by Rob Cornell
He sat in the mayor’s living room. A modest space for the leader of a modest town. Gabriel had most of the furniture removed except for a leather easy chair and a sofa. The twins lounged on the sofa with their mother between them, each sucking on a wrist. Their mother had a wisp of life in her, but the twins would drain that in the next hour at most.
Gabriel sat in the easy chair, his makeshift throne during his reign over Barrow. He watched the plasma television mounted to the wall. A news anchor for a national cable network looked at the camera with mock distress.
“For those of you just joining us, we have word that all contact has been lost with the United States’ most northern city of Barrow, Alaska. U.S. officials blame the lost communication on an abnormal weather disturbance, however we’ve uncovered a video posted to the internet taken by a supposed resident of Barrow shot yesterday.”
Gabriel smiled as the picture switched to a dark and grainy video of a young man directing the camera at himself while he crouched under a desk. He whispered at the camera, the sound tinny but clear.
“They’re all over the place. Everyone is dead. I’m telling you, they’re vampires. I know it sounds crazy but—”
The camera jostled. It dropped to the floor, the lens aimed at the ceiling. From off camera came a snarling. A shadow passed across the screen, too quick to make out any details, but there was a glimpse of something pale that could have been a face. Then terrified screaming ensued, going on for a dozen seconds or more.
The network cut back to the anchor who visibly shivered. Perhaps his distress wasn’t so feigned after all.
“Rumors are spreading across the web that Barrow’s extended nightfall during this part of the year has allowed for a vampire invasion. Others, however, are convinced the video is a hoax. We will, of course, keep you apprised of the situation as it develops.”
Gabriel flicked the TV off with the remote and tossed the remote aside. Goody. They had started some rumors. The taking over of an entire city had lead to some rumors. He shot off his chair and paced.
The twins looked up from their lazy feeding, but went back to it when they realized their master wasn’t leaving.
The conditions in Barrow had been perfect, and Gabriel had done everything right. Aside from his sweeping victory against Lockman, he had taken control of a rampant group of vampires and turned them into unstoppable followers. He helped them finish wiping out the city of its mortal population, swelled their numbers, and demonstrated great power.
All of this, however, had happened in almost total obscurity. He hadn’t considered having a media presence to document the conquest. And the city was so remote, there were no outside witnesses to spread the word. The few that might come to investigate would make for an insignificant audience. No. Gabriel’s performance had been a smashing success, but he needed a larger stage.
To spread his message, he needed to take this horror show on tour.
Yeah, right, Jessie said. You might be able to teleport a few, but how are you going to get close to three-thousand vamps out of the middle of nowhere?
Gabriel stopped pacing. He idly watched the twins as they discovered their mother’s blood had gone cold and started to congeal. One twin bit further up her mother’s arm as if a fresh wound would make a difference. The other twin crossed her arms and pouted.
“Girls, all things must die,” Gabriel said.
The twin that had tried a second bite spit out what was in her mouth and gave Gabriel a puppy dog face. “Except for us?”
He strolled over and patted her on the head. “Except for us.”
All the while, a part of his mind wandered. Jessie was correct. Even he did not have enough power to send so many to a new location. He supposed they could form up a caravan of vehicles and drive out of Barrow. It lacked dramatic panache, but what other choice did they have? Then he laughed when the obvious answer came to him.
The twins giggled along as if they knew what was so funny.
If Lockman found a way to send his army, surely Gabriel could do the same. He only needed to find out how Lockman had done it. Gabriel had sensed the magical energy building when Lockman had opened his portal. That was how Gabriel knew where to send the vampires to greet them. Perhaps he could trace that energy back to its source. There he could find what Lockman had used to make his portal and use it to make his own.
“Girls?”
They both gazed up at him with admiring eyes.
“I need one of you to fetch me...” He trailed off, thinking. Barrow had its share of mystics, and Gabriel had picked out several whose talents carried over to the vampiric side. One of them stood out among the group. “Titus. Tell him to bring an assistant of his choosing.”
