by D L Greeley
“Careful, we need the cooperation of the Rayners, right now.”
“Yes we do, don’t we? Heh, heh, heh.”
“Alex! What are going to do?”
I allowed a maniacal smile, to slowly creep across, ear to ear. I leaned in to be nose to nose with Svetlana. She steeled herself, to override her self-preservation instincts, to step back. Impressive… “You know Svetlana, you spoke earlier about me taking my revenge on you.” Svetlana’s bravado started to crumble. “Yes, and?” My smile grew larger, until I had real concern my chin would split open. Kolann stepped between us. “I think we should table this discussion for another time.” I held up my right index finger, without breaking eye contact with Svetlana. The gesture was obvious, back off or you’re going to regret it. He stepped back. Svetlana started to squirm. I was satisfied I had made my point. “Oh, you’re going to hate this Lana. You know what I’m going to do?
“No, what?” She was close to tears. I leaned in further, almost touching her nose. The intimacy was palpable. “I’m going to make you like me. No scratch that. You’re going to LOVE me in spite of yourself.” Svetlana snorted, turning to her left. “I’ll let you know when Hell freezes over, MACK.” I chuckled briefly and leaned further over to whisper in her ear, so quietly only she could hear me. “Challenge, accepted.”
Kolann, not having heard the exchange, started to get antsy. “Mack, they are starting to wake up.” He was right. I clapped my hands together in an attempt to alleviate some of my anxiety. “Aces! Here we go. Everybody get to your happy places. The next few moments are going to SUCK. No pun intended.”
“You keep saying that, but it never stops you.” Archie muttered.
Walking up to the Shroud, I placed the fingertips of my left gauntlet to the surface, Focusing on its very composition, “Seishin Chikara,” I breathed. In my mind, I pictured the Shroud becoming as hard as a diamond and as durable as steel, feeling power drain from the amulet and fill barrier with kinetic energy.
“That should do it.”
Stepping back, I Focused on the mob. One by one, Mai and I identified the feral vamps and pushed a short ways into each of their minds. A freshly dead mind is a fairly simple thing until the identity reasserts itself. With proper care that only takes a short time. With no after-care and guidance, the vampire knows only hunger and bloodlust. That’s why turning someone without permission and especially without aftercare is a capital offense in most vampire clans. We had done some major damage. There were only 12 out of 58 vamps left with at least five times that many thralls. “This is going to get messy,” I muttered. Once we were connected to all twelve, I broadcast a single powerful emotion, “FEED!”
All Hell broke loose. The vampires fell on the biker thralls in a wave of claws and fangs. Some bit, others were more brutal and ripped out throats, spraying exposed blood vessels into their open maws. The building shook with the roar of gun-fire and screams. Kolann walked up to stand beside me. Swaying a little, he put a hand on my shoulder to steady me. “Are you well?” He asked in a strange voice. “Yeah, just feeling a little drained, that’s all. But not as drained as they are,” I said with a macabre laugh. I watched the feral casting about for more to eat. “Kolann, will they go after each other if we wait long enough?” He shook his head. “No. They would have to be in a starvation situation for that. That would be a week from now.” Damn! I looked over to check on Bastet. She was right where I left her, glaring murderous eyes boring into me. I snorted contemptuously and returned to the business at hand. “Dent.”
“Yes sir?”
“You and your men get those AA-12s reloaded and ready. We need to take down as many as we can, before things go to hand to hand. As you all know, these vamps are wild, well fed and at their physical peak right now. No unnecessary risks and no heroes, work in two man teams. Archie you’re with Kolann. Dent, pair you’re men up as you see fit. When I give the signal, open up on anyone carrying a gun first and don’t stop until they are empty, after that use blades. Reloading will take precious seconds and the guns themselves will only slow you down.”
“So I guess this means I’m with YOU.” Svetlana was holding one of Kolann’s throwing axes. Bloody hell, not this one again. “No, you’re staying out of the fight.”
“Why? Because I’m a woman? I am faster than any man here and almost just as strong. I have been in battle many times, Mr. Walker.” At least she’s calling me Walker, in front of the others, which shows a little respect. “She’s right,” said Kolann. “She’s the fastest among us and pretty skilled with any blade.”
