The Vampire War

by Eric S. Brown

  Mavet accessed Hank’s mind, pulling from it all the knowledge he needed, both about the Cerebus and the warehouse base of Psi-Mechs, Inc. When he was finished, the strands extending from his hand extracted themselves from the tele-mechanic’s brain. The vampire god shoved Hank’s now twitching body from the pilot’s seat, allowing it to thud onto the floor as he slid into the seat in its place.

  The vampire god set a course for Psi-Mechs, Inc.’s warehouse base and kicked the Cerebus’ engines up to full power. The ship streaked through the air like a missile en route to its target. Mavet knew that those he’d fled inside the mountain would return there soon to regroup and care for their wounded. When they did, he would be there waiting for them.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 33

  Katherine emerged onto the ledge outside the mountain’s system of tunnels. The night was bright with the light of the moon and stars above. In her arms, she carried the corpse of her son. It was nothing for her half-vampire strength. She could easily bear five times the load of Donald’s weight, yet his body in her arms was the greatest weight Katherine Grimm had ever carried. Streaks of blood lined her cheeks from the tears that were still flowing. Her heart was broken, shattered into a thousand cold fragments within her. For the first time in years, her eyes weren’t glowing red. Her pupils were a deep blue that matched the sorrow she felt. Katherine hadn’t spoken a single word since she’d told Ringer to back off.

  She’d always known the war she’d dedicated her life to waging on the evils that lurked in the shadows would cost lives—the lives of her soldiers, her friends—but never, even on her darkest of days, had she believed it would take her son from her. When she’d first adopted Donald, it had been so she could exploit his power of seeing the future. Such a gift, with his level of accuracy, was a rare and priceless tool to use in the war she waged. She’d never dreamed she would fall in love with Donald. The autistic boy Katherine had watched grow into a young man had stolen her heart and returned to her some of the humanity she’d lost.

  Donald was never capable of a normal relationship. Emotions had always been a struggle for him. But Katherine Grimm knew in the depths of her soul just how much love Donald had felt for her. Part of her regretted ever allowing Donald into the field as one of Psi-Mechs, Inc.’s soldiers. As soon as she’d been freed from Mavet and the vampire god’s minions, Katherine should have put a stop to it. If she had, her son would be alive now. But she couldn’t do it.

  Donald had grown so much, replacing her as head of the company. He’d proven himself against the worm monster Psi-Mechs, Inc. had put an end to. Had it not been for his actions then, how many others would have died? Everyone could have been lost. Only her son had been able to stop the monster. As much as she regretted not stopping him—not returning Donald to his intel status and never allowing him into combat situations again—Katherine had to respect him as the warrior he’d grown into. She would honor that, and no force in all of Heaven, Hell, or Earth was going to stop her from making Mavet pay.

  The other survivors followed Katherine Grimm out of the mountain, all of them keeping their distance from her. Even Ringer held back. He’d never seen Katherine Grimm as she was this night. The pain she felt was so powerful, it seemed to seep out of her, infecting them all. Many had died inside the mountain. Scott was the only surviving Psi-mech pilot; all the others were dead, as were Richard and Tonya Bellmore.

  Tonya had grown from being just another telepath in the early days of the company, to an essential member of its ranks, and to a full-on powerhouse, both on and off the battlefield. Ringer was still trying to process the fact that she was truly gone. Tonya had been, in some ways, his best friend in the company since Frank and Mercy’s deaths. She had kept him grounded and focused on what really mattered. As much as Frank, Tonya had made the company feel like his home, his family, and after the loss of Mercy, it had been partly because of her urging that he hadn’t simply packed up his things and left.

  War was hell. If there was ever proof of that statement, it was the losses Psi-Mechs, Inc. had just endured. Ringer stared at Katherine, wishing he could somehow comfort her, but he knew he couldn’t. Only time would heal her. He knew, because he’d lived through such a loss himself. He raised a hand to wipe at his eyes, brushing away the tears as they formed before the others could notice them, then lit up a cigarette. Ringer took a heavy drag from it, holding the smoke in his lungs a long while before exhaling. He carried Eddie on a telekinetic stretcher. The old man was somehow hanging on, despite his wounds. Hell, he was even conscious. It was an impressive feat.