Both twins stood. “I’ll go,” said one.
“No,” said the other. “I’ll go.”
Gabriel had yet to learn his pets’ names. They both looked exactly the same to him. Might as well have been the same. “You may both go.”
They shared a smile, then skipped out of the room holding hands.
Gabriel folded his hands behind his back and gazed at the blank television screen. He imagined the story they would run when they had live footage of a vampire army tearing through someplace much harder to ignore than Barrow, Alaska.
He just had to decide which place was worthy of such an honor.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
It took some getting used to the silence. After a week of hearing voices, to have his own head back left Lockman with a nagging sense that something was missing, like that feeling you get when you walk out the door without your keys. He would often have to stop and remind himself that this was a good thing.
What he did not miss one bit—that overwhelming urge to destroy himself. Those incessant images of him putting the barrel of a gun to his head or in his mouth. That constant certainty that if he did not explode, the whole world would.
He sat on the front porch, gaze directed out toward the horizon, but vision directed inward. Though Kate had managed to clear his mind with little more than a touch after cutting herself again, he still had much to sort through. Decisions to come to. Like what was he willing to do to save Jessie.
Anything.
What about the mojo? Would he even continue to use Kate’s power?
If it meant getting Jessie safe, he would give Kate the blood himself.
The smell of stewed tomatoes rolled out through the screen door. After working the mojo on him, Kate had parked Lockman in the chair on the porch, covered him with a scratchy army blanket, and went inside to prepare lunch. The plan was, once they finished their meal, Kate would try contacting Kress to recruit his team’s aid. Lockman didn’t know how they could help, but he had promised Kate to keep an open mind.
He missed Adam. He even missed Teresa. While Kate’s touch had fixed the damage to his psyche, it hadn’t cured him of basic human emotion. He still felt the pain of losing so many comrades to death or, in Teresa’s case, mere disagreement. He could use their counsel now. Teresa had a knack for tactical strategy. If anyone could figure out a way to get at Gabriel through all those vampires, it was her. And Adam always knew how to instill confidence, and inspire his fellow warriors to do their best. Lockman could use some of that about now.
While his thoughts had turned negative, they didn’t drag Lockman into the hole he had spent the last week cowering in. Instead, he tried to channel his old friends’ best traits to come up with some strategy of his own.
“Lunch is ready.”
Lockman blinked and turned to find Kate standing in the doorway. She had the screen door propped against her hip. He hadn’t even heard her open it.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m—”
The wail of the sirens cut him off.
The whole compound was rigged with sensors to detect unauthorized supernatural activity. The sensors were attached to an alarm.
Something had just tripped it.
Lockman threw off the bla
nket and shot to his feet.
“What is that?” Kate asked.
“Alarm. We have visitors.” He rushed into the house, tugging Kate along by the arm. He retrieved the AR-15 he had leaning against the wall by the door, grabbed an extra magazine from the stack he had ready on the desk, then guided Kate into the kitchen and to the basement door. “Hunker down in the basement while I go check it out.”
He tucked the spare mag into his side pocket and started to turn away, but Kate grabbed at his shirt. “Excuse me?”
“What?”
“You can’t tuck me in the basement while you run off to face who knows what.”
“You’re the connection to Jessie. You need to stay safe.”
“And if something happens to you, you don’t think someone can find me hiding in the basement?”
The sirens continued their air-raid cry.
Lockman gritted his teeth. “Fine. But stay close.” On the way out, he grabbed a Beretta 90-Two and offered it to Kate.
She held up her hand to refuse. “I’ve got this,” she said and patted the knife on her belt.
She’d gotten pretty comfortable with her power. Too overconfident. Lockman had noticed the scaring on her arm. And the last cut she’d made, the one to help him, looked raw, as if it hadn’t quite healed yet. If she planned on continuing to use her power like a quick draw six-shooter, she would need to find a better way to fuel it. He didn’t have time to get her some blood from the stores now, though.