“Thank you husband,” Svetlana said haughtily. I was just about to shut her down with an acidic remark.
“No, Alex. She wants to help and Kolann is encouraged by that. Be diplomatic.”
“But Mai she—“
“BE DIPLOMATIC. Which word do you not understand?”
“Fine, have it your own way.”
“As it should be.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, Luv, but I don’t know for sure I can trust you until we have that chat I mentioned earlier. I’m sorry. I don’t want you in the fight and I don’t want you armed.” I reached over and firmly took the hatchet out of her hands. I handed it back to Kolann and held his gaze a moment. He understood. “This is MY operation.”
“As we agreed.” Kolann nodded, deferring to me. “Svetlana, take cover behind the crates. We may need your assistance in treating the wounded.” Kolann glanced at me with a question in his eyes. I nodded acknowledging his request for my support. “This is the best way you can help us right now,” I said playing along. Svetlana seemed to accept that but still looked a little disappointed and maybe hurt.
“She was used, Alex. She wants to prove herself. I don’t believe she was a willing part of most of this.”
“I was thinking the same thing but this is no time to take a chance on her.” Mai gave me a mental shrug. “Agreed.”
“We’re ready,” Dent called to us having his men in a classic over under shooting formation. Three kneeling a short ways in front of three standing. “Perfect choice Mr. Dent.”
“Regg?”
“Locked and loaded, Mack.”
I puffed out my cheeks. “Here goes nothing.” I dropped the Shroud. “FIRE!” roared Dent. The ferals never saw it coming. Three leaped to one side and nine were hammered by the shot guns. The truly disappointing thing was only three were taken down, the three weakest. The other six took their hits and leaped up when the ammo was spent. “GO!” I shouted. Dent and his men paired up and set upon the six standing. Archie and Kolann bore down on the fallen, both possessing weapons designed for beheadings.
It was up to me to find and kill the three uninjured ones. It didn’t take long—they charged me from opposite sides. I Slipped to one side and allowed one coming in from the left to decapitate himself on my sword, by holding it stock still while his momentum carried him through it. The others on the right were a little slower. I Slipped to the opposite side to take them out, one particularly quick vamp, sliding under my blade. “I see, this one learns!” His partner wasn’t as bright. I slashed him through the chest completely removing his right arm, sword and all. As he stared at me as took his head. That being done, I returned my attention to his buddy. Looked like I had a fight on my hands, after all. He was fast too. Most never see the blade until it’s too late. He had skidded a few feet and then used his momentum to carry him back upright.
“This guy’s been trained, which means he’s smart. We might be able to get some information out of this one, Alex.”
Charging me again, he made a fatal mistake. I waited until the very last second, Slipped behind him and delivered a vicious kick to the base of his spine breaking it just above the hips, paralyzed for the time being, he would regenerate quickly. I stood over him and placed the tip of my sword against his throat. “I have questions and you’re going to provide the answers.”
“Eat shit, you son of a bitch! I’m not telling you a god damned t
hing!” I recognized the voice.
“Ronald!” I spoke as if greeting an old friend. “So nice to finally put a hideous face to the ignorant voice. No need to get all bent out of shape,” I said in Derrick’s voice letting my eyes shine as I moved closer to him. “I AM Mr. Smith.” His eyes went wide. “Hey man, I heard of you. We didn’t know, we didn’t know this was your new turf.”
“Who’s we?” I Projected fear and despair. “Us, man! The Sons of Purity,” he patted his chest. I laughed out loud. I couldn’t help it. These dregs of humanity call themselves pure? “From what I’ve seen, your little gang has not committed themselves to purity of any type.” He thought I was confused. I wasn’t. “We’re pure Americans, pure white men.” I let the mirth drain from my face. “You’re racial purists? How admirable.” I growled. Dumbass wasn’t getting it. “Yeah and Ra is going to see to it that the world goes back to the white man where it belongs.”
