Survivor Reborn (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter)

by R. B. Fivecoat

  As they say, it was quiet, too quiet.

  “Does anyone else feel like this is a trap?” I asked.

  “What do you mean, what’s going–” Emmy’s voice cut out, my glasses went dark.

  “Shit! Anyone else having problems with their glasses?” I asked tossing mine off. The others took theirs off as well.

  “We are being jammed. This is most defiantly a trap!” Marsala scanned the room turning in circles. Then he dropped his backpack. He dug out two rolls of something like duct tape and two aerosol cans, handing me the one of the tapes and Ren a can. “We need to hurry. Place the tape over the doors. Then spray the tape. It will bond itself to the doors, like welding on metal brackets.”

  We moved back to the doors. I watched Marsala tape off the first door. Once I got the idea I began to tear off chunks of the tape, placing it on the door and doorjamb. Ren sprayed each one when I was finished. The tape bubbled and smoked, then stopped. I was just too curious. I touched one of the tapes that had stopped bubbling. It felt like steel. I’d tried to peel it back off and would’ve probably torn a nail off if not for my gloves and shields.

  This stuff is wicked strong for duct tape.

  We sealed all the doors, including the elevators, but not the private elevator doors on the other side. If anyone was after us, they would have to bust in to get us. Then I had a smart-ass idea. With Marsala back in the center of the room where he wouldn’t get burned, I activated a light stick. I taped an activated light stick over each door. Just a little added protection against evil vampire goons.

  Satisfied that we had sealed ourselves in, we started for the private doors. Halfway there, an ear-piercing shrieking suddenly filled the room. Ren dropped to a knee, as did Marsala, while they looked around for the source of the noise.

  I just stood there like an idiot somehow knowing full well what made the sound.

  Surely this has to be a bad joke. Or, is my bad luck following me even with this new body?

  I turned to look out the windows to my right.

  The shrieking grew louder.

  Please someone tell me this is not happening.

  Glass erupted from the windows spraying inside the room in all directions. The gargoyle stood just inside of the hole it busted though. It stood like a man with wings flared out behind it, lizard skin the color of black concrete, and a bird’s beak. It shrieked at us again, the noise was deafening even in the large room.

  Just great, can my luck get any worse?

  Glass shattered again as three more gargoyles burst into the room. Another one just like the first, and two that looked like giant snub-nosed dogs with wings.

  Well I did ask didn’t I?

  “Marsala, please tell me you know how to kill a gargoyle.” I still just stood there hands empty.

  “Honestly, until now, I did not believe there were real living gargoyles anymore. I thought those were just statues.” His head swiveling to look at them all at once.

  “I’ll take that as a no then.”

  Okay, my day just gets better and better.

  They stood there shrieking and growling. I swore they looked like moving stone. I drew my gun and fired into the first gargoyle. The bullet exploded harmlessly against the skin. The creature stood there, uninjured.

  However, I do believe that I just royally pissed him off.

  It shrieked at me.

  Fine, so they’re bulletproof, no problem. If it bleeds you can kill it, right? Lets see if they bleed.

  I crossed around Marsala then took off running straight at the first gargoyle. I pulled my fist back ready to strike as I closed the distance, screaming all the way. I hit the thing with all the might of my shields. The same hit I’d used to break the boulder a few days ago.

  The creatures head bowed under the force of the blow. Then it lifted its gaze at me with those empty black pools it had for eyes. The black faded away to a glowing blood-red.

  The thing snapped at me. I dogged, falling on my butt.

  It scrambled down on top of me, trying to bite my head. It took all the strength of my shields to keep those jaws off me.

  Perhaps hitting it was a bad idea after all.

  I heard screaming. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Marsala fighting to keep the other three from Ren. All hell had broken loose. Each time he got hold of one of them, he would toss it back out a window. Then move on to the next.

  There has got be a way to kill these things.

