Infinite Vampire (Book 3): Maelstrom

by M. Lorrox

  A few children and a couple of the chaperones need to go to the bathroom, but there isn’t one. They have no access to water, and it’s cramped; the space is less than six hundred square feet in size.

  Even so, the vampire chaperones try to make the best of the situation by distracting the children with games and songs. Unfortunately, their noble efforts grow less and less successful. The most recent distraction, a game of animal impersonations, fails dramatically when a chaperone pretends to be a bear reared up on hind legs, and a kid screams out, “Zombie!”

  After recovering from that shock, the Smithsonian Institution employees chat amongst themselves about the various decorations on the walls. Floorplans, diagrams of the gardens, and some pictures of the castle taken over the years all get some attention, but a mustachioed man in a striped suit sitting at a desk with a book generates the most interest. Harold points at him and speaks loudly to be heard over the children. “This picture is from 1884. That’s Robert Ridgeway, he was an ornithologist and had an office here, in this room. The window in the picture, that’s it, right over there. I’m standing in about the same spot as where this photo was taken from.”

  Carrie, the summer intern, is on the other side of the room, standing next to the window that’s in the old photo. She holds her arms tight across her chest and focuses on her breathing to slow her racing heart.

  Someone bumps into her. “Sorry.”

  She turns. “Oh, it’s okay.”

  “Excuse me.” Jennifer walks to the side of Carrie with Minnie and Tommy.

  She turns the other way. “No worries.” There’s so many people! Stay calm... Stay calm... Maybe some air. She stretches and unlatches the window beside her, then she swings it open.

  “AHHHHH!”

  She turns around, and she sees a boy covering his face. “What’s wro—”

  Jennifer drops down in front of her son to cover him, and in the process, she knocks into Carrie.

  She is pushed toward the open window, but Lance, who was nearby, is already closing it. She bumps into his sturdy frame. -Oof!- “Oh, I’m sor—”

  “Keep the windows shut!” He latches the window and glares at the girl.

  “I’m sorry, I, uh... Is he okay?” She crouches to get a better view of the boy.

  Jennifer hugs him to her chest. “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay. Just a little burn, that’s all. You’ll be okay.”

  Minnie finds Skip and hugs his thigh. He pets her head. “It’s okay, Minnie. Tommy will be fine.”

  Carrie’s mouth hangs open. “Did I—”

  Lance sets a hand gently on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault.” He feels eyes on him, and when he looks away from Carrie, he realizes that everyone in the room stares at him. “Alright everyone, there’s something you should know.”

  Katlyn jumps up and shouts, “Wait!”

  Now everyone in the room looks at her.

  “Chaperones, please occupy the children. Smithsonian people, will you come over here please?” She makes her way to one corner of the tower, and the employees all stream over to her. “We were on a field trip today, which I know you’ve already heard about, but what you don’t know is that all the kids are special. They have a…condition, that makes them extremely sensitive to sunlight. It’s like an allergy.”

  Carrie holds her arms to her chest even more tightly than before. “I am so, so sorry. I had no idea.”

  Katlyn can feel the girl’s anxiety, and she reaches a hand out to her. “It’s okay, and he’ll be fine.”

  Irene, a Smithsonian employee with short, gray hair, leans in and peers into Katlyn’s eyes.

  Katlyn squints at her. “Can I help you?”

  “You all have the same, really bright green eyes. Why is that exactly?”

  One of the men adjusts his stance. Jambavan watches his hands.

  Katlyn smiles. “Yes, that’s related to the sunlight thing. Almost all of the chaperones also have the condition, and that’s why we came together to give the kids a nice field trip. We had special tents set up at the National Museum of Natural History, and everything was going so well, but then... Well, you know what happened.”

  Irene glances between Katlyn’s eyes, studying them. She smiles. “That’s so lovely of you all, to do this for these kids.”

  Katlyn motions around the room. “Some of the chaperones are the children’s parents, but some are just strangers that volunteered. I wish I had these opportunities when I was young, so now I work to create them for others.”