  Selah hung back at the group’s rear. Being new to company, she wasn’t as torn up as the others, but that didn’t make their pain any less real. She kept her mouth shut and her eyes down, respecting them and giving them whatever time they needed before they decided to carry on. They had stopped Mavet from destroying the world, but the ancient vampire god had eluded them. Using dark magic, Mavet had teleported away before Katherine Grimm could exact her vengeance upon him. When Selah had first met Katherine, she’d seen only another monster that needed killing. She hadn’t truly listened to what the others had told her about the woman. Their words had been nothing more than wasted breath. Having fought side by side with Katherine Grimm, Selah had come to almost envy her as a warrior. The woman’s will and determination were endless. Seeing Katherine Grimm with tears on her cheeks and her dead son in her arms, Selah could no longer deny the truth. Though Katherine Grimm wasn’t exactly human, she certainly wasn’t a vampire, either. She was a unique creature, as dedicated to wiping out the fanged, fragging monsters that lived in the shadows of the night as she was herself.

  Scott had been horrified when he’d discovered just how high a price they’d paid to stop Mavet. The losses of Donald and Tonya still hadn’t truly sunk in for him—they weren’t real yet—but the loss of his fellow pilots, those under his command, was enough by itself to leave him feeling empty and broken. And the sight of Eddie, the old man as wounded as he was, made Scott sick to his stomach. One of the Psycho-porter’s arms was broken, as were many of his ribs, and his left shoulder was completely dislocated. The amount of pain the old man had to be in was enormous. Turning his Psi-mech’s faceplate away from Eddie, Scott remembered that Hank was still out there somewhere in the sky, aboard the Cerebus. Quietly, inside his suit so the others wouldn’t be bothered by his effort, Scott called out to Hank over his Psi-mech’s comm.

  “Hank, you out there, buddy?” Scott asked. “We could use extraction as soon as possible.”

  Only silence answered his call. Scott tried again. “Hank? Come on, man. Answer me.”

  Then Scott got his answer. He heard Hank’s voice. It didn’t come from over the comm. It came from inside his head. Scott could tell what he was hearing wasn’t telepathy, but rather a mechanical, pre-recorded message the tele-mechanic had embedded inside him. It came into his head through a neural interface, but not the one he shared with his Psi-mech. The message came through the neural implants that connected him to the cybernetic legs Hank had built for him when the worm monster had taken his real ones.

  Hey buddy, Hank’s voice said. If you’re hearing this, I’m dead. And you know what that means. The whole team is likely in some sort of epic danger and about to be wiped out. Well, never fear. Good old Hank always has a weapon for everything, right? This time is no exception. Brace yourself, Scott, because you’re about to have a technology-induced pilot orgasm when you see what I’ve left you with. Keep up the fight, Scott.

  Scott was shaking his head, not really understanding what Hank’s voice was telling him. Or maybe he just didn’t want to hear it. Hank can’t be dead, too, can he? Scott wondered, before Hank’s voice spoke inside his head one final time.

  Omega protocol activated, Hank’s voice said.

  Trembling inside his Psi-mech’s pilot compartment, Scott felt his legs disconnect from his body. His neural link with them was severed. The systems of his Psi-mech went dead as
well. Scott could hear his legs shifting, changing beneath him inside the mech. The metal entered an almost liquid state, rising up over his body and engulfing it. Scott managed the brief start of a scream before the metal covered his head.

  The others heard Scott’s cry suddenly cut off as they watched his Psi-mech take a step forward, then freeze in place. Something was happening inside it. Ringer reached out with his telekinesis, tearing the battle armor away from Scott. Selah gasped at the sight Ringer had exposed. Scott’s body was covered in shimmering, moving metal that appeared to have a life of its own. It twisted and swam over Scott, then began to condense, taking on a new shape. When its transition was complete, a new model of Psi-mech stood among the group of psychics. It towered over them, standing almost ten feet tall. Its silver armor, flecked with blue, gleamed in the moonlight.

