The Vampire War

by Eric S. Brown

  “Do it, then!” Mavet shrieked. “And when they are found, I want you, Joseph, and Nazar to deal with them personally. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Perfectly, my lord,” Elick hissed. “So it is ordered, so shall it be done.”

  “Do not fail me, Elick,” Mavet warned the leader of the dark mage cult. “Or it shall be more than our agreement that will come to an end.”

  “I understand, lord Mavet.” Elick’s hooded head bobbed up and down. “I shall summon my mages and began the hunt at once.”

  “Good,” Mavet said, turning to ascend to his throne once more. “Inform me the moment your task has been completed.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Elick responded.

  “Oh, and Elick,” Mavet settled onto his throne, looking down at the dark mage. “Bring me Ringer’s head.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 6

  Katherine had spent the night in her new quarters unable to sleep. Every time she tried, nightmares chased her back into consciousness. Sleeping during the night had always been difficult for Katherine, given her half-vampiric nature, but it was something she’d always managed before her captivity. Now it seemed impossible. The blood she’d consumed had given Katherine back her strength, though. She felt whole and alive again. It was amazing how quickly she healed physically. That was a part of her half transition into being undead that Katherine had never truly gotten used to. She paced the small room of her quarters within the base beneath the warehouse, dreading the coming morning.

  Tonya had grown a great deal in her power since Katherine had last seen her. She never would have thought it possible, but Tonya now rivaled the level of power Abby had once possessed. Somehow Tonya had broken through the limits that had once bound her, and, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, she’d become something more. The laptop in her new quarters allowed Katherine to catch up, at least in part, on what had happened with the worm monster in Alaska.

  Tonya had been in contact with living pieces of the thing a great deal while she drove them out of Ringer’s body. It was as if the psychic exposure to the worm creature had somehow transferred part of its own telepathy into her. That was the only explanation Katherine could come up with for the new level of Tonya’s power. She’d have been concerned by such a transference, but it was clear that the worm monster was dead—beyond any shadow of a doubt. Donald and Eddie had flung the thing into the sun itself. There was no chance of it coming back. And based on how the bits of it left behind had withered and died when the rest of it was burnt to nothingness inside the sun, that suggested its psychic core and mind had perished along with its main body.

  Katherine, while impressed—even mystified by Tonya’s unexpected new power level as a telepath—knew Mavet was so much more. And she’d been in his clutches since the battle in Alaska. God only knew what he could have done to her during that time. She might be a ticking time bomb, just waiting to go off against her own people. It was a chance she wouldn’t—couldn’t—take, and Tonya was her best hope of discovering if Mavet had altered her mind. Her missing memories haunted her. Were they merely from the trauma she’d undergone, or was there something much more sinister to them? Katherine wasn’t sure she wanted to find out, but she knew she needed to.

  When the morning finally came, she cleaned herself up and left her quarters. Hank, carrying a steampunk-looking three-barreled pistol holstered on his hip and accompanied by a Psi-mech, met her in the corridor outside. Hank was clearly uncomfortable with the situation. The tele-mechanic fidgeted as she looked him over.

  “Sorry about this.” Hank shrugged. “Ringer isn’t available, so Donald assigned us to be your escort to the debriefing room Tonya will be using for your psi-screening.”

  “It’s okay, Hank,” Katherine lied. Nothing except being free of Mavet and his minions was okay with her current situation. She didn’t trust herself, but to see that her own people, some of whom she had recruited and nurtured into what they were now, were unable to trust her hurt much more than she was letting on. “I understand.”

  That last part was true at least. Donald was right to assign her an armed accompaniment until he knew she was safe and her mind untampered with. She’d have done the same in his place, quite possibly more. Her son was allowing her to move about the base instead of just sending Tonya to her.

  “This way,” Hank said, and Katherine followed him with the Psi-mech bringing up the rear.

  This base was new to her. Its corridors were dimly lit, as if in an effort to conserve power for uses elsewhere. Their walls had the look of the hurriedly-built things they were. Even so, Hank and his crew had worked miracles to build a new base like this so quickly, and with so few personnel.