  I struggled to keep from being bitten as I forced myself to think. I really knew nothing about gargoyles. I did remember a story that they once were protectors of man at night. Then man protected them during the day, because they turned to stone with the sunrise. If they were broken while they were stone, they wouldn’t come back to life with the next sunset.

  Suppose that these things are like that? Too bad the sun already went down for the night.

  I could see inside the creatures mouth. In fact it was the only thing I could see. It took both my hands and both feet pressing against it to keep it from biting my face off. Inside, the mouth looked like normal flesh. Not the rock-like skin on the outside.

  Then I had a crazy idea.

  I took my right hand away from the beast, still holding it with my left. I dug hastily in the belt packs. I dug out a light grenade and activated it. Once activated I tossed it in the creatures mouth, then slammed its beak shut.

  I struggled to keep the mouth of the thing closed. It stood up. I had to ride it up to keep the mouth closed so it couldn’t spit out the grenade. The grenade exploded. I heard the muffled sound. When I looked down, the throat of the beast expanded out. A bright red glow shown through the rough skin. The neck grew to three times the size it was.

  Is it going to explode?

  I closed my eyes and held on preparing for the worst. The gargoyle began thrashing its head around, and me with it. It was like some sick, twisted rodeo. Then we crashed to the floor.

  I kept hold of the beak for a few seconds. Then I saw the black blood leak out of the corners of the mouth. I let up and the thing never moved. If it wasn’t dead, it was sure sleeping good.

  I turned as Ren screamed again. One of the dog gargoyles had her pinned to the far wall. She was curled up in a ball protecting her head. The beast kept hitting her armor with its claws. I drew my gun and shot it in the back of the head.

  It turned to growl at me. Then it took off straight at me, growling and snapping as it crossed the room.

  “Smile bitch!” I screamed.

  It growled back at me, mouth open.

  I fired.

  The light blue line went straight inside the mouth. Instantly the skin around the back of the head and neck popped out like a balloon for a split second then deflated. It crashed to the floor, black blood oozing from its slack jaw.

  “Inside the mouth! Their weakness is inside the mouth!” I yelled at Marsala.

  He threw back his fist, then rammed it down the beak of the gargoyle in his hands. Sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking filled the room. Marsala pulled his hand back from the creature. His hand was covered in that same black blood. In his hand was what looked like a chunk of spinal cord. He let the thing fall to the ground.

  Abruptly something slammed into me, shoving me out the window. The last gargoyle had gotten the drop on me. It was chewing at my arm through my shields. I hadn’t been paying close enough attention. We were falling rapidly towards the crowded street below.

  Twice out of the same floor, of the same building, on the same day. This is another habit I’m not going to keep.

  I slammed my fist into the head of the thing, trying to force its mouth off my arm. Nothing changed. I reached behind me drawing the sword. It took a second for me to slide the tip inside the jaw of the creature. Once the blade had cleared the opening, I jammed it into the back of the throat. The gargoyle howled with pain, then the howl became thick with blood. I shifted the blade back and forth inside its mouth, cutting more with each move. It stopped h
owling and released my arm.

  I pressed with my shields. I flew just enough to stop falling. Hovering there I watched the beast fall and crash into the street below, shattering the pavement like fine China under a sledgehammer. I stayed and watched for a moment to make sure it didn’t get back up.

  It’d be bad press if it started to eat civilians now. Besides, I’m sure I’d be blamed for it somehow.

  The creature never moved. A police car arrived stopping next to the fallen beast. I flew back up to the others where they were gathering themselves back together.

  Ren had a bleeding cut on her left cheek, but was fine otherwise. The blood smeared on her face made her look that much more dangerous with her pissed off expression.

  Marsala was tore up all over. He was healing though. You could just look at him then glance back a few seconds later and he looked better than before.

  Thunder roared up from the stairwell doors.

  We’re about to have company, a lot of company. We just can’t get a break can we? Why can’t the bad guys just turn themselves in without a fight?

  Something large was slamming against our secured doors.

  “Against the wall, prepare to dig in!” Marsala rushed to the far side of the room from the elevators. Ren and I followed.