“Ra? The King of the EGYPTIAN Gods is going to lead you into the pure, lily white, Promised Land?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you ever SEEN an Egyptian, shit-for-brains? I think you’re going to find them to be less than your desired countrymen.” He didn’t respond. “And how, pray tell, is he going to lead you from the Otherworld?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Oh, that’s what you think Ronnie boy.”
Grabbing his chin I looked deep into his eyes, gathering and releasing my power with a single word. “Shitagau”. With the Voice of Compulsion I asked him again. “HOW IS RA GOING TO LEAD YOU FROM THE OTHERWORLD?” He tried to fight it, he really did, but in the end, his mind was too weak to resist. “The high priestess summoned Seth and with his power and her’s combined, they’ll raise Ra.” Seth...? “FOR WHOM DOES THE HIGHPRIESTESS SPEAK?”
“For the Goddess Bastet.”
“YOU SAID THE HIGHPREISTESS SUMMONED SETH. WHERE IS HE NOW?”
“He walks among us.” The reply was almost a practiced rhetoric. “Aces! How did we miss that, Mai?”
“How bad is that?” asked a familiar voice from behind me, I turned to reply. Everyone was intact, a few minor cuts and scrapes. It had been a good plan and they executed it perfectly. “That’s really bad, Kol. That’s put your head between your legs, and kiss your arse goodbye, bad.” A deep rumbling laughter seemed to come from everywhere at once.
There was a form in the circle now, faint but growing more solid by the moment. It was one of the strangest things I’d ever seen, humanoid, at least 12 feet tall, rat’s face and a rabbit’s ears. Swishing between elongated lion-like paws that formed human hands, was a forked tail. I stared for a moment at this heavily muscled figure, dressed in Ancient Egyptian garb and armed with a strange looking staff and a short sickle shaped sword, hanging at its waist.
“Shelly! Don’t make a sound! There is a huge nasty right in front of you.”
Seth, (the Egyptian god of war and familiar of Ra and Bastet) and I stared each other down as he continued to solidify. “Well? Have you nothing to say, little warrior wizard?” His voice was like a distant roll of thunder.
“I’m not a wizard and it appears this is your party, Seth. So I reckon it’s your responsibility to start the conversation. You can begin with your terms of surrender.” I arched a defiant eyebrow.
“YOU WILL ADDRESS ME AS, LORD SETH!” He boomed.
“Don’t even start that noise with me, you old fraud; I know the score. You’re another one of the fallen just like, Bastet. Whiny little bitches that puffed themselves up as Gods to rule over mankind, perverting your beauty and abusing your power. And, by the way, proving the Almighty right with everything you did.” I thought I might as well rub that in, while I was at it.
“HOW DARE YOU!” He bounded toward me, mostly solid now, with the mass of a small mountain. “Get back!” I ordered Kolann and his group. I, on the other hand, stood my ground, just stepping back a few feet.
“Come on big guy, leave that circle and your ass is ours. Be ready, Alex.”
He stopped short of the circle boundary and sent a back handed slap hurling down at me. I dodged to the right. He missed and almost lost his balance using his staff to keep himself upright. The tip came down on the cement, cracks splitting in all directions. This guy was packing one whopper of a punch. He righted himself as I watched the section of his staff outside the circle, start to fade… “Mai, you see that?”
“I did. The resurrection power of the circle is the only thing holding him together. He isn’t complete, yet.
“Can we use that to our advantage?”
“Maybe, but he can’t leave the circle. We are fairly certain you can’t enter. So for now it’s an impasse.”
“What do you mean, for now?”
“Alex, if he stays in there long enough to fully power up, he’ll take physical form. He’ll be unstoppable once he leaves.
“So yet, again, we are racing against the clock.”
“Precisely, your only chance is to get him to come out of the circle.”
“Oh, so I just have to piss him off enough to get him to charge me? That I can do.”
“If anyone can, YOU can.”
“BASTET! SEIZE HIM!” Seth ordered from his place of confinement. She struggled slightly but couldn’t move. I laughed at him as hard as I could and covertly signaled everyone else to join in. “Is he out of his mind?” thought Kolann
“No HE isn’t and he can still hear you. We’ve got to get him angry enough to come after me. He’s vulnerable outside the circle.”
