazing eyes of a beautiful blonde. He swallowed hard, sensing the last member of their trio on the other side of his shivering body. He felt like a gazelle surrounded by lions.

  “I always told Damien that you looked like the strong silent type,” said the girl. She ran her freezing fingers down his arm. “God, I used to fancy the arse off you, Cade.” She stood up and pulled him onto his feet. “I still do.”

  “Elsie?” He gazed at the teen girl, having enormous difficulty in comparing this deadly creature to the girl who used to give him the puppy eyes when she thought he wasn’t looking. Cade slowly turned and looked at the remaining vampire in the trio, not all that shocked to find Elsie’s mum looking back at him. He flinched when Elsie stroked his arm again.

  “You need to relax, Cade. We’re not going to eat you,” said Elsie’s mum, chuckling. “Believe it or not, we all want the same thing.”

  “If I do sense that you’re about to use your katana on any of us though, Cade,”

  He saw Elsie move at impossible speed, before he had time to even blink; the blonde vampire’s hand was resting on Katy’s throat.

  “Well, I think you can guess the outcome,” she replied, sighing.

  Paul knocked her hand away. “Will you leave her alone, Elsie?” The vampire bent towards Katy’s head and whispered into her ear before he dropped his arms. He then walked over to Elsie’s mum and embraced her.

  That knocked Cade for six; he assumed that the male would be shacked up with Elsie. He stared at the blonde vampire. “So, what do we all want?” The fact that he managed to speak without his voice cracking, amazed him. Just standing so close to these monsters made his flesh creep. Katy grabbed his hand. She then wrapped her arms around his back. He saw that her shivers had returned.

  Paul picked up the torch, looked at Cade, he then passed it to Elsie. “Before you ask, yes, the torch will work.” He looked at the other two vampires before returning his attention back to Cade. “I’ve seen you around town and according to Elsie, you seen like a decent enough guy.” He looked over at Katy. “And you’re a vast improvement over her last boyfriend.” He grinned. “No offence, lass.”

  Cade nodded. “Great, now I’m feeling all warm and cosy.”

  “Pandora is well and truly out of the box, buddy. No matter what we do now, the vampire plague is going to spread across the planet. We can, however, attempt to slow it down.”

  Cade looked at these three vampires, still trying to work out what they were playing at. “Yeah, that much, I have worked out. But, unless you haven’t figured this bit out, you three are vampires, or has that detail slipped your mind?”

  “We can’t help what we are, Paul,” Darlene said.

  “They’re closing in,” hissed Elsie.

  Her mother nodded. “Look Cade, We’re running out of time here. We all know that we’ve changed. Just as I suspect deep down that you know that you have a taint of our blood running through your veins.” She caught her breath and looked nervously at her daughter. “I can sense them too. Shit, they’re all here.” Darlene ran over to Cade and grabbed his shoulders. “Listen, if you want to help, then you can start by getting that big sword out and start using it.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Oh wow!” she chuckled darkly, I see you have already tussled with Amulius’s new Deathgazer Clan. Are you ready for round two?” she pointed to the end of the field. “They’re over there, all ready to engage with the Swarmers. “

  Cade looked at her in utter bewilderment. “Seriously, are you having a fucking laugh here?” He should have known this was coming. These jokers just planned to use his as battle fodder, as a diversion. “Look, Elsie’s mum. I was lucky to get out of that gym alive. Those fuckers will eat me and Katy for their supper.”

  “”No they won’t,” said Elsie. “They’re not as fast or as strong as us. Also, I’m staying with you.” She snatched the torch out of Katy’s hand then flicked it on, pointing the beam at the floor. Elsie took a deep breath, then swept the light across her ankle.

  Cade’s jaw dropped. He watched in amazement as the flesh on her leg bubbled up like grilled cheese. Elsie turned off the light and gave the torch back to Katy before limping over to the gate and slumping against it.

  “See, it’s isn’t all doom and gloom, Cade.”

