I knew I was alone, lying on a floor and it was cold. There was a strange sensation in my throat and chest, but as I couldn't really feel any pain, I tried moving and simply couldn't. I tried to take in a breath, but the air seemed to leak out of me, despite my trying to hold it in. I struggled to make sense of what was happening, ended up rolling onto my back and, through the haze of my vision, I could make out something hanging directly over me. Something inside me told me that the hanging thing was important, but my mind was swimming through a haze that I just couldn't seem to clear.
Something warm and wet struck my face and I blinked as it passed over my cheek and fell into my eye. It burned slightly and I tried to raise a hand to wipe it away when another drop struck me. I turned my head away as more droplets rained down from the sky and somehow I found the strength to raise a hand and wipe away some of the moisture.
I checked my fingers, prepared for the sight of blood, although I was uncertain why, and was surprised to find only damp fingers in my vision. Confused and seeing no indication of what had wet my face and fingers I placed my hand near my nose, but found no scent that would tell me what the liquid might be. More drops plunked down around me like a slowly starting rain and I wondered momentarily if there was a hole in the roof that was letting some rain in… but it hadn’t been raining…
The idea of rainwater was appealing to me and I realized I was desperately thirsty. I somehow managed to lick my still damp hand and the salt that met my tongue sent a jolt into me. I dropped my hand to the floor, my only thought at how filthy my hand must be to make pure rainwater taste with such salinity.
My head rolled to the side and my eyes threatened to close again, and probably would have, if not for the sight of a tiny figure standing by an opening in the wall. It held very still, before running toward me, with its long hair flowing behind it as it approached and I searched my memories for who or what the figure might be. I felt the remaining air leave my lungs when I saw that it was Lei looking small and frail as she had on the day Alpha had introduced her to our collective, after rescuing her from her former life. I remembered the hard look on her face as she stared, unblinking, at everyone around her until her eyes fell on me and, as our eyes met, her defiant countenance slipped. In that moment I saw the frightened little girl that she really was and I swore to myself that I was going to make sure that nothing ever harmed her again.
Lei knelt next to me and placed her hands on my chest, which made me cough something wet up from deep inside myself. I managed to turn my head to keep from coughing anything at her and then felt my throat clear enough to talk.
“I love you,” my voice was thin and weak, but I managed to get the words out in spite of how difficult it was to get any air. The effort made me realize that I was having trouble breathing and I forced myself, painfully, to take in as deep a breath as I could so I could say more. Lei's eyes went wide with surprise just as they had the first time I had said it to her when we were kids in the Nevada desert. I remembered how worried I had been that she would run from me after I confessed my feelings for her. I watched as her eyes filled with tears, same as they had before, and felt her push harder on my chest. It was painful and a pain that was unlike any I had ever felt before. Not so much that it was intense or excruciating, as it was an unusual sensation. It was like my chest was made of Velcro and the forced expansion as I drew breath was akin to ripping the two adhering pieces apart. It even sounded like that in my ears as I pulled more air in and was now able to hold it inside. It was an instinctive maneuver, but I realized that now the air was staying in me as opposed to leaking away and I felt my head begin to clear as the haze lifted from my sight.
I looked up at Lei's face again and realized that it wasn't Lei after all, but a small child that I didn't recognize. My thoughts suddenly came rushing back into me, and I looked upward at the ceiling and the object swinging overhead, remembering that this was where Lei was suspended. I turned back to the girl, her face jolting memories of where I was and what I was doing here.
“Pha?”
Chapter 41
“Right!” Chris screamed as he shot a final round from one of two his Berettas, all his extra ammunition for it now spent, “So what was the plan again?”
Alpha and Chris hadn't made it to the side of the warehouse where the roll-up door had been set in ruin as another, smaller group of Dimitri's people suddenly cut them off and sandwiched them between those chasing them from behind.
Alpha shouted back, “The plan is just to keep them all on us until Steve can either find Lei or kill Dimitri.”