  I was ten feet from the wall when the crashing began and the first shots rang out. Marsala was shooting already. I dove for the wall, twisting in midair to face the freshly opened doors on the other side of the room.

  Guards were coming out of the bathrooms and the other elevators. They’d been hiding in the bathrooms waiting for us and had broken through our seals already. The seals themselves were intact, but the doors had been torn completely out of the walls, frames and all.

  I opened fire. Each round blasting a large hole wherever it hit. The three of us were keeping the guards from leaving the bathroom doors and the elevators.

  Marsala stopped firing for a second. He pulled out two five-inch cubes, sliding them over to me across the floor.

  “Blue button!” he screamed and started firing again.

  I pressed the blue button on the cubes. They unfolded making little cubicles to hide in. I slid one in front of Ren. She welcomed the cover. I crouched under my new shield as I continued to fire.

  The guards fired at us even though we were now hidden. None of their bullets got through the cubicles.

  Thirst suddenly overtook me. I needed a drink bad. Hiding behind my shield I took a hydro pack out and had a couple drops. I felt better instantly. I took a moment to look at Marsala as he hid behind a bigger cube shield.

  Then the stairwell doors exploded open.

  Vampires flooded into the room screaming in pain as the light sticks taped above the holes where the doors had been burned them. One vampire reached up a flame covered hand tearing the light stick down with his melting flesh, then wrapping it in his shirt to hide the light. Others copied his move on the other doors.

  I activated a light grenade throwing it at the vamps.

  “COVER!!!” I screamed, ducking back behind my cube and covering my ears.

  Marsala flattened behind his cube shield. I hadn’t even thought about him when I threw it. The grenade exploded. Light and sound filled the room.

  When the light faded I stood up. Only three guards were standing, the rest were burning skeletons on the ground.

  They must not be vampires then.

  I fired one round into each, taking out the guards.

  I had just a few seconds to breathe. So I pushed off from the wall with my shields, flying to the other side of the room. I activated a light grenade and tossed it inside the Men’s Room, then crossed over and tossed one in the Women’s. I activated two grenades for each stairwell, tossing one shallow and the other hard through the doors. Once done, I flew back to the others.

  “Good idea,” Marsala was repositioning himself for the next barrage.

  “What now?” Ren asked.

  “There’s already a few cops downstairs, they should be calling for backup because of the gunfire. Marsala, will Emmy call for help if we lose contact like we did?”

  “I would think so.”

  “So the plan just changes a little. You two stay here, hold your ground.”

  “Where are you going?!?” Ren asked half crazed.

  “I’m going after Jacob, if he’s even still here. Someone tipped them off we were coming. We were set up.” I didn’t look at Marsala.

  Was Tanaka right? Did Marsala report to Targ that we were coming? Hell this was HIS plan after all, would he really turn traitor on me? On us?

  I handed my guns to Ren, along with all my remaining extra clips. I wanted to warn her about Marsala.

  But what if I’m wrong? What if Marsala hasn’t turned traitor? Regardless, I just can’t leave her here and say nothing.

  “Ren, kill any vampire that threatens you. Any of them could be working for Targ.” It was the best non-warning I could come up with.

  She held up my guns. “Don’t you need thethe?”

  I pulled out my sword suddenly wishing I’d taken fencing lessons back in college. “You need them more. Just hold the fort until help arrives. I’ll be back soon.”

  I used the sword to force the elevator doors open. The elevator was nowhere in sight. It was simply gone. I stepped into the empty shaft. Took a deep breath. Then flew up to the only door.

  I floated above the door as I opened it. Gunfire filled the shaft as more guards fired at the opening doors. I stayed where I was, hovering just above the door, waiting. It only took a few seconds before the first guard stuck his head through to look down the shaft.

  I swung the sword. Cleaving the neck neatly in two.

  The other guards started to react. I dropped down into the room. Seven guards blocked me from the only set of doors other than the elevator. They all opened fire on me. My shields kept me safe from their gunfire. I attacked them one by one. Hacking and chopping away, until none stood.

