by Alex Dire
Norman pulled the map away. “You have something I want as well. How many?”
“Oh, I have them all. They’re stupid, like you. Well, all except Declan. He’s a piece of work. He served his purpose, though.”
“You don’t get this until I get my nymphs.”
“Of course,” said Skeete. She turned and made her way through the sticks and briars to the entrance of the cave.
The cave was dark. There were no torches lighting the way like the first time Norman had come. They reached the heavy metal door. Norman wondered how Skeete would open the silver handle. Then he saw it had been bashed in and the latch destroyed.
“Not your usual subtle ways, Skeete.”
Skeete laughed and shook her head. “You have no idea.”
Once inside, Norman scanned around. The place still bore the scars of the battle from Norman’s last visit. Burnt benches, charred walls. Blood stains. That battle had divided the wolves. Norman hoped his friendship with Adrian’s faction would withstand the strain of these days.
“Where are they?” said Norman.
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch,” said Skeete. “They’re right in front of your eyes.”
She led Norman to the raised semicircle at the back of the chamber where the wolf council had once sat. Behind the ornate curved wooden table sat the four Nymphs, tied and gagged.
Felicia looked up, locking eyes with Norman. She struggled and grunted against her restraints. Burn marks scorched her wrists and cheeks. Norman felt her intensity. Fear. Pain.
“Untie them,” said Norman.
“First the map.”
Norman shook his head.
“You know I don’t have to be so nice. I can just take it from you.”
Three vampires emerged from the arched hall at the other end of the table. They were big and wore soldier’s garb. Super-V’s. Norman had feared this, but he’d prepared.
Skeete’s smug smile inverted. “Now. The map.”
“And you’ll keep your part of the bargain? Release my Nymphs, and stay out of human politics? Forever?”
“Forever’s a long time, Norman.”
Norman whipped a lighter out of his pocket, flicked it open and placed the tip of the flame just under the edge of his rolled map.
Skeete twitched as her eyes widened and brow wrinkled in shock and horror. It was so rare to catch her in a moment of genuine emotion. Staccato words seemed to almost catch in her throat. “Yes. Yes. Forever.” Then her smile returned. Every time Norman saw it, he wanted to slap it off her face.
“You are so ignorant Norman?” said Skeete. “Blissfully so, I suppose. Once our little exchange is done, I’ll have no need for politics. You can have the whole government. You can have the whole VU and your useless Nymphs, too.”
What the hell was she talking about? Why was this map so important to her? Norman took a step back in response to her venom.
“This is getting boring, Norman. Sinclair, please relieve Mr. Bernard of my map.”
One of the huge vampire soldiers stepped forward. How many of those damned things were left? Norman was ready. His belly was full of fresh blood. He saw the room in his mind. Sinclair moved across the chamber. Now he was a floating orb. Norman reached with his tendrils, massaged, then gripped. Norman had him. “Sinclair. Kill your soldier friends.”
“What?” screamed Skeete.
In a spasm, Norman dropped the map and lighter, grasped a short stake from inside his jacket and exploded at Skeete. He drove the stake under her chin and through the top of her head. She barely had time to scream before she collapsed in a rumpled heap. He may not have killed her, but it would take her out for a time.
Sinclair flicked out his assassin’s blades and spun on his comrades. They drew ornately carved poles from their backs and crouched in defense. One of them tapped a device on his belt. “Support in the main chamber.”
Norman rolled over to Felicia. She grunted through her gag. He yanked at the rope tying her hands. His fingers burned and she screamed. Felicia’s wrists were black and red from the rope burns. Silver lined. He quickly glanced around the room looking for something to cut with. No time.
He grasped the rope with his hands and fidgeted with the knot. His flesh felt like fire. Felicia screamed through her gag. The scabs on her wrists sloughed off, revealing oozy red tissue. The raw flesh smoked and charred as well. Norman’s fingers smoldered black and throbbed with pain. He kept wriggling as the smell of burnt flesh wafted to his nose.