He tucked the pistol in his waistband, led the way out the back of the house.
The advantage of having the house up on the hill was the superior view of the compound at large. It helped that their intruders showed no sign of trying to hide. Three figures stood before the portal arch, gazing up at it like tourists taking in the local sights. From this distance, about two-hundred yards, Lockman couldn’t make out any details about the intruders. They must have used mojo to get on site, which was what set off the alarm—which still whined and didn’t seem to concern them in the slightest. Lockman could determine that the shorter one standing in the middle was female with dark hair. He tried not to draw any conclusions, but Kate seemed to make the same leap his mind did.
“Jessie,” she whispered.
“Gabriel,” Lockman reminded. “And we don’t know that for sure.” He crouched and gestured for Kate to do the same. Staying low, they crossed to the horse pen and took cover behind the converted SWAT truck. From inside the truck, Lockman grabbed a pair of binoculars. He inched to the back corner of the truck and peeked around.
The binoculars brought the three intruders up close and made it easy to confirm Lockman and Kate’s first guess. The central female was Jessie. Her companions were a pair of male vampires. None of them so much as cringed in the midday sunlight.
Lockman watched as Jessie led her henchmen to one end of the portal arch where she began inspecting the machinery. His stomach clenched. Of course. Gabriel was looking for a way to transport his vampire army out of the arctic and Lockman had the very thing sitting in his backyard. Gabriel must have somehow traced the source of the portal in Alaska. He also must have had practitioners in Barrow who had the ability to send Gabriel here with a couple companions.
Gabriel’s hubris made him feel safe enough to come here with only a pair of guards. He was so wrapped up in his own plans, he didn’t realize he had exposed himself to attack.
Was it possible they could end this all right here?
He backed up and turned to Kate. “That’s Gabriel, all right.”
Kate’s eyes widened. “You have to get me close.”
“And then what?”
“If I can communicate with Jess, maybe I can help her with my power to take back control.”
It sounded too easy. At the same time, it made perfect sense. If Father Caruthers had opened the door for Gabriel to take over, why couldn’t Kate do the same for Jessie. And Kate had far more power than the priest. Not to mention her emotional connection to Jessie.
A fresh dose of adrenaline pumped into Lockman’s system. Colors seemed sharper. The continuing pulse of the alarm turned to a battle hymn in his ears. He gave Kate a nod. “I’ll create a distraction to draw off the guards.” He hooked a thumb in the direction of the four-wheeler parked nearby in the pen. “You know how to drive one of those?”
“I can figure it out.”
He slapped the side of the SWAT truck. “This is my ride. Once I’ve got their attention in this, you burn rubber and get your ass down to Jessie.” He hooked a hand around the back of her neck. The urge to pull her in and kiss her came over him, the adrenaline making him drunk and impulsive. He pushed back the urge and looked firmly into her eyes. “Bring our daughter back.”
“I will.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Kate ducked behind a sedan with all the windows tinted while Craig revved up the SWAT truck and drove it out of the pen, smashing through the rotted wooden fence, and rolling on down the hill toward the vampires. She took a second to think about the look in Craig’s eyes when he told her to bring their daughter back. She knew he had thought about kissing her. Part of her had even wanted him to.
When this was over, could she consider letting it happen?
First things first. Make sure this was over.
Refocused on the present, she watched Craig speed down into the compound. The truck bounced and lurched across the open space. With the binoculars Craig had handed over, Kate focused in on Jessie and the vampires to see their reaction. The guard vamps smacked at each other for attention and pointed frantically at the oncoming vehicle.
Jessie—Gabriel, for now at least—calmly turned from the machinery and watched the truck come. She said something to the vampires with a mild wave of her hand, sending them off running to meet the truck. Then she turned back to the machine and continued inspecting.
My turn.