  “Are you alright?” Darlene ran over and crouched beside her daughter. “What the bloody hell did you have to do that for, you silly girl?” Darlene glanced up at Cade. “You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.”

  Elsie sighed. “Give it a rest, mum,” she replied, grinning. “I’ll be okay in a few minutes. It really isn’t as bad as it looks.” She used the gate to get back to her feet and limped over to Cade. “You’ve not only survived the last day and night, you’ve also taken on our kind and beat them.”

  She smiled at Katy. “This one’s a keeper, lass.” Elsie glanced down at her leg. “Fuck, that really did hurt. I wasn’t prepared for that. Listen to me, Cade. You’re not an idiot. The chances of all of us coming out of this unscathed are pretty slim. At least we do have a chance, if we sit back, we’ll all be dead or…” she licked her lips. “Or, we’ll be changed.”

  Cade reached behind and took out his katana. “The handle moulded into his fist. It did feel good to hold it again. He knew that he was caught between a rock and a hard place here. No matter how sincere they sounded, there was no way that he could trust them. “So, let’s assume that the impossible does happen and we slay the ‘other’ monsters. What happens then, do we all live happy ever after?” He left the question hanging.

  “We’ll cross that bridge when, if, we get to it,” snapped Darlene. “Look, we need to go, right now!” she kissed Elsie on the cheek. “Take care, honey.”

  Cade found himself suddenly alone with Katy still holding him tight and the monster trapped inside the shell of this gorgeous blonde teen. He looked over to where Darlene had pointed, trying to see if he could get a fix on them. It was just useless, the vampire standing next to him just frazzled his radar.

  “So, you still think I’m a monster?”

  “Get out of my mind, Elsie,” he growled.

  The vampire chuckled. “I wasn’t in your mind, Cade. That’s the whole point. You broadcast that one on all frequencies. Okay, I get it. You’re not happy about me being here. Just try to get over it, you big ape.” She looked at Katy. “That goes for you as well. Both of you should be thinking happy thoughts,” She pointed at the tent beside them. “Shelia has just finished off the last of David’s cans of Carlsberg. She’s a bit pissed with him, because he didn’t go into the town to pick up some more. She’s seriously thinking of letting the idiot snore himself to death and see if there’s any action going on.” Elsie sighed. Those thoughts and similar are what the other vampires will be picking up. Does this sink in or do I have to write it down?”

  I’m not a complete idiot,” he hissed. Cade lifted his leg over the tent’s guide rope, trying to remember which bands were due to play here tomorrow and walked a little closer to where Darlene had pointed.

  “There’s three of them hiding behind that portaloo.” Elsie suddenly streaked past him and ducked down behind the large orange tent just in front of them. “Fuck, they know we’re here!”

  Cade’s adrenalin fuelled body shifted into over drive when Katy screamed out. As he spun around, h
er voice just ceased as two huge bodies slammed into her, knocking the girl into the side of the tent. Cade ran forward and punched the tip of his katana into the first shadow, grinning with glee as the body stopped moving.

  Elsie dived on the remaining vampire. He watched in horror as her teeth split open her gums before she lunged her face forwards and bit into the side of the other vampire’s neck. She growled then jerked her head back, spraying herself and the tent with his thick blood.

  She pulled him off Katy. “Sort out the other one!” she shouted.

  Cade tore his eyes off the grisly scene, and spun around, the vampire wasn’t dead. He ran and tried to grab the handle of his sword but the vampire shifted his body then pulled out Cade’s Katana and threw it to the floor.

  The vampire growled at Cade, “My turn, you shit.” The vampire swept his legs, knocking him onto the ground. “My first bite,” he said, crawling onto Cade’s legs.

  He couldn’t even get off the floor, the fall had knocked all the air out of him. The vampire was now pulling himself up past his knees. Cade smelled the odour of congealed blood on the vampire’s breath. He frantically brushed his hands across the cool grass, trying to find anything he could use to stop this abomination from getting any closer.