  Hank opened the door to the debriefing room for her to enter. The tele-mechanic flashed her a weak smile. Social stuff wasn’t his strong suit.

  “We’ll be right out here,” Hank assured her. She could tell he meant his words to be comforting, but nonetheless they sounded more like a threat.

  “Ms. Grimm,” Tonya said, rising from where she sat at the room’s only table to greet her. “May I call you Katherine, ma’am?”

  Katherine huffed. “After all we’ve been through, Tonya, I’d be insulted if you didn’t. Besides, you’re about to dig inside my head. I’d say you can call me whatever you want.”

  “Thank you.” Tonya smiled. “Pick any seat you want.”

  She took a seat so Tonya could be directly across from her.

  Katherine tried to reign in her nerves as Tonya took the seat Katherine had intended her to.

  “Is this your first Psi-screening, Katherine?” Tonya asked.

  Shaking her head, Katherine frowned. “It’s just…”

  Katherine’s words trailed off into silence.

  “You’re afraid of what I might find,” Tonya commented. “Don’t worry, Katherine. You’re among friends again. No matter what may be lurking in there, we’ll face it together. You have my word on that.”

  “The vampires really believe Mavet’s a god,” Katherine said. “Even the oldest among them fear him, Tonya.”

  “You know very well that what they believe and reality aren’t the same things,” Tonya comforted her.

  “Let’s just get this over with,” Katherine said with a growl.

  Tonya smirked. “Now that’s the Katherine Grimm I know.”

  Leaning forward in her seat with a look of concentration, Tonya said, “Just lower your defenses. I know that’s a hard thing to do, especially after what you’ve just been through, but it’ll make this go much easier if you can.”

  Katherine opened her mind to Tonya. She felt the telepath slip into it. Their minds didn’t merge; this wasn’t that kind of telepathic intrusion. Katherine and Tonya locked eyes across the table from one another.

  “Rather than just go digging around,” Tonya said, “I’m going to say a series of words and watch how your mind reacts to them.”

  “Anytime you’re ready,” Katherine replied.

  “Vampires,” Tonya said, kicking things off with a word that was sure to be hard on Katherine.

  A flood of images poured through Katherine’s mind. There were flashes of Mavet from when she was young on the day her father died. Covered in blood, she fought vampires, her sword slashing into undead flesh and supernaturally hard bone. Katherine thought of the master vampire she’d faced in Alaska. All of them were like fireworks exploding in a night sky. Bright bursts that flared, full of fury, and then were gone.

  Tears ran from Katherine’s eyes and over the curves of her cheeks. Her fingers dug into the table, the metal of its top squealing as it gave way to the force she was exerting on it. Katherine’s gaze remained locked with Tonya’s. She wanted to look away, but couldn’t. The telepath held onto her mind tightly.

  “I’m sorry,” Tonya said, but Katherine knew there would be no stopping until all that needed to be seen had been.

  “Captivity,” Tonya barked, giving Katherine no time to recover. Again, she
was in the back of the truck that had taken her out of Alaska. Vampires taunted her, tortured her with words. They told her everyone was dead, and that Psi-Mechs, Inc. was no more. Then came her audience with Mavet. He plunged into her mind over and over. Her mental barriers couldn’t resist his power. Katherine’s thoughts and memories were his for the taking. She fought with all her being, but it was in vain, her struggle pointless and filled with pain.

  Katherine was still reeling from it all as Tonya said the name, “Mavet.”

  Cold arms wrapped her body. Soft sheets shifted beneath her as she groaned. Colder hands moved over her bare skin. She was helpless. Mavet moved atop her. He plunged in her mind and body alike, over and over and over. There seemed to be no end to the horrors he delivered unto her. Nights and days ticked by as the same scene played out until she was broken. Her screams became moans and her moans became screams. Blood. Blood everywhere, staining the white sheets, bits of flesh beneath her nails. The taste of blood in her mouth. Katherine began to vomit, but still Tonya wouldn’t release her as it splattered onto the table between them. She could feel Tonya pressing, trying to learn more.