“Right,” Chris agreed, “I'm a little unclear on what we're supposed to do after that?”
“Does it matter as long as Steve and Lei get away?”
Chris moaned, “Oh please don't tell me I fought my way to you just so you can get yourself killed Spartan-style.”
Alpha laughed, “I did tell you to stay put.”
“Yeah, but you know I never listen to you.”
Chris flinched as one of Dimitri's people inched a little too close, so he threw the empty gun directly into the creeper's face. The solid grip struck hard and instantly split flesh, not in a mortal way or even an incapacitating injury, but painful enough to make the man retreat back to the safety of the group. Alpha frowned, “Now you're throwing your guns away?”
“Just one,” Chris answered, “I have one more full clip for the other.”
Chris could feel Alpha stiffen, “You know they're going to swarm us as soon as they see you're out of bullets?”
“Yep, so... on the count of three?”
“Agreed.”
Chris took a deep breath, “All right. One...”
Movement from outside the circle of Dimitri's people caught Chris' eye. Someone was hurriedly walking over and calling out in their direction. Chris, feeling relief at the thought that Larson's people had finally reached them, squinted as he tried to make out who it was, only to have his stomach sink when he realized it was Dimitri Lagos.
“Oh crap,” slipped from Chris' lips, making Alpha swivel his head to see what had interrupted the countdown.
“What is he carrying?” Alpha asked.
As Dimitri moved closer the sword in his hand and the blood that ran up his sleeve became evident and was a telling answer to Steve's fate.
“Oh no,” Chris voice broke as he whispered the words and his head dropped while the air around him seemed to become very heavy, making it difficult to breathe.
Alpha remained stoic except for the gasp he took that indicated his surprise and horror at what the blood on the sword represented.
Dimitri called to his people in Russian, “What are you waiting for?! Take them!”
A multitude of heads swiveled from Dimitri and back to the pair in the center of their circle.
Even though he couldn’t speak the language, at the sound of those words Chris raised his head and a snarl curled his lip, “Yeah, come get us you little fucking schoolgirls!”
Chris' hand whipped to his pocket, pulled out a fully loaded clip and slammed it home into magazine well before anyone, including Alpha, could fully register what had happened. The first shot was like a starting pistol that abruptly animated everyone to life, and suddenly their “dance” began again. Alpha lunged as Chris began shooting and Dimitri's people dodged around as they tried to close in.
Chris' final bullet blew cleanly through the forehead of another of Dimitri's people before the slide remained open and served as a beacon to the remaining two or three dozen zombies that he was out of bullets. They closed on him like the tide and forced him to the ground, pinning his arms and legs while the remainder went for Alpha. Chris could still make out Alpha's swirling form cutting down adversaries right and left until Dimitri walked behind one of his people, in this case a small anorexic looking woman, and pushed her bodily onto one of Alpha's blades. Though her bodyweight was slight it was enough to trap the blade and halt Alpha's momentum long enough for three more of Dimitri's people to grab onto th
e incapacitated arm. The remaining mass instantly saw the opening, and as a whole shoved their way in and tackled Alpha, pinning him to the ground in a fashion similar to the way Chris was pinned.
Dimitri sauntered around to the front of the pile, smiling triumphantly at the sight lying in front of his feet.
To Alpha he said, “All this for a girl?” he shook his head in either disappointment or disgust, “how did you ever manage to become the leader of the North American Collective?”
Alpha regarded Dimitri calmly, “It is exactly because I value every one of my people like family that we thrive.”
Dimitri shook his head again, “No, that is exactly what makes you weak because it gives your enemies a target they can exploit,” Dimitri inclined his head to Chris “just as I have done.”
Having made his point, Dimitri lazily twirled his sword around a bit before walking over to the pile where Chris was pinned.
Inclining his head back to Alpha he asked, “One of your famed Hunters?”
Alpha did not respond, the same could not be said for Chris, “Goddamn right! You ugly, monkey sucking-!”
A fist from one of Dimitri's people slammed into Chris face and then covered his mouth, silencing him.