Felicia’s whole body twitched and struggled. Norman pushed a knee against her chest to still her. Finally, the knot gave. Her hands were free. She pushed Norman off her and pulled her gag over her head. “God damn you!” Her wrists began healing immediately.
Norman turned and peered over the table. Sinclair slashed savagely at the other two who moved around trying to flank him. He turned back to Felicia. “Call Declan.”
“What?”
“Bring him here.”
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“Yes, you do.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Breathe. Close your eyes. Feel him.”
Felicia closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed.
“Good.”
“Now—" Something gripped his shoulder and threw him through the air. He slammed against hard stone across the chamber and bounced to the floor. Next to him lay Sinclair. The soldier gasped for air through a stake that had been shoved through his mouth and into his brain.
Norman stood back up. The two remaining soldiers, each holding a long stake, faced him. Skeete stood behind them, her leather shirt dripping with her blood.
“Time to die,” she said. “Do it.”
The two soldiers stepped toward Norman. Then a scream from behind them. They turned.
Skeete screamed as Felicia held her from behind, pulling back the silvered rope around Skeete’s neck. It left red, smoldering traces along her throat as she writhed. Felicia had Skeete’s arms locked behind her back with one hand and pulled on the rope with the other.
The two Super-V’s moved on her. Felicia tugged Skeete back.
Norman leapt on the back of a soldier. He dug his fingernails into the thick neck from behind and tore. Muscle, cartilage and sinew ripped away. Blood gushed in a spray and he careened to the stone floor, rolling on top of Norman.
The Corps. V soldier gripped his neck and coughed in spasms, gore spurting through his fingers. Norman heaved at the massive vampire and struggled to get out from under his weight.
The other Super-V surged at Felicia. He had her by the throat with one hand and pulled at the rope around Skeet’s neck with the other. Skeete was sandwiched between them.
Norman pushed himself free and stood. Before he could rush in, something gripped him by the ankle and pulled. His head hit the ground with a crack. His skull rang and the sounds of the room were overcome by a high-pitched whine.
The bloody solder pushed himself to his knees. His throat was raw and pink, but whole again. He grunted and pulled his small wooden blade from his belt. Norman tried to walk back on his elbows. His vision blackened from the edges. It felt as if pieces of his skull floated and moved past each other.
The vampire’s mouth moved, shouting something at Norman. He couldn’t hear the words over the ringing in his head. The soldier raised his wooden knife.
The soldier’s face pulled tight, and a wrathful hiss erupted through his fangs. His whole head vibrated with rage. An instant later, that head exploded in a flash of fire and gore. Brain and bone matter spattered Norman’s face. His skin seared for just a moment and he was blown backward.
The ringing in his ears subsided and he wiped the blood and tissue from his eyes. His eyes stung from the Super-V's fluids. He stared through blurry vision at a large form standing before him. As his eyes cleared, he made out a war hammer grasped in the figure's hand. Declan had arrived.
37
Tide
Declan leapt over Norman and swung his hammer at
the remaining soldier. The weapon exploded with sunlight as it struck the vampire. Tissue and fire erupted from the side of his chest, and he flew across the room, slamming against the wall.
Norman stood to move in on Skeete but stopped when he saw two more soldiers enter the room. Two regular vampires followed. They instantly moved on Declan and Felicia. Norman grasped his small stake from the floor and sped at them.
Declan swung at Skeete. His weapon exploded against her as Felicia released the rope. Fire erupted from her hip as her feet flew out from under her. Her skin compromised, she burned from the inside.
The others were on them. A soldier swept his knife at Declan. He jerked his torso out of the way. The knife pricked his arm through the bicep. He belched out a growl. He was quick for such a clod. His training had served him well.
Two more regular vampires rushed in. One leapt at Norman, and the other bent down to Skeete. Her exposed tissue still smoked.