Kate dropped the binoculars and sprinted to the four-wheeler. She swung her leg over, mounting up like an old west deputy. She turned the key in the ignition and the four-wheeler grumbled to life. She used the gap Craig had made in the fence to leave the pen, then cut to the right, following the length of the hill until it tapered, curving around to Jessie’s flank. She whizzed down along a path between a pair of buildings. The path came to a T at the facade of the building that the arch was behind.
The wind blew Kate’s hair back as she gunned the four-wheeler, her stomach doing flips at each bump or dip in the ground. The vehicle felt like it might fly out from under her. She clutched the handlebars until her knuckles ached. She only slowed down when she reached the turn and began to circle the building.
She cleared the far edge and the arch came into full view. The wind in Kate’s eyes made them water. When she blinked away the tears, she noticed Jessie no longer stood by the machine. Kate braked hard, swinging her gaze left and right for any sign of her daughter. Dirt shot up in a spray as the four-wheeler skidded sideways and threatened to tip. Kate threw her weight to one side to keep the vehicle on its wheels. It rocked hard once and shuttered to a halt.
Still no sign of Jessie. Kate put her hand on the hilt of her knife. That’s when she spotted the shadow sailing across the grass. Kate had long enough to look up and see Jessie falling toward her. Then Jessie collided into Kate and knocked her off the back of the four-wheeler.
All the air wheezed out of her as she slammed onto her back. Jessie landed on top of her, lips peeled back from her fangs, an image of her daughter that would forever burn against her retinas. The ash-colored skin and black veins. The gray mottled gums that held her fangs in place. The red glow in her eyes.
Jessie drew a clawed hand back as if to strike, but she froze. That glow in her eyes flared. Her brows lifted and her lips slid back down to hide her teeth. Agony then twisted her face. She looked as if some terrible struggle went on in her mind.
“Jessie?” Kate asked.
“Mom?” Jessie said.
Jessie’s skin began sizzle
like bacon in a pan. She chuffed, scrambled off of Kate, and stared at her smoking hands. Wisps of the smoke swirled in the breeze, carrying the smell of burning, rotted flesh. “What?” she said, her voice like scrap metal in a blender. “No.” She clenched her hands into fists and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, the sizzling and smoking stopped. She opened her eyes and glared at Kate.
Kate got to her feet, hand instinctively going to her knife. “Jess?”
“She’s surprised to see you,” Jessie said still in that twisted metal voice. “You gave her quite the jolt. But I’ve put her back in place. No worries.”
Gabriel. Kate drew the knife.
Jessie’s mouth curled up on one side. She pointed at Kate’s blade. “Lockman sent you after me armed with that? He really does want to get rid of you.”
“I’ll give you one chance to get out of my daughter on your own before I rip you out myself.”
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with, do you?”
Kate sliced across her arm. The pain felt good. It sent a charge through her, told her she was alive and ready to fight. The air crackled around her and smelled of ozone.
Jessie’s eyes flared. “Oh, now this is interesting.”
Reaching deep into her psyche, channeling her motherly instincts, Kate gathered all the power within her and reached out to Jessie’s soul, lost in her own body. Jessie, you have to fight him. I can help you.
The blood running down Kate’s arm began to glow. Some of it evaporated as the magic consumed it. She made a conscious effort to let the wound stay open and the blood flowing. She would need all she could stand to give.
“You poor dear,” Gabriel said through Jessie. “I hold the power of nearly one-hundred men, women, and children bled to death just for me. You’ll have to do much better than that.” He flicked a hand as if brushing aside a stray hair.
A shockwave struck Kate and lifted her off her feet. The knife tumbled out of her grip. She flailed her arms and legs as she flew through the air, helpless to gravity and certain to break a limb when she landed. At the last minute, she gathered her wits enough to use her magic to control her fall. She dropped onto her feet, staggered, but remained upright. But she had lost her concentration and allowed the magic to close her wound.