Kolann let loose with a strong mocking laugh and signaled everyone else to join in. They all hesitantly obeyed. “Sorry about that, Seth. Bastet won’t be joining us this evening. She has been a naughty little monkey and is on a time out. So, I reckon you’ve wasted your time. Check back with us in a hundred years or so. By that time, mankind may have forgotten how ridiculous you look. I mean come off it, man! A skirt? It’s just not you, Honey, not with THOSE legs.”
Everyone laughed, mainly because it’s not every day you see an Egyptian God snapped on, to his face. Seth was so angry, I could hear his teeth grinding. It sounded like someone rubbing two bricks together.
“You’ll pay for such insolence, mortal!” He took another swing at me and I dodged again. This time, when the staff came down outside the circle, I lunged forward, kicking it out from under him. He started to fall forward. Wait for it—his hand came down outside the circle but he caught himself. I just missed my opportunity by a millisecond! Just for spite, I stomped on one of his fingers as hard as I could and darted aside. A claw broke off and he rocked back on his heels, howling in pain.
Good, I could hurt him, valuable information. I signaled everyone to laugh, enraging Seth. After all it’s one thing to be insulted, but someone laughing at your injury, stings you to the core. He roared in fury.
“Come on you big bag of ectoplasm. We’re right here.”
I stepped to the edge of the circle. If I could just get a piece of him outside, I should be able to haul him the rest of the way, with the assistance of the armor. “Come on, you cross dressing jigsaw puzzle, come get me. First, though, tell me something. I have read so often about the inbreeding in the Egyptian royals. Admit it, you guys taught them that, didn’t you? It explains why you demons are so stupid. You’re all Uncle Brother and Aunt Sister.” His eyes blazed as he started to growl. “I knew it! Sethy baby, that’s nasty.” Rising up to his full height, he roared and aimed a swipe of that strange staff at my unarmored legs. I leaped up to dodge it and with lightning speed he threw a Kuta style spinning kick at me. Already being in the air, there wasn’t much I could do. I raised my armored arm and shield to block the blow but my mass wasn’t sufficient enough to withstand the impact. The kick hit me with such force I flew sideways, bounced off a support beam and into the circle.
Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all…
Chapter 32
I tried to tuck and roll as I fell, but I hit my head on the floor w
hen I landed, flattening out almost immediately. Seeing stars, my hearing faded for a moment or two. “Mack!” Shelly screamed and instinctively ran to my side. Beauty! I was stunned and Seth has just been presented with a soft target. Struggling to my feet with Shelly’s assistance, I swept her behind me with one arm. This was really taking a lot out of me and I was sweating. I almost never sweat.
The circle was halfway enclosed by old crates and all manner of detritus. This effectively placed us in the back to the wall situation. The only way out, 20 long feet to my left. “This guy is fast Shelly, when I make my move, you run straight out.”
“I’m not leaving you, Mack! You’re hurt. You can barely stand up.”
“Shelly, I appreciate it, but if I don’t have only myself to protect against this thing, we are both going to die, or worse.” Seth was smiling and laughing to himself. “How courteous of you to provide a virgin sacrifice for my Lord’s return Mr. MacFade. It’s good to see someone observing the old ways.” He casually seated himself on the floor. He was waiting for something. What is this? A high tea chat?
“Over my dead body, pal.” It came out slightly slurred. My head was pounding. “Mai, do something about this brain basher, dull the pain. We’ll heal it later.” My vision started to clear. That arrogant punk was casually reclined on the floor.
“Oh, not at all, Mack, is it? You see the plan is for me to take over your body. With your kind of power and immortality, I can assist my Lord in conquering this world. You’ll serve me well, but not in death. No, your soul will be trapped as a prisoner in its own body for eternity. Yes, you will watch helplessly as I defile your precious virgin Shelly and open her body for Bastet. The two of you will be witness to Lord Ra’s glorious return and the destruction of everything you love.”
“This jackass really loves the sound of his own voice,” Mai sounded weary.