  My head was splitting with a migraine when the last one fell, his legs no longer attached to his torso. I was getting tired.

  I can rest when we get this done, right?

  BAM!

  Something slammed into my shields exploding at the side of my head hard enough to throw me to the ground. I shook off the shock to look at Targ’s assistant Greg, behind a five-inch wide gun barrel attached to a turret that looked like it was the top half of a tank pointed at me.

  Why hadn’t I seen him or the gun earlier? Was it hidden? And, why in the hell do they have a tank gun inside an enclosed room anyway?

  He fired two more rounds at me. I threw up my arms to protect my head by reflex. Both of the large rounds detonated against my shields with enough force to slide me back along the floor to the far wall.

  “Why don’t you die?” he screamed as he fired again.

  After the round hit I threw out my shields. I used my shield-hand to cover the barrel of the large gun. He fired again. When the shell hit my shield-hand covering the barrel, it exploded, blowing up the gun and Greg with it.

  I didn’t like him anyway.

  Chapter 22

  The double doors led into an office that took up the entire penthouse. There was an ebony desk on the far end of the otherwise empty room. A giant towering flat TV took up most of the wall behind the desk. There were views of different security cameras on it. The screen showed Ren and Marsala both firing away at the growing mountain of bodies and skeletons.

  “Was it a good idea to leave the detective with a vampire as backup? A vampire that answers to me as well as the Council?” The voice came from the wingback chair facing the TV.

  “Ahmed Targ?”

  The chair swiveled around. A frail-looking old man with pale gray skin and thinning gray hair sat in the chair. He grinned bearing his fangs.

  “Yes Kieran, I am Ahmed Targ. We met once before, but you don’t remember that do you? Or has your memory returned? No. No, I am guessing that little Amelia couldn’t let go of he
r sister. So she cut a deal with someone to take her place. Am I right, Kevin?”

  Does everyone know who I am? Did someone take out an ad in the paper or something? Creepy, this guy is freakishly creepy. Even more creepy than Yuric, if that’s possible. Well he knows who I am, at least that saves me the time explaining it to him.

  “Okay, so you know who I am. So what? Am I supposed to be impressed?”

  “Oh no my dear boy, you should be afraid. Very afraid. You see, only Marsala, Amelia, and Tanaka knew about the mind switch. Now I’m sure that Amelia is glad to still have her sister in a way still . . . alive. But Marsala and Tanaka. Both ex-lovers. Both with ties to Jacob.”

  “What are you talking about?” I was fighting the pain in my head now.

  Suppose I can call a timeout?

  “Marsala lives in my city, he answers to me. If I ask him a direct question he is honor bound to answer me truthfully. And did you not wonder why Tanaka was so eager to check on your tattoo lead? Then he volunteered to risk his life to spy on the Full Moon Hunt. Did you not notice the similarities of his tattoos and those marks of the white werewolf you are searching for? My child you have at least one traitor in your midst.”

  The bell in my head finally dinged.

  That was what looked different about Tanaka.

  His tattoos do match the marks on the white werewolf. But Marsala does have to answer to his masters, and this was his plan after all. Are they both against me?

  I was confusing myself. My head was hurting so much I could barely stand.

  “Poor thing, who do you trust now?”

  I’d finally had enough of Targ. “Where is Jacob? I’ve come to execute him for his crimes.”

  Targ stood, walking around to lean on the front of his desk. He moved like the frail old man he looked like. “Oh I know full well why you are here. That is why Jacob is far from here. Hidden, from you. I can’t have you destroying my strongest warrior, now can I. Kieran came close, very close. One close to you wiped her mind clean before she could kill Jacob. If it were not for a certain traitor you have in your ranks, she would have succeeded. Jacob wanted to keep Kieran as a play toy. But I have found it much more amusing following your life, recently.” He pointed to the TV behind him. It switched from security cameras to different views of me, with different people, at different places.