"You fast, strong. You fast enough?"
Simon lunged at the giant vampire and he jumped aside at just the right moment to send Simon barreling for the floor below. When he landed, Simon bounced off of the concrete and shot himself back up into the mammoth bastard's back, sending the monster crumbling to his knees and dropping both Jackie and Frank. Simon lunged for the vampire's throat but the beast pulled up his huge heavy arms and tossed Simon over his shoulders. A flood of ancients came flying into the room then and dove down as Simon's body screamed toward the ground. They clawed and bit and scraped at Simon just before he landed, leaving a large crater in the concrete.
***
Something flashed beyond Jackie's eyelids and brought her back from unconsciousness. She opened her eyes just in time to witness Simon's body colliding with the concrete. A scream of rage erupted from her and she rose up suddenly, floating on the air. A faraway boiler exploded and her tendrils grabbed hold of the flames and sent them swirling into the room like a tornado of fire. The twisting giant tongue of flames ripped through the vampires, spreading over their bodies and sending them running and flying aflame.
The blond vampire who had hit her watched in horror as the entire horde of vampires was destroyed. He turned to try and grab hold of her but she was up in the air before he could get to her. She sent flaming fingers out from the twister and wrapped them around him squeezing him. Rosadelma, her face covered in dried blood, screamed one word from the far end of the room.
“Harek!”
She took off running toward Jackie and the blond vampire then. She jumped up into the air and with one swift swipe of her claws, she ripped a large gash through the big blond vampire’s throat, then grabbed hold of his head and twisted apart the remaining chunk of the creature’s neck, severing it completely.
When it was all over, ashes hung in the air like snowflakes and Jackie floated down to where Simon lay unconscious. She picked him up out of the rubble and held him against her. There was a slight flutter from his eyes and he looked up at her and smiled. His voice was more moan than words, but she could make out the words nonetheless. "You guys seriously just kicked their asses."
She smiled back at him. "Yeah, something like that."
A moment later and a number of his bones began to crunch as his body healed itself. They went back and found Frank. He was still out cold but he appeared to be okay mostly. Simon carried him over his shoulder and they began checking bodies.
Rosadelma sat watching over the Jolly Blond Giant’s body. Her face was a mess of tears and sobbing. Jackie stood there a long time, waiting for the right moment to speak when she noticed something sticking out of the vampire’s shirt pocket. It looked like paper. She pulled it out and examined it. The paper was folded a number of times and burned at the edges from the fire. Jackie opened it. There were at least a dozen pages. Some diagrams, some handwritten notes. The word "launch" appeared in a number of places and the words "nuclear missile" sent the temperature of Jackie's blood dropping to zero. "Simon!"
Chapter 47
Soon to Depart
Ishan watched his precious lover as the agony ripped through her and the foundation below them shook with rage. He had never heard her scream out of pain before in the entire time since he first laid eyes on her. Pleasure was another story and one he took great pride in. But now he knew that time was running out and nothing else mattered. She would die soon and he would be all alone again. He couldn't imagine the loss that would overwhelm him. In mid contraction she reached out with her mind to soothe him but her pain ripped through him instead and she lost hold of their connection.
He took her hand and she broke his in pieces, but he didn't mind the pain. He would heal after all and if it gave her even a moment's release, he would gladly give her every bone in his body to dismantle one by one. Images unleashed from her and entered Ishan's mind. The sacrifices she had made, the secrets she had kept. Every bit of it only made him love her more. His reaction wasn't hidden from her and though her face and body were writhing, she sent out a single wave of love to him amidst the screaming and the sweating and the shaking. Large chunks of the walls began to crumble around them and Ishan draped his body over hers to keep it safe. He wondered how much longer this place would be safe for her. Her labor pains would have her destroy the entire cave and the collision with all those pieces could hurt the two young ones inside her.
All that time that he had been away, deep inside his own mind, had been wasted. A deep melancholy overwhelmed him then and the blood tears formed at the corners of his eyes and dripped down his face. He was going to lose her. She gripped hold of him then and a wave of emotion struck him. At first he had thought it was his own but it wasn't. It had come from the Queen. She wanted him to know just how strong her love for him was. Just how much it had brought her forward over so many centuries. Their eyes met and he touched her face. The contraction seemed to be waning for now, but there would be more.
My love, hold me.
He did as he was told, climbing up into the narrow bed and pulling her close against his body.
They clung to one another, the embrace of two lovers, one recently returned to this world.
The other soon to depart.
***
When Jonny arrived at the cafe, his sister and the man sat at a corner table at the far end of the place. It took everything he had to keep from running to her and making a spectacle in front of everyone there. Jonny wasn't sure what to make of the man, but he had brought Julie back and that was all that mattered to him. He walked up and sat down across from her. She was near to tears herself, reaching across the table to take his hand. "Jonny!"
Jonny looked at Braldon. "I can't thank you enough."
"Don't thank me, I just did what I was told. I had no idea about either one of you until Hank called me and gave me my final undercover assignment," he said in a low whisper.