Dimitri looked perplexed and turned to Alpha for enlightenment, “My English must be slipping. Did... Was he about to call me a monkey-sucking... something or other?”
The inanity of the moment made Alpha blink with surprise as Dimitri considered the insult for another couple of seconds before he shuffled over next to Chris' head and kicked him squarely in the temple, rendering him unconscious.
The people holding Chris down let go and moved to surround their leader who turned back to Alpha, “All your people are precious to you? Well, despite what you think of me, I take care of my people as well.”
Alpha's eyes glanced from one pock marked face to another as he took in the level of “care” that Dimitri seemed to be providing those that currently surrounded him.
“Ah, yes.” Dimitri agreed as he followed Alpha's gaze, “my good friend Nicholas Nicholaevich wanted an army to command, so I provided him with people that were,” Dimitri considered his next words, “less than what I would want fighting by my side.”
Alpha looked at the mass of people holding him down and those by Dimitri's side when the realization came to him, “What have you done?”
“Ingushetia, the city of Nazran in particular, is a country of the disenfranchised and destitute. What greater service can I do for them than to give them purpose again?”
Alpha's memory of how his blood, given to Chris in a transfusion to save his life, had altered Chris' body chemistry on a genetic level and turned him into one his kind.
“You're turning regular humans into our kind? But that isn't possible on any kind of scale. Your blood...”
“Is now readily available thanks to the late Dr. Whelan's vaccine. It only takes a small sample of my blood to create enough vaccine to change these poor fools into beings like us.”
Alpha shook his head, “But they're all dying of the Porphyria.”
“Of course,” Dimitri agreed, “once they have served their purpose we will further restrict their source of sustenance until they kill themselves or simply die off. After all, we can't have a collection of simple, converted human waste sharing our victory with us. Until then, every commander needs pawns to lay on a blade for the cause of victory and I'd rather it be this collection of Nazran trash as opposed to my true bloods.”
Alpha wasn't sure if it was because Dimitri was speaking in English that none of the people surrounding him reacted to what had just been said or if it was because most were too far gone in the throes of the Porphyria to understand anything more than instinct. Either way, Alpha could feel his anger flaring and he struggled against the multitude of hands holding him down, but Dimitri quickly walked over and placed the blade at Alpha's throat quelling his struggles.
“I'm going to give you one chance to live. Tell me where my property, the one you call William, is located and I'll let you and the girl go.” He gestured to Chris' limp form and said, “I'll even throw in this insufferable fool for good measure.”
Alpha took note of the few spots of pink blood that discolored the polished blade and fact that Dimitri hadn't included Steve in the equation.
Dimitri smirked, “What do you say.”
Alpha looked Dimitri right in his eye and was about to answer him when a voice called out in Russian, “He says that you should go to hell, Bastard!”
Dimitri whirled, as did the heads of most of his people and were met by the sight of a figure so enormous that he seemed to fill the entire landscape with the sheer immensity of his size.
Alpha couldn't see past the mass of bodies, but knew that only one person in all of creation could cause the look of pure panic and fear in the eyes of everyone around him. In a loud voice Alpha called out, “Dimitri Lagos, may I introduce you to my friend William.” Alpha then raised his voice to a bellow, “William, meet Dimitri Lagos! The man who kidnapped your daughter!”
An eerie silence filled the air as the tip of Dimitri's sword swept away from Alpha's neck and gestured in the direction everyone was facing. Alpha could see Dimitri's hand shaking in the pregnant pause until a sound, like the roar of some great beast, exploded from beyond the circle of Dimitri's people. The cry was so full of rage and hate that its power seemed to shake the ground itself. Alpha felt the strength in the hands holding him down slacken as his captors desperately tried to rise from the ground where they pinned him. Alpha smiled as he realized they might have stood a chance if they had held their ground, but the chaos that ensued amongst Dimitri's people doomed them, as William rammed into them with bone splintering force, causing their bodies to either be crushed into the ground under his feet, or simply take flight into the air from the impact.