  Irene takes Katlyn’s hand. “Bless you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Skip relaxes and realizes he’s been holding the Smithsonian’s ceremonial mace really tightly. Minnie still stands at his legs. He sighs and leans the mace against the wall near the crowbar and some of the other weapons. “How’s it going, Minnie?”

  “I want some medicine.”

  Skip swallows. Okay, Sadie said she keeps supplies in her bag. He looks around. Shit, did I leave it somewhere?

  Minnie tugs on his shirt. “Mr. Skip, Mommy usually keeps it in the bag.” She points at his chest.

  Skip realizes that the fabric bag is across his back; it’s been slung around his neck and shoulder since they left the bus. He takes it off and digs inside. Oh, maybe these candies? He pulls out one of the pouches of chewies Eddy had told him about. “Want to try these? They’re special gummies.”

  Minnie smiles and holds out her hand, and Skip pours her a handful.

  “Let me know if you need anything else, okay?”

  She’s chewing and smiling. “Okay!”

  Skip holds up an individual candy. It’s maroon and translucent. I wonder if it’s tasty... I should save them all for the kids. He puts it back in the pouch. Tommy! He leaves Minnie and rushes to Jennifer.

  She is giving Tommy some of the special medicine she always keeps with her.

  “I have some medicated gummies, would Tommy like some?”

  “Thank you. I bet that would be a nice treat.”

  He gives her the rest of the pouch. Still have another pouch in the bag, and with the med kits, plenty of blood. We should be set on that front, at least.

  On the way back to Minnie, Skip pauses along the wall that he hadn’t paid much attention to before. The western wall of the room doesn’t have any windows, but it has lots of pictures that show the castle from various angles. One image of the exterior of the South Tower—of the western wall of the South Tower—catches his eye. He looks at it for a moment. Hmm.

  He grabs Minnie and the mace, then finds Harold. “Hey, that big window, it’s facing south?”

  “Correct.”

  “These windows point north, so that must be the roof of the main part of the castle then?”

  “Right again.”

  Skip turns to the wall with no windows. “In the photos from outside, it looked like there’s a little tower stuck on the wall with no windows. Is that there?”

  Harold smiles. “Yes, indeed there is a small tower there. It extends all the way to the ground and up another story over the South Tower’s parapet—over the top of the tower we’re in.”

  “Can a person get up there? Up to the top?”

  “To the smaller tower? If there was a need, I suppose. There’s an old smokestack in there though; it would be tricky to get to the top.”

  “But how would you?”

  “From the attic, one level up. There’s a doorway to the little tower. Inside is a ladder that goes up to the top.” He shakes a finger at Skip. “Now, inside that tower, there are stairs that go all the way down to the basement. And there is an exit from the tower to the grounds outside, but I don’t think that would be a good option for us. There’s more zombies outside than there are in, I’m afraid.”

  Skip sighs. “Yeah. I’m just trying to brainstorm. I don’t know about you, but I someday hope to leave this tower.”

  Harold switches which shoulder the blunderbuss rides on. “I’d much enjoy that too. Is it me, or is it g
etting warm in here?”

  -Crrrrk! Thraatttll-

  Jambavan dives toward the door to the spiral staircase. The objects they threw down the stairs no longer block the zombies, and the door rattles as a zombie tries to open it. Jambavan puts pressure on the door to keep it shut. “Looks like the zombies haven’t forgotten about us.”

  Korina shakes her head. “I don’t think we’ve forgotten about them, either.” She sighs as she looks at Skip. Fuck, I think we should have stayed in the kitchen. We’d at least have more space, and water...and sinks to pee in.

  Charlie decodes the markings on the ring, then using the same kinds of data—dates, locations, and directions—he encodes a different set of information, into the same sort of markings, on paper. He’s just about finished when suddenly his phone starts to blow up. He checks it, and a slew of texts arrive. Skip! He scans through them:

  Korina is here, zombies everywhere! Minnie is ok

  Bus not secure, going back inside Nat History. My texts aren’t going through? Probably network flooded

  Zombies inside building, hunkered in cafeteria. You getting these?