  On her knees, Katherine pleaded before Mavet. As always, the god vampire merely laughed. The backside of his hand struck her face with enough force to shatter the bones. They healed in an instant, though Katherine had prayed that wouldn’t.

  “You are mine,” Mavet purred in her memories. “My pretty plaything.”

  The god vampire’s voice became thick, his breathing rapid as she did as he commanded her to. Gagging, sickness, a world of all that was foul and dark. She was a slave to her master.

  Unable to endure anymore, Katherine mentally shoved Tonya from her mind and stood up, throwing the table into the wall as she did. The motion knocked Tonya from her chair, sending the telepath sprawling into the floor.

  “Stop it!” Katherine wailed. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”

  Hank and the Psi-mech guard who had been assigned to watch over her burst into the debriefing room. The Psi-mech had a wicked-looking wrist-mounted cannon aimed at her chest. Only Hank stepping between the two of them stopped the mech from blasting her, and her from tearing it apart with her bare hands.

  “Katherine!” Hank yelled at her. “Calm down!”

  “It’s over,” Tonya added her voice to the chaos, getting up from the floor where she’d been thrown. The telepath looked ragged and sick.

  Katherine saw Tonya and the utter horror in her eyes. It was enough to snap her back to the reality of the present. Katherine sank to her knees, panting, with tears of blood continuing to flow from her eyes.

  “Get out!” Tonya screamed at Hank and the Psi-mech.

  Both Hank and the pilot inside the mech hesitated.

  “Now!” Tonya ordered them.

  “Okay, okay,” Hank told Tonya, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. He and the Psi-mech left the room, leaving the two women alone once more.

  “Katherine?” Tonya asked, trying to keep her voice calm despite the emotions within her that lingered from their contact.

  Katherine turned her head toward Tonya. Her eyes were glowing a fierce shade of red. Fangs gleamed in the dim light of the room as she hissed at the telepath.

  “It’s over, Katherine,” Tonya told her. “It’s all over now. You’re home.”

  One of Katherine’s hands shot out to close its fingers around Tonya’s throat. Tonya couldn’t breathe, much less say anything else as Katherine rose from the floor, effortlessly lifting her into the air with her outstretched arm. Tonya made no physical attempt to resist. Instead, she pushed her way back inside Katherine’s mind. Sleep! Tonya commanded, and Katherine collapsed as if someone had thrown a switch that shut her down. Tonya toppled to the floor with her, but Katherine’s hold on her was broken and she pulled away.

  Tonya sat next to Katherine’s unconscious form, staring at it with pity. The things Katherine had been through and endured were horrific beyond words. Tonya sat, weeping until she could cry no more.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 7

  “The things Katherine went through…” Tonya told Ringer, Donald, and Hank. “I can’t even put them into words. No one should ever be forced to endure the things they did to her. Katherine’s strong, though. I think she’ll recover.”

  “And Mavet? Did he…?” Donald asked.

  “He didn’t reprogram her mind in any way that would be a threat to us,” Tonya answered.

  “What does that mean?” Ringer demanded.

  “You’re just going to have to take my word that, aside from the trauma she’s been through, Katherine Grimm is fine,” Tonya told them.

  “But the gaps in her memories…?” Ringer pressed.

  “Are things better left unremembered, Ringer.” Tonya glared at the telekinetic. “She may be scarred, but Katherine Grimm is as trustworthy as any other member of this group. She won’t be a threat to us…at least not in the sense the two of you are worried about.”

  “That’s not good enough,” Donald protested. “If there’s any chance at all my mother has been compromised…”

  “Damn it! There isn’t, Donald!” Tonya roared. “Mavet never had any intention of using her as a weapon against us. He only wanted her for her knowledge, and other things.”

  “Tonya, you’re the best telepath we have,” Ringer said, trying to calm her. “If you say she’s clean, I guess that’ll have to be enough.”

  “She’s clean, Ringer,” Tonya said. “Scarred, maybe even broken in some ways, but clean.”