  “Ringer,” Katherine cautioned, letting the telekinetic know that he might have a fight on his hands.

  “Scott?” Ringer asked. “Is that you, man?”

  “Arrggh!” Scott howled, the giant mech dropping to one knee as his nervous system connected to its newly formed systems.

  “Scott!” Ringer warned.

  The giant mech waved a hand Ringer.

  “It’s me, Ringer,” Scott told the telekinetic and the others. “I’m still in here and in control.”

  “What the hell is that thing?” Selah blurted out.

  “An Omega Psi-mech,” Scott answered, though his voice was trembling.

  “Sure, but where in the devil did it come from?” Selah asked.

  “My legs,” Scott said. “Hank apparently used trans-dimensional tech based on Eddie’s portals, and God knows what else, to conceal it there.”

  Katherine Grimm stared at the Omega Psi-mech. “Hank’s dead, isn’t he, Scott?”

  The Omega Psi-mech’s head nodded. “Yes ma’am, he is.”

  “Hank’s on the Cerebus,” Ringer corrected him.

  “Ringer,” Katherine called the telekinetic’s name. “Hank’s gone, or that thing would never have come out to play.”

  “But…” Ringer started.

  “I helped him build it,” Eddie croaked from where he lay on the telekinetic stretcher Ringer had willed into being for him. “Scott and Katherine are right, Ringer. If that thing’s out in the open, Hank’s dead.”

  Ringer shut up and sucked on his cigarette. The telekinetic looked like he was on the verge of breaking into tears.

  “Frag,” Selah muttered. “Then that means…”

  “Mavet has the Cerebus,” Katherine finished for her. “That’s where the bastard went when he vanished.”

  “How the hell are we going to get home, then?” Selah asked. “The old man is nearly out for the count, too.”

  “Watch it, kid.” Eddie tried to grin despite the pain he was in. “I ain’t dead yet.”

  “This thing just informed me that it can fly,” Scott announced, stunning them all.

  After a moment, Katherine said, “The question is where Mavet will take the Cerebus. We trashed his plans. What does he have left?”

  “Vengeance,” Ringer said. “That’s what he’ll focus on now. Count on it. He’ll take the ship to our base and wait for us there.”

  “That makes sense,” Selah agreed, “but we’re in no shape to take the fight to him.”

  Looking around at the others, Selah realized she might be wrong about that. “…Are we?”

  “Scott, you said that thing can fly, right?” Katherine asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. As fast as the Cerebus,” Scott answered.

  “Then go after Mavet,” Katherine ordered. “We’ll meet you there.”

  The Omega Psi-mech lifted from the ground as thrusters on the bottom of its feet activated. Then another set of thrust units deployed out of its back, and the huge mech blasted off like a rocket, soaring away into the night.

  Ringer shook his head, watching it go. “Wow. That thing is really impressive.”

  “It was…” Eddie coughed. “It was Hank’s pet project since the day he joined up. He spent every hour he could on upgrading that thing every time he came up with any sort of new tech.”

  “I guess that explains why the mech arm of the company’s budget was always so high,” Katherine commented.

  “Scott can’t handle Mavet alone,” Ringer said, “not even in that thing.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that,” Eddie groaned, shifting where he lay on Ringer’s stretcher.

  “Eddie, can you conjure us a portal back to base?” Katherine asked.

  “I can try,” Eddie offered.

  “Good, but first…” Katherine fought back a fresh wave of red tears.

  “We need to send him off right.” Ringer nodded.

  “He always wanted to go into space,” Katherine whimpered.

  “I can do that for him, Katherine,” Ringer assured her.

  Nodding her consent, she placed the body of her son on the rock of the ledge, and stepped away from it after placing a final kiss on Donald’s forehead.

  Ringer reached out with his mind, dragging bits of destroyed Psi-mechs out of the mountain’s tunnels. He telekinetically shaped them into a metal coffin for the young man. Katherine watched the metal shell forming around her son’s body, and she could barely breathe.