Norman swung his small stake in an arc as the vampire approached. The tip tore a smile across the attacker’s throat. He fell to the ground clutching at the wound. Blood seeped through his fingers. This vampire couldn’t be more than a few days old. Skeete’s own youth league.
The pounding in Norman’s head eased. The ringing was gone. Now he could hear the other Nymphs frantically scuffling behind the table.
The young vampire on the ground grasped Norman’s ankle and heaved. He was weak and malnourished. Norman almost felt sympathy for him. Norman stabbed down with his stake, piercing the young vampire’s heart through his back. The vampire screamed away his immortality.
A thug leapt from Skeete’s side onto Declan’s back and drove a stake down into his shoulder. Declan grunted and flung the smaller man off of him.
Another faced off with Felicia. The brute’s fangs flicked out. “You’re cute. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into you.”
Felicia stepped back and dipped her head, keeping her eyes locked with her enemy’s.
What’s she doing?
Her fists relaxed, dropping to her sides. The enemy standing before her unclenched his hands. His shoulders slumped. The malice drained from his face.
She’s glamored him. Good girl.
Norman sped behind the council table and found the rest of his Nymphs wriggling against their restraints. His fingers burned as he released Cindy’s wrists and pulled off her gag.
“Mr. Bernard,” she gasped.
A horrific scream came from the other side of the table.
“No time. Free the others,” he said. He leapt back up and over the table to the center of the round room. Three more vampires had entered.
Declan yanked the stake out of his shoulder with a growl and flicked it at the advancing enemies. It struck one in the eye. He fell back and howled in pain. Felicia stood at his side.
Norman moved in next to them. “What happened?”
“I killed him,” said Felicia.
Norman, Declan and Felicia formed a triangle back to back as seven enemies encircled them.
“Why?”
Felicia didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. He knew why.
Beyond the tightening margin of Corps. V, lay the enhanced soldier healing from Declan’s blow, not yet ready to fight. A small grace.
The surrounding vampires each held a stake, some small and hand-held, some long, like spears.
The vampires closed. One of the enemies drew back his spear preparing to lob it. But he stopped mid-motion as if the spear was held there by some weird gravity. It was not gravity, though. Cindy held the back of the spear. She pulled at the weapon and wrenched it from the vampire’s hand.
She quickly twirled its point back at its owner and plunged it into his heart. He screamed and slumped the ground.
Cindy snapped the stick in two and tossed the sharper end to her trapped friends. Felicia caught it.
Tyreese and Darius leapt from behind the council table next to Cindy.
The circle of enemies quickly dissolved as three of the vampires broke off and moved toward Cindy. The other three remained facing Norman.
The Super-V stood, hand over his healing side. He’d be back to full strength soon. Once again, Norman wished for some of that viral serum to put an end to this thing once and for all. Skeet rose as well. She and the vampire who’d dragged her off now rejoined the fight.
Norman was outnumbered, but his Nymphs were trained and these vampires were even younger than them.
Declan hissed with rage at the threat. Norman hoped it wouldn’t control him. He was smarter than everyone thought, but he retreated to aggression when pushed. A vestige from his human days.
The three enemy vampires, clearly intimidated by Declan’s size and rage, made timid advances with their wooden weapons.
“Get behind me,” said Norman.
A tiny smile crept up Felicia’s face. “Hmph. She darted straight at the vampire on the left flank. He made a clumsy stab. She twisted, easily avoiding the prick. She punched into the vampire’s face with the heel of one hand. The other hand gripped the long spear and angled it away.
The stunned vampire fell away from her palm with his nose pushed up into his head, bleeding. He released the stake and Felicia shoved it to the side, piercing the next vampire under his armpit and running him through. He screamed the awful scream, crumpled to the ground and slid off the spear.
Felicia vaulted over the pole and shoved her feet into the face of the third vampire, who tumbled across the stone floor. She flicked the stake to Norman who caught it. When she hit the ground, she bounded again and leapt toward her prone enemy.