  Charlie sends a frantic text back.

  Just seeing all texts. Will come get you, stay put.

  He slips his phone back into his pocket. “Eddy, Skip and Minnie, and the other vampire kids are in trouble. I gotta go.”

  Eddy looks up. “How can I help?”

  “I dunno, I still need a plan.”

  Eddy looks down at their work. “This can wait. Tell me what you need.”

  Charlie sighs. “Actually, this can’t wait, and I’m almost done anyway.” He hurries through the last few markings. “After I finish this, you all should keep working on making the manipulated one. I’ll figure out how to get into the city.” He finishes and glances over his work again, then he grabs some other papers. “I’m taking the papers with the original markings. You put the fakes in the picture, then you destroy all evidence of what we did. Do you understand, Leo?”

  He used my squire name. “Absolutely, sir.”

  Charlie folds the papers and puts them into his battle-pack. “Good. For now, this will have to do.” I pray it’s enough. “Be very careful, you two. I’ll be back with a plan.”

  He hurries out of the room with no particular destination in mind, nor an idea of what exactly to do. He pauses outside the door, and someone bumps into him. “Don’t stand in the way!”

  “Sorry.” Sarra. Where are you? He knocks on Vincent de Villablino’s and Gerard Dziedzic’s door, then walks in. “I’m sorry to barge in, but there’s an emergency, and I need to find Sadie.”

  Gerard waits, allowing Vincent to respond. “I believe she and Councilor Flaxman are discussing some...details. I believe they went looking for an empty room.”

  Charlie nods and turns to leave.

  “Colonel, is there any way I can help?”

  He turns back to the white-haired, old vampire. “The tour group in DC is in trouble. Captain Sarkis needs assistance.”

  “Your daughter is with them.”

  “Yes.”

  Vincent swallows. “As chair of the War and Defense Cabinet, I’ll give you authority to go and get them, whatever means necessary, but only after you find someone to take charge of the Council Guard here and maintain hospital security.”

  Charlie bows. “Thank you so much, sir.”

  “Go get them.”

  Charlie leaves, and Vincent looks across the room to a very nervous Gerard. “You have a grandson on the trip too, yes?”

  Gerard nods. “A daughter and her son. Thank you for sending him... Is his knight’s name, Arashi, true to his ability?”

  “Violent storm, or tempest… That’s only part of his name. His full knight’s name is Arashi-Ōdachi.”

  “Oh? I don’t know that other word.”

  Vincent swallows, buying time while he chooses what to say. Although Gerard is the Elder Dziedzic, there are many secrets that even elders aren’t privy to. “Well, Ōdachi refers to a great sword of battle that is extremely hard to make and is challenging to wield, but which is incredibly deadly in the right hands.” Vincent nods. Yes, that should suffice. “To answer your earlier question: he lives up to his name.”

  Tempest of the great, deadly sword... Gerard lets out a nervous breath. “Good.”

  Charlie finds Sadie in the same empty room that he and Eddy had used earlier. “I’m very sorry to interrupt, but there’s an emergency.”

  Robert sighs. “What’s the situation, commander?”

  Charlie looks at his wife. “The tour bus of vampire children is in danger in DC.” He looks back at Robert. “Sadie was wise and sent a guardsman and squire out to them, and they’re with the group, but they’re trapped downtown with the zombies.”

  Sadie swallows hard. “What news do you have?”

  “Texts from...a chaperone that all arrived at once. The group is hiding in the museum’s cafeteria.”

  “Oh my.”

  Robert studies their faces. This could work well... “Commander, this is a terrible development. I assume you’re planning to go and get them?”

  “Yes sir, I am.”

  “Good. What do you need?”

  “I... I’m not sure yet. I’m still working on a plan—we have very little information on the situation downtown.”

  I wonder why. “Keep us informed, but don’t make any moves without briefing the High Council.”

  I don’t think so, I’ve already gotten authority. Charlie clears his throat. “Sir, uh... Never mind. Will do.”

  “Dismissed.”

  Charlie snaps to attention, then walks away. As he turns from Robert, he catches Sadie’s eye and winks.