  “Goodbye, Donald,” Ringer said, and then the metal torpedo-shaped coffin rose up from the ledge. It hovered in front of them for a few seconds as Ringer’s gave them all a chance to say their final, silent goodbyes, then it streaked upward into the heavens. The coffin disappeared into the darkness of the sky, leaving the Earth’s atmosphere.

  “Donald is where he wanted to be now, Katherine,” Ringer said.

  Katherine wiped at her eyes, smearing tears of blood over her cheeks. “Thank you, Ringer.”

  Ringer nodded but remained silent, wishing he could have done more.

  “Okay, Eddie,” Katherine said, standing up straight and drawing her katana. “Take us home.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 34

  The Cerebus slowed as it approached the warehouse base of Psi-Mechs, Inc., and it sent out a signal that opened the emergency doors above the mech hangar bay. Mavet sat in the pilot seat, allowing the ship to do what needed to be done. The vampire god had taken enough information from Hank’s mind to know the ship needed no help from him. Its programming would carry it through.

  The ship gently clanged onto the floor of the hangar, only then disengaging its cloak. Its rear doors opened, extending a ramp outward. Mavet left the pilot compartment, making his way to the ramp and strolled down it into the interior of the warehouse. He could sense the entire place was empty. His enemies had abandoned it, sending their support staff away in order to keep them safe, in case they lost the battle in the mountain. That was fine with Mavet. Those lesser individuals he could always track down later. No one who was part of Psi-Mechs, Inc. would be spared his wrath, but first…he had to deal with the dangerous ones…and they would be coming home soon.

  The vampire god wished he could have taken more than just a few scattered bits of knowledge and memories from the tele-mechanic’s brain. Having a psychic talent like Hank had possessed would have opened entirely new doorways of power to him. Alas, though, it was not to be. He wasn’t the mutant worm creature he’d sent the humans to destroy for him when it had arisen to stalk the world. Perhaps he should have dealt with it himself, after all, and found a means of taking its ability to absorb the powers of others into his own being. What was done, was done.

  At the time, he had been consumed by the desire to bring his master to Earth. For all his efforts, Mavet had failed in that. The vampire god knew now that even the extra caution he’d taken in dealing with Psi-Mechs, Inc. hadn’t been enough. He had underestimated them. All hope of releasing his master from the prison where the great one lay slumbering was lost for centuries to come, so it was written in the stars themselves. Still, he had a purpose. One that burned in every fiber of his body. It was a simple thing. Ve
ngeance.

  Taking Katherine Grimm’s son from her felt even sweeter as Mavet’s mind touched the psychic ether and felt her pain. Her mind was blocked to him. He couldn’t enter her thoughts. Her shields had been strengthened somehow. Her pain was such that it leaked through those shields, though, and Mavet relished what he could taste of it. The woman had been a thorn in his side for years, and taking her son was only the beginning of what the vampire god had planned for her and the few of her people who yet lived. They would all pay for the loss they had inflicted upon him.

  Giving in to his fury, Mavet wandered about the warehouse base, smashing computers, shattering desks, destroying equipment that appeared to be important, and finally disabling its primary power core in a whirlwind of violence. When his rage was spent, Mavet stood amid the destruction, his eyes burning a hot red in the dimness of the base’s emergency lighting. He gathered his power, finding his center to ready himself for what was to come. Soon, those of Psi-Mechs, Inc. would return, led by Katherine Grimm, and the vampire god would be ready for them.

  Mavet was taken completely by surprise when the roof of the vast control room he was in blew apart above him as something large and silver came crashing through it. The vampire god dodged the exploding debris, taking shelter in a corridor that led out of the control room. Something that very greatly resembled one of the humans’ Psi-mechs landed on the floor of the control room with a loud thud. The mech bristled with raw power as it stood up to its full height, nearly ten feet tall. Mavet stared at the mechanical monster, deeply impressed by it. The thing surely had to have been built by the tele-mechanic he’d slain. No one else on Earth could have created it. With his lips twisted into a snarl, Mavet stepped out of the shadows of the corridor to meet it.