Jonny nodded and thanked him again nonetheless. Then he smiled at Julie. "It's so great to see you."
Half an hour later, as they left the cafe together, Jonathan broke everything down for them. "Hank wants you guys brought safely to the New Orleans Foederati base, so he asked me to make sure that happens. So from here on out, you're both with me. Leave the truck here, Jonny, and ride with us, okay?"
Jonny took one last look at Tom's truck. He knew the plan had been for Simon to save him, but he still felt a strong shudder of guilt. "Yeah, no problem." He went to the truck and got out Hank's letter and put it in his pocket. Then he set the keys in the driver side seat and closed the door. Someone very lucky would find them, he was sure.
***
The road was barely dotted with cars as they raced along Highway 40. Yellow sunlight bled across the horizon like the brightest golden honey the world had ever seen. Braldon flipped on the radio and dialed it over to a rock station, raising the volume just a hair as they crossed over a bridge, bumping along. Jonny thought about everything that had happened to him in the past few weeks. He thought about these last few years when he did whatever he could to help out his fellow believers and now, all of that was behind him now. Everything was on Hank's shoulders now. He hoped the man would succeed. They deserved it, he thought. They all did. Every last one of them who had lived under the tyranny of Joseph Caesar's monstrous government.
He watched out the window as a mostly barren farmscape passed them by. Jonny wondered just what it would take to get all these people fighting on the right side and no longer cowering under the Emperor's shadow. Braldon quickly reached down in his pocket. He brought up a cell phone and answered it.
"Yeah?" The trebley whisper of another voice wrapped out like paper. "Still pretty far east in Tennessee right now. But I can probably be down there in about three hours... Yeah. Okay. Where? I'm on my way." He closed the phone and looked over at his two passengers. "I have another assignment which just so happens to be on the way to our very destination. But first we have to meet a friend. He'll get you to safety, little miss."
He nodded to Julie.
She looked over at Jonny with concern.
Braldon continued. "So, hold tight. We might be treading some dangerous waters soon. Jonny?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you know how to fire a weapon?"
"I sure do."
"Good, reach in the glove compartment there and get out my extra gun. You'll also find a stake crossbow in there. Both will come in handy, I'm sure."
Jonny reached inside and took out both weapons.
"Now, there's a locking mechanism on that crossbow, but I don't usually have it activated so be careful."
Jonny nodded and then pushed the lock into place. He didn't want to accidentally put a stake through his foot and then drain away all his blood in one huge show of dumbassery.
Braldon snuck a glance over at Jonny and watched as he examined both pieces.
It wasn't long after that when the sun went completely down and one by one bright stars blinked into view in the night sky. Jonny let his eyes wander across the expanse of it. A chill swept over him and he decided then and there that when the time came he would fight in whatever way he could against the Empire. Joseph Caesar hadn't just taken his sister. He had taken Jonny's fear and turned it into something strong and mean. Jonny put his arm around Julie then and she laid her head against his chest and, before long, the sound of her snoring overpowered the radio. He was so glad she was safe. He couldn't imagine life without her. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her for what had to have been the eight hundredth time.
Chapter 48
Reunion
Light ruffled its way in between Hank's eyelashes and he blinked several times before opening his eyes. The Emperor's face resolved in front of him and then spun around in the opposite direction of the room. Everything was suddenly blurry for a moment and then appeared again in focus. He blinked some more, trying to make his eyes cooperate better. The Emperor now had six different faces spinning on a wheel of evil in front of Hank. The faces each spoke in unison. "Mr. Evans. Glad you could make it. You seem to be perpetually inserting yourself into my business." Hank tried to lunge forward but his body was restrained. He let his head hang down a moment.
"I wanted so badly to take your life today, Mr. Evans. I wanted it for myself and I almost took it, but then I learned a secret. Do you know what secret that is, Mr. Evans?"
Hank shook his head, then sucked back his saliva and mucus and spit forward. The spittle splattered against what he had originally thought was Joseph Caesar's face but now realized was nothing more than a screen displaying Caesar's face.
"Well, there's no need for that kind of response, Mr. Evans. You are, after all, my guest. Guests tend to treat their hosts with more respect."
Hank spit again in response. "Fuck you."
"Now, now, Mr. Evans. We've struck deals before. I'm sure we can come to some form of agreement once more."
"Deals..." Hank laughed. It came out as a wounded angry sound. "We never made any deals, you held the life of my son as collateral and you took that collateral and I won't stop breathing until I tear that fucking smile off of your face forever, you hear me, you motherfucker. One way or another I'm going to get my hands on you and when I do, you're going to feel everything you've made me feel." There was a long silence as the Emperor waited with a look of agitated yet patient disinterest.
Hank blasted out another shot of bodily fluids at the screen one more time. "Not that you could possibly feel half of what you've put me through." Tears were burning and blurring Hank's eyes now and he let them roll down from his lids so that he could see again.
"Perhaps things are not quite as you believe them to be, Mr. Evans."
A loud click of metal brought Hank's attention to a door to his left. It opened and the Emperor's words suddenly made sense.