  “No you don’t!” snarled Katy.

  Cade shrieked out when he looked up and saw the vampire literally turn into a small inferno when Katy, shown her torch straight at his body. He flung himself back and used both legs to boot the now smouldering ruin away from him.

  “So much for the ‘big hard man’ image,” Elsie said, giggling. She helped him back onto his feet. “Now I can see how you’ve managed to stay alive, Cade. I should have guessed that your female back-up must have done all your donkey work.” Else stooped and picked up his katana. “Can you at least try to keep this in your hands? Without that, you’re just a cocktail sausage without a stick to the other vampires.”

  Cade meekly took his sword from her hands then smiled sweetly, making sure that the vampire ‘heard’ exactly what he thought of her mocking tone. He saw her mouth opening and tuned out her voice, not wishing to hear anymore of her taking the piss.

  As soon as he did relegate her annoying voice to background noise, Cade found that he now knew exactly where the remaining Deathgazer Clan were hiding. “Katy!” he hissed. “Give me the torch.” When she didn’t immediately respond, he just snatched it out of her fingers. He turned on the beam and shone it away from the portaloos, towards an old campervan.

  “What are you doing?” shouted Elsie. “You’re going in the wrong sodding direction!”

  He ignored her shouts. Cade trusted his senses more than her feelings. They hadn’t let him down do far. The purple light picked out the logo of a heavy metal band, sprayed onto the side of the van. “Oh, that’s ironic,” he muttered. “That’s Damien’s favourite band.” He dropped to the ground and shone the torch under the van, smiling when he saw three pairs of boots on the other side.

  “Come on out, Colin, if you think that you’re hard enough!” he shouted. Cade stood up, keeping his fingers firmly wrapped around the sword handle. He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the sound of shattering glass. The van door on the other side slid back. Cade didn’t know what to do, he hadn’t expected them to do that. Were they going to try and drive off?”

  He turned around to see his companions running towards him.

  “Look out!” screamed Elsie.

  Before he had time to turn around, a huge object crashed into him. The torch flew out of his fingers and Cade saw the light beam spear through the dark sky, the violet beam twirling like a Catherine wheel before the torch crashed into the ground. The light suddenly extinguished. Cade just knew that the impact must have broken it.

  Cade had remembered Elsie’s warning and had not relinquished his grip on the katana. He now screamed and swung the blade into this shapeless mound pressed up against his body. The blade just harmlessly bounced off the surface.

  His confused senses finally reasserted themselves and Cade now saw just what had ran into him. He dropped down and rolled to the side before jumping back onto his feet. He jerked his head over at his mysterious attacker, just catching the sight of the vampire pulling the heavy carpet that he’d thrown over his head and body.

  “You sneaky bastard,” he whispered. Cade slid to the left, as the vampire turned the other direction. He swung the katana, grunting in satisfaction as the sharp blade sliced into the back of the vampire’s neck. Cade pulled the blade out of the wound, then swung again, slicing through the rest of the neck.

  He spun around and saw Elsie jumping on to Colin’s back. She bit him then leaped away when his thick arm reached for her. Despite the fact that he was three times her size, he was clearly outmatched at every turn. Cade saw the damage that Elsie had inflicted when Colin slowly turned. It amazed him that the vampire could even stand. She had ripped out half of Colin’s throat. Ragged strips of bloodied fresh hung down, brushing his shoulder like strips of scarlet fabric.

  Elsie jumped back when Colin suddenly lunged forward. The vampire stumbled and crashed into the ground. Elsie than dropped to her knees and sunk her teeth into the other side of Colin’s neck Cade turned away, sickened.

  He suddenly felt his heart in his throat when he realized that Katy was nowhere in sight. Cade ran over to Elsie and jumped over Colin’s prone body. He spun around. “Katy!” he screamed. “Where the fuck is she, Elsie?”

  The vampire looked up. Cade tried not to flinch when she growled at him. Cade tightened his grip on the Katana handle, resisting the urge not to slam the weapon tip down on the back of her neck.