  Oookay...

  Robert takes a step to Sadie’s side. “I understand your daughter is in danger on that field trip. Just let me know if you decide that, well—”

  She frowns. “I’m not going anywhere, Robert.”

  He throws his hands up. “Oh no, I’m not suggesting that. But if you decide you need the Council’s help, I’m sure we could find a way to assist.”

  “Umm, thanks. Now, you were just about to, quote, bring me up to speed. I’m ready.”

  He clears his throat. “Great. Where to begin...”

  In the hall just outside the room, Charlie tries to figure out who to promote so he can somehow go and rescue the group. There’s only two junior guards here. They won’t do... Will they?

  Jules walks out of another room, notices Charlie, and nods at him before walking away.

  “Jules?”

  She stops and turns to him. “Yes?”

  “Uh, please don’t leave yet. Where will you be the next fifteen minutes or so?”

  “I’m headed to High Councilor Philip Simonsen’s room. I know you and he don’t get along, but knock three times, and I’ll come out.”

  He shakes his head. “You are the fucking best.”

  “I’m told that often.” She walks away.

  Charlie shrugs. Flying Eagle or Deina will have to do. He’s closer to where Flying Eagle is stationed, so Charlie goes to him first and updates him on the situation.

  “Oh, okay, let me know what needs to be done, sir.”

  Charlie nods. “You might need to take on some additional authority.”

  Part of Flying Eagle wilts. Not again. “I, uh, will do what I need to do, sir.”

  From behind them, a voice carries down the hall. “Maybe we can help?”

  Charlie turns and does a doubletake. “You made it!”

  Tatsu and Schermer stand shoulder to shoulder in the hall, smiling.

  Charlie rushes over to them. “Thank the gods.”

  Schermer nods. “That was one rough flight. Oh!”

  Charlie is hugging both of them at the same time. They each wrap an arm around him.

  Tatsu laughs. “It is good to see you too, sir.”

  Watching from his guard station, Flying Eagle smiles. Shit, that was a close one—I felt that wind off that promo
tion bullet as it whizzed by!

  General Campbell watches the distant breach in the Pentagon’s south wall through a long set of binoculars. Captain Davidson approaches, clears his throat, and reports that the Pentagon Metro station has been verified as sealed off from the Pentagon and is zombie-free.

  General Campbell lowers the binoculars and turns to him. “Excellent news! Now I wish I could send you and your men into DC, but without radio and with our few resources, that’s just not in the cards. I do have something to keep you busy though.”

  “What would that be, sir?”

  “Come here, and I’ll show you.” He leads Davidson over to a table with some maps and schematics of the Pentagon laying on top. He points to a red X on the outer wall of the Pentagon, facing the southwest. “This is where we breached and sent Colonel Costanza in. The flow of zombies coming out of there has almost stopped, but we know there’s thousands more inside.”

  He picks up a pen and draws two more X’s, also on the outer walls of the Pentagon and as evenly spaced as one can do on a five-sided shape. “We can’t just sit around and wait for reinforcements. We’re going to breach at these new locations as well. We didn’t have a single casualty from the first breach, and this old building is going to be out of commission for months anyway, so a couple more weeks of repairs aren’t going to change the game, so to speak.”

  Davidson waits. He’s grown accustomed to General Campbell’s style.

  “I’m putting you in charge of a platoon to breach at the location just north of the easternmost point, and I’m giving Baker the north side of the northwest point. Any questions?”

  “Have you already arranged the artillery?”

  He nods. “I pulled the one tank from the first breach and rolled the other one into position. You just need to show up and take command; they’re waiting for you.”

  “Yes, sir!” He salutes and is saluted back. Then he turns and leaves as Captain Baker walks in.

  “You wanted to see me, sir?”

  After the general gives Captain Baker his orders, and the captain leaves, General Campbell checks back in with General Riley via the microwave relay transmitters. “Good news, General: we have completely secured the Pentagon’s metro station, and forces are working their way through the tunnels. Now we’re breaching the building in additional locations to maintain morale. How’s it going downtown?”