Before she landed her blow, the super-V rushed in and swatted her from the air. Felicia rolled across the ground and sprang back to her feet. She could have probably fought him off for a while, but not forever. He did not have the weak spots she’d been trained to exploit.
A scream echoed from across the chamber. Cindy yanked her splintered half-pole from the chest of one of Skeete’s Nymphs. An instant later, she was on the Super-V’s back, stabbing at his neck. The warrior fell to his knees, hands covering his blood-spraying throat. Cindy kicked his back and his face crashed down onto the stone floor. He’d be up again soon enough though, Norman knew.
Darius and Tyreese grappled with four remaining vampires. They kicked and punched with furious frequency. Skeete crept around the edges attempting to get behind their line of sight.
Cindy rushed to their sides, sweeping her splintery wood across the throat of one of the vampires. Skeete moved in behind her, but Cindy kicked back, sending her reeling over the semi-circular table.
Cindy raised her wood above the next vampire’s chest.
“Wait!” shouted Felicia. “Leave that one to me.”
Cindy leapt off and joined Darius and Tyreese who had disarmed the remaining three vampires.
Felicia dragged the bleeding Nymph away and stared into his eyes.
Nearby, the Super-V stood, his clothes blown to shreds and his chest covered in blood. He'd feel weak, need time, blood. He stood and spun toward Felicia. Norman sprang on him. He didn't have modern combat training, but he'd mastered the bayonet. His point pierced the soldier's back and stuck through the front of his chest.
Norman shoved and the soldier’s growl became a shriek.
Felicia whispered to her subdued Nymph and pointed toward the dark arched hall that led away from the chamber. The vampire scurried into the blackness.
She then rushed and grasped the point of Norman’s spear, pulling it the rest of the way through the large vampire’s chest. The soldier grasped the end of the spear and shoved it toward her. Felicia twisted and yanked, dodging the point and wresting it from his grip. She spun the point and pulled back for another jab.
An arm wrapped around Norman’s neck.
Felicia hesitated. “Mr. Bernhard!”
He found himself suspended in the air atop two hands. He was then slammed onto the stone floor. Rib bones cracked. He spat a wretched scream and closed his eyes a
gainst the pain.
Someone gripped him from under his armpits and lifted. He opened his eyes and stared in a raw pink face, oozing like a fresh wound. The head had neither hair nor eyebrows. The second enhanced soldier had recovered from Declan's hammer. He growled into Norman's face before slamming Norman to the floor once again. More cracks. Bones. Norman tried to scurry to his feet, but his body failed him. He grunted, spitting up mucus and blood.
The raw faced vampire slipped his wooden knife from his belt. Norman managed to lift an arm to absorb the blow. But it never came. A narrow pole of wood flew into the beast’s chest, and out his back. Blood gushed in a fountain from the hole. He grimaced and stumbled back.
Norman turned to see where the weapon had come from. Tyreese rushed to Norman, lifting him up.
The wounded soldier clutched at his chest and fell back. He tried to push himself back up but succumbed to his wounds, collapsing.
Behind him at the archway, Skeete’s thug pulled the special weapons from Nebulous out of a leather sack and handed them to the Nymphs.
“You did well,” said Felicia. “Now go kill that thing,” she pointed to the Super-V that had already healed enough to push himself off the floor.
The wretch ran at the soldier who batted him away. He stood and charged the group of Nymphs. Cindy slid forward and swung her samurai sword around twice in blurred circles. The soldier’s arms dropped off, blood spraying from his stumps. Felicia sprang at him and plunged her dagger into his heart.
He fell to the ground. The silver would keep him down for a while.
Tyreese stood over the other Super-V, plunging his javelin through his eye. He gagged on blood and spasmed on the floor.
A high-pitched whine came from the council table, almost inaudible. Norman twitched around. Skeete stood with a metal whistle dangling from her lips. She clasped the rolled map in her hand.
“It’s been nice playing with you, Norman. But I really think it’s time to put an end to this, don’t you?”