  “I see,” Donald said, but Tonya didn’t really think he did.

  “Can she resume command?” Donald asked after a moment.

  “In time,” Tonya answered. “She’ll need to truly find herself again first. Right now she’s riddled with doubt and fear. She’s not the woman either of you knew before. What she’s been through has changed her. Frankly, it’s a testament to just how strong Katherine Grimm is that she survived what she’s been through. I doubt I could have.”

  “So where does that leave us?” Hank asked.

  “Give her something to occupy her,” Tonya said. “Let her build up into what she once was again, then she’ll be ready to take over, Donald.”

  “How much time?” Donald’s expression was one of worry as he stared at Tonya.

  “I can’t answer that,” Tonya admitted. “No one can but Katherine herself.”

  Donald’s attention seemed to drift away as if he’d begun crunching numbers inside his head.

  “Understood.” Ringer nodded. “In the meantime, I think it would be a good idea for all of us to keep an eye on her.”

  “That’s a smart move,” Tonya agreed, “but we can’t make it obvious that we are. Just not being able to resume command right away will be damaging enough to Katherine.”

  “Uh…I hate to ask, but,” Hank frowned, “what about that thing where you telepaths can see through the eyes of other people and all that? Is that something we should be concerned about?”

  Tonya shook her head. “Mavet still has his mental claws in her, to a degree, but not to anywhere near the point of doing stuff like that. Besides, I’ll be here to monitor her. If he tries, I’ll be able to sense it and likely able to shut him down.”

  “Then my mother should be assigned to a strike team at once,” Donald said. “If she needs to find herself again, I can think of no better way for her to do so than that.”

  “We only have two strike teams now,” Ringer commented. “Mine and Scott’s. Which one are you thinking?”

  “Scott’s,” Tonya said without any trace of doubt. “Katherine will fit in better there until she’s a hundred percent herself again.”

  “So be it.” Donald nodded. “I’ll inform Scott of the new addition to his team as soon as this meeting is over. We have a general staff meeting coming up in two hours. Let’s make sure my mother attends that, as well.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 8

  The ge
neral staff meeting included all the company’s key psychics, Richard and Selah among them, though they were relegated to the rear of the room where the meeting took place. Donald and Ringer stood at the front of the room. Tonya sat next to Katherine and Scott at one of the tables, Hank and Eddie at the other.

  “As you all know, Psi-Mechs, Inc. has stopped policing the world of the supernatural. We simply don’t have the resources at our disposal we once had. All our focus needs to be directed toward our war with Mavet and his vampires. Whatever Mavet is planning must be stopped above all else,” Donald told those gathered. “However, there are some things that come up which can’t be ignored. Such a thing has recently come to my attention.”

  “But you just said our focus needs to be on Mavet,” Scott leaned forward in his chair.

  “I did,” Donald answered. “If the god vampire is not stopped, nothing else will matter, but that does not grant us the right to turn a blind eye to something on the level of what has arisen in the swamps of Florida.”

  Eddie cringed at the location Donald mentioned. He’d once met Mavet in those swamps and had no desire to do so again. If the vampire god had wanted him dead then, he would have been. Only Mavet’s need to send Psi-Mechs, Inc. after the worm monster had allowed him to leave the swamp alive that day.

  “That’s a foul place,” Eddie commented, keeping the rest of his thoughts to himself.

  “Ripe with power, too,” Katherine Grimm said. “The place is a virtual nexus of magical energies.”

  “She’s right.” Hank nodded. “The scans I’ve run of the place since Donald clued me in about what’s happening there prove it.”

  “And what is happening there, Donald?” Ringer asked, clearly miffed about being left out of the loop.

  “A better question, perhaps, is what isn’t happening there,” Donald answered. “There are reports, none in the main stream media as yet of course, of the dead returning to life, monsters lurking in the waters of the swamp, and talk among the locals of black magic stirring. Based on the reports I’ve seen, I believe the cult of dark mages Mavet’s brought into his employ are based there.”