"Toby?"
Toby walked into the room, arm pushing the door aside. His eyes, fully black as onyx, locked on Hank with preternatural hunger. He stepped forward, the first motion of attack, and was thrown back against the wall where he fell in a heap as if intercepted by some invisible wall. Hank's mind was reeling. The revelation that his son was alive was both wonderful and terrible all at once and he couldn't decide exactly which emotion would truly win out. Why wasn't he speaking? Why didn't he seem to recognize his own father? Even if he had been turned into a vampire, he should still have his memories. After all this time, he couldn't possibly still have a fledgling's bloodlust.
"Toby? Speak to me. Please. What have they done to you? Why don't you re—"
Joseph interrupted Hank with a forced cough. Hank's eyes rolled back over to the screen sitting before him.
"Are you prepared to discuss an arrangement now, Mr. Evans?"
"What did you do to my son?"
"When I was informed that both your son and Jack Draper's bodies were found in the same alleyway, I had my suspicions that you were still alive. When my dear sweet mother was killed by your friends"—he spit the word out with almost as much fury as Hank had spit at him—"her power over her children passed on to me. I used this power to command that your son's body be infected. By that time..." The Emperor's grimace iced into a large crooked grin. "I'm afraid his brain had deteriorated significantly. I only wanted to reunite father and son... And maybe satisfy a certain curiosity. You see, I had no idea what would happen to one of my ancestors were the blood to infect them directly as opposed to being ingested. I wanted to know if one of ours could truly be turned. You'll forgive me as my heart was in the right place. But I'm afraid he lives indefinitely brain-damaged and unable to understand anything beyond his own bloodlust now."
Hank was screaming and pushing against his restraints and shaking his head in utter rage. Caesar let out a long raspy cackle in response.
"Even you can't break through those restraints, Mr. Evans. And even if you could, what would you do? Break the monitor that displays my face? I've taken every precaution to make sure you can't touch me, Mr. Evans. Screaming and carrying on will not help you. Now, I'm offering to make an arrangement with you so that you may have your son. And while I'm sure it's definitely not the kind of deal you ever would have wanted to be offered, I do know you care about your child, Mr. Evans. And I trust you want him to suffer no longer. I would like to offer you the chance to take away his suffering. Won't you hear me out."
The room spun all around Hank. To think of the past year since he had watched the life drain out of his son from his killer's eyes and now know that the boy had suffered throughout every day since. He screamed out again with one long wail that tapered off into a soft moaning whine.
Toby was now getting to his feet, watching Hank intently. His pale face twitched with ravenous desire.
"What do I have to do?"
"Ah, I see you understand the depth of your position, Mr. Evans. I need only for you to unmask my last remaining descendent. I know from multiple sources now that you have this information and I would have it."
Hank took a deep breath. It had been a ruse at first. But now... He hadn't had any intention of telling Caesar the truth... But Toby... The boy was suffering a life of mindless torture. Was anything left of his memories, of who he was? If so, was it buried in that brain, cursed to watch this creature take over his body and use it to murder and drink the blood of the living?
Hank took a deep breath and swallowed the tears that had run down into his mouth. "There isn't one. I purposely fed you false information."
Joseph's face contorted with rage. "You're lying, Mr. Evans."
"Why would I lie? Do you think I want my son to suffer anymore?"
"We'll see about that, Mr. Evans. I'll find out if you're telling me the truth one way or another." Something flickered in the room. Toby's body fell to the floor, his voice rising in a long agonizing howl. The scent of smoke and sulfur mixed into the air. It took Hank a long moment to compute what was happening but when the next flicker of electricity stretched out and struck Toby's body, he understood and his heart ached with the realization o
f it.
"I told you the truth. Please, don't do this. I told you what you wanted to know. I'm not lying."
The Emperor did not respond. Instead, another blast of electricity hit Toby's body and the boy curled up into a ball and screamed.
Hank's arms were pulling so hard on the restraints that blood started to well up where the curve of them met his flesh. He wanted so badly to stop the boy's suffering; both from his current state and the shocks of electricity the Emperor was giving him. He had only felt this helpless once before in his life. The day Jack Draper murdered the boy who now clawed out at the wall behind him. Toby pulled himself up to his knees and, face rigid with the pain, he noticed the blood on Hank's arms and blasted forward suddenly unconcerned with himself. A deep growl erupted from deep within the boy. A sound so alien to his being that it almost made Hank think that maybe anything left of his son truly was dead. But the look of his suffering, the chance that he was still in there somehow, that he was feeling and knowing all of what was going on cut too deeply into Hank and he cried out with the rage and horror of it.
"Mr. Evans, I am running out of patience. I have given you more than enough time and motivation to tell me the truth but you refuse to do that. You're leaving me with little choice but to escalate the situation."
A blast much more powerful hit Toby then and he fell to the floor face down and began to twitch with the pressure of it. The smell of burning flesh crept up to Hank and he fought helplessly against his restraints.
Rising From Ashes: Empire of Blood Book Three (A Dystopian Vampire Novel) Page 24