  Cade looked around the dark campsite, trying to see anyone at all. He groaned in despair when he saw a crowd of people, all congregating at the edge of the field. Their panicked voices hit him like a blast of hot air. Cade just knew what that signified, the other Clan had arrived.

  “Calm your feelings.”

  He growled and spun around, glaring at Elsie’s face, just millimetres from his. “You’re the one who’ve lost her, you cold bitch!” he snarled.

  She wrapped her fingers around both his arms. “If I so desired, Cade, I could squeeze my hands tight. Within moments, my fingers would have pressed through your skin and meat until the only thing stopping me from forming a fist would be your bones.” She closed her eyes. “Cade, it’s your rollercoaster emotion that’s your enemy. If I hadn’t taken out Colin, that big fucker would be chomping on you right now. There’s just the First Father left now, Cade.”

  She released his arms and nodded over to the approaching crowd. They were running straight towards them, everyone of them screaming like banshees. Elsie pulled him into her embrace and turned around as the crowd ran past them, heading for the next field. He then felt the vampire spin him back around.

  “They would have trampled you under their feet, Cade.” She said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the two vampire bodies. “Come on, I know where she is now.”

  She dragged him around the flattened tents, only stopping when they reached an old Ford Cortina. Cade saw Katy’s body sprawled out on the car bonnet and ran over to her, weeping. “He’s killed her, oh god, the bastard has killed my Katy.”

  “Amulius wouldn’t have done something so crude,” said Elsie, when she had caught up to him. The vampire hurried around the over side of the car and gently put her hands on the side of her head. She slowly turned Katy’s still face. “I think that your life had just got very complicated for you, Cade.”

  He looked in horror at the two small puncture marks in the side of her neck. Cade threw back his head and howled.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Darlene threw the Swarmer corpse down beside the young man sill convulsing on the grass. She wiped the dead vampire’s blood from her mouth and dropped to her knees. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, looking down at the side of the young man’s neck. The Swarmer had certainly done a number on the kid. The front of his black t-
shirt was now soaked with his blood. She straddled the boy, wrapped her fingers in his long black hair and lifted up his head. Through her tear-blurred vision, Darlene watched him open his eyes. The boy hissed at her. He must have sensed what Darlene was about to do, as his bucking movements increased in ferocity.

  She slammed his head down, bursting into huge sobs when she heard the back of his skull crack open. Darlene wanted someone to do the same to her. “You’re at peace now,” she mumbled. Darlene tore her eyes from the boy’s accusing eyes and looked around the campsite. This was no campsite any more, it now resembled the aftermath of a battlefield. Paul ran over to her and lifted Darlene off the boy’s body. She saw that he’d already dispatched three Swarmer victims. He didn’t seem to be affected as bad as her.

  Paul wiped away her tears and gently kissed her. “Darlene, you’re wrong, this is breaking my heart into little pieces, I’m just not letting the grief consume me.”

  “You read my mind?”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t have to.” Paul looked down at the corpse beside her. “If you hadn’t ended his life, he would have gone back home, killed his whole family and his friends.”

  “Paul, I’m sorry. This is tearing me apart!” She followed his gaze down to the dead Swarmer. Judging from his ragged attire, Darlene guessed that she had just taken out one of the original vampires. Paul’s body suddenly shuddered. “Are you okay?”

  “None of this makes sense,” he uttered, looking back at her. “He’s not the First Father, Darlene, he’s just some minor vampire. How was he able to change the boy?” He stiffened and pointed his shaking arm towards a long haired youth, dressed only in a black t-shit. “Oh shit!”

  Paul released her and raced after the youth. Darlene now saw just how fast he was going. He’d been changed and was already running down his first victim, some young blonde girl; she couldn’t have been much older than fourteen. Darlene saw Paul reach the boy. He pushed the newborn vampire down, wrapped his hands around his neck and squeezed the together.