Dimitri shouted his orders, and the mass of his people seemed to generally rally at his words as they shifted toward William and then swarmed foward in an attempt to overwhelm the giant in a manner similar to the way they had overcome Alpha.
Then, from the other side of the melee, Alpha heard another sound, one that could only be someone cursing and, despite his unfamiliarity with the foreign dialect, Alexei’s angry voice was easy to distinguish. Alpha could see Dimitri turn toward the sound, barking out more orders, causing a portion of the main group of Dimitri's people to separate and charge the second threat, only to find themselves being cut down, as Alexei advanced toward the spot where he and Chris lay recovering.
“Nicholas, Nicholas!” Dimitri had begun screaming as he backpedaled away from the fracas, desperately scanning the surrounding area for the big man.
Alexei made two great slashes with his Bowie knife in a crisscross pattern that practically bisected the closest of Dimitri's people before he turned to Dimitri and hissed, “My uncle will not be joining us!”
Alpha watched Dimitri's eyes go wide with emotion, as the words sank in. Dimitri cursed to himself under his breath, as he backpedalled in order to get behind a couple of his people.
Alpha knelt, retrieving his own knives from the ground, before standing and facing Dimitri. Noticing the movement Dimitri turned to face Alpha and raised his sword into an “on-guard” position.
Alpha held his knives in a ready position and chuckled, “Yes, this is probably how it should be.”
The leaders of two vampire nations, from opposite sides of the world, faced each other, ignoring everything and everyone else around them.
Alpha raised up his knives and was about to step forward when Dimitri's other hand whipped out from behind his back holding a Colt’s Python 2.5” barreled .357 Magnum snub-nosed revolver. Alpha froze, and Dimitri sneered at his American counterpart, “Yes, it probably is.”
The sound of the shot overwhelmed the other sounds of battle, and Alpha felt the impact of the bullet shoving him back fiercely, as pain exploded into his chest. He hadn't actually realized he had been knocked from his feet, un
til the back of his head slammed down hard against the ground, making his vision swim.
A bellow of rage exploded from William's lungs at having seen Alpha fall and he turned toward Dimitri and charged him once again. At least four of Dimitri's people were still clinging to various parts of William's body, but he moved faster and faster toward the vampire as if he didn't notice them at all. Dimitri saw him coming and fired his revolver at him, but the bullet struck one of his own people, dislodging the man from William's shoulder where he had been clinging. Another shot rang out and blood exploded from William's opposite shoulder. William's body had jerked with the impact, but he never broke stride, continuing to close in on Dimitri’s position. A third shot erupted and the bullet sliced through the flesh between William's shoulder and neck as the attempted headshot missed by mere inches. Still, there were arteries that ran through the area near the impact to make it a dangerous wound. No arterial spray erupted from the furrow the bullet created, but blood still began flowing copiously from the traumatized area.
William never even slowed.
Dimitri began to backpedal again, but as he turned he saw Alexei, hacking his way through the crowd and closing in from the other direction.
More of Dimitri's people climbed onto William's back, until nearly a dozen had some sort of grip on the big man until his steps were slowed and then finally halted. Realizing he would need to extricate himself from the clinging crowd, William began lashing out at the ones who held him, and so Dimitri chose the moment to turn and run.
Chapter 42
Dimitri had lived through many battles, some ended in victory and some in retreat, but he had lived through it all because he was able to tell how the tide of battle was turning and he was prepared to do whatever he needed to do to ensure his own survival. Now as he ran for the warehouse, he could clearly see the small combat unit that was decimating the remainder of his people who were not still engaged against the Romanov and William. Dimitri hated retreating, but common sense told him that it was time to leave and regroup. He had thousands more of his people that he could call upon to defend him, and all he had to do was make it back to the city where he would be safe. His plans would have to be put on hold after the army seized his cache' of biological weapons, but he still had the formulas, and there would always be those who would be willing to create new weapons for the right price.
Rasputin's Prodigy Page 34