Death Betrays

by J. C. Diem

  “By morning you will be as beautiful as always,” he told me. Fishing my hand out from beneath the sheet, he held it gently.

  Still excited from the battle, Geordie broke off recounting his heroics when he saw my mangled hand. “Ewww! Do you look like that all over?” Lifting my hand free from Luc’s, I held it up so the back was facing the teen. “Is that supposed to mean something?” he asked me with a puzzled frown.

  “I’m giving you the finger.”

  There was silence for a couple of heartbeats. “You don’t have any fingers, chérie,” Geordie pointed out to me gently, as if I’d suffered brain damage along with having my body destroyed.

  “Let me assist you, my love,” Luc offered then lifted his pointer finger at the teen. “Does this suffice?”

  I started giggling and Geordie quickly joined me. “It’s supposed to be your middle finger,” I explained to my sadly behind the times beloved. “But I appreciate the thought.”

  My mood was lighter when we stopped at the next township. I still felt helpless and useless as the menfolk sauntered off to save the humans but I also felt slightly more substantial of form. Checking on my progress, my fingers had grown to the first knuckle and most of my organs had solidified.

  Hearing footsteps approaching, I reached for my swords but my backpack was too far away. My palms were still raw and the holy marks hadn’t yet reappeared. A chill went down my spine at the thought that they might never grow back. Then I remembered Lefty had regenerated after being blown up and the holy mark had come back then. There was no reason why they wouldn’t reappear this time.

  “May I join you, Mortis?” a female voice asked tentatively.

  Recognizing the seer’s voice, I had a slight panic attack. I didn’t want anyone to see me in such a vulnerable condition. She’s blind, you idiot! Feeling sheepish at the reminder, I pushed myself up with my hands and hoped nothing would fall out or become dislodged. I then scooted backwards until I came into contact with the wall of the truck. “You can come in, Kokoro.” Thankfully, none of my organs slid out of place and plopped onto my lap. The wall was cold against the raw meat of my back so I hunched forward slightly.

  The door swung open just as I secured the sheet of plastic by crossing my arms across my chest. My breasts hadn’t completely grown back yet and the sheet was distressingly flat across my chest.

  Lifting her pure white kimono to her knees, Kokoro leaped lightly inside the truck. She had come without an escort and I wondered how she’d managed to find me without a guide. Reading my mind, she offered me an explanation. “I located you by your scent.”

  Disturbed at the thought that I needed to take a shower asap, I bent to sniff my armpit. It didn’t smell particularly rank to me. She’s been blind for so long that her other senses have made up for it, I reassured myself. “How is your Emperor?” I asked her.

  Daintily taking a seat beside me, Kokoro reached out and took my hand. She didn’t seem surprised by the damage and linked her fingers with my stubs. “He is well of body but his mind is troubled. Ishida deeply regrets his childish behaviour, Natalie.”

  “I couldn’t let him kill Igor just because he smacked him up the back of the head.”

  Kokoro gently patted my raw hand. “You know how men are. They have more pride than sense sometimes.”

  “Do you think Ishida and I can ever be friends again?” I asked in a small voice.

  Her smile was bright even in the dim confines of the truck. “Of course you can! Ishida simply does not know how to make things right between you two without losing face with his warriors.”

  Not only did the kid have male pride to combat, he also had the tradition of his people to contend with. “What if I apologized to him in front of everyone? Would that help?”

  Astonished by my offer, the seer stared at me as if she could actually see me. “You would do that for Ishida?”

  Since I didn’t give a crap about saving face, it wouldn’t exactly be a hardship for me. “Sure. I’d like to kill some zombies with him again one day. If all I have to do is apologize first to repair our friendship then I don’t have a problem with that.”

  “European customs are very different from ours,” Kokoro observed, either ignoring or forgetting the fact that I was Australian. “I will advise Ishida of your wish to make peace.”

  We spent some time chatting about the Second and concluded that neither of us had discovered anything useful about him yet that would help us to narrow down where he was headed. While we didn’t come up with any plans or learn anything helpful, at least we didn’t have to wait alone during the battle this time.

  Sensing the menfolk approaching about an hour later, Kokoro took her leave before I even heard their footsteps. “What did she want?” Geordie asked sullenly as he jumped inside. His admiration for the prophetess had waned when her ruler had turned against me.

  “She wanted to know if you were single so she could jump your bones.”

  Eyes suddenly wide with hope, the teen dropped to his knees beside me. “Really? She said that?”

  “Of course she didn’t! I can’t believe you fell for that.”

  Casting a wounded look at me over his shoulder, Geordie moved to the far side of the truck. “That was a mean thing to say, chérie.” His lower lip pooched out in a pout.

  Patting the sulky teen on the shoulder, Gregor took a seat beside him. “I assume Kokoro approached you with a peace offering?”

  “Yep. All I have to do is apologize to the Emperor and we’ll be friends again.” Looks were exchanged that I, and apparently Geordie, didn’t fully grasp. It must be a man thing. While Geordie was a male, he didn’t really qualify as a man, at least not in my eyes.

  Igor had the guts to voice what they were all thinking. “You will willingly lower yourself to apologize first?”

  “Do I have a penis?” I asked him.

  The Russian’s eyes flickered down to my lower body that was hidden beneath the plastic before returning to my face. “Not as far as I am aware,” he said a trifle stiffly.

  Sitting down beside me, Luc’s response was dry. “I assure you, Natalie is penis free.”

  “My point is,” I broke in before any further discussions of my lack of penis could begin, “I’m a woman and we really don’t care about who apologizes first. Our egos are far, far, stronger than yours will ever be.”

  “If Natalie’s pride will not suffer by apologizing to Ishida, then we must also put our pride behind us,” Gregor advised the menfolk.

  Igor seemed to struggle with the concept the most but finally nodded his shaggy head. “You saved my life, the least I can do is not complain when you offer your apologies to the spoiled, bratty, child king.”

  “Maybe you’d better not smack Ishida in the head in the future,” I suggested.

  “I will try not to,” Igor conceded but it looked like it cost him mightily.

  Chapter Seven

  As the night wore on, my body steadily continued to regenerate. An hour or so before dawn, the truck pulled to a stop and my kin headed out to take down the latest batch of fledglings. Since I was alone, I checked beneath the sheet to see that my breasts had reappeared. My eyes closed briefly in silent relief. My skin was still growing back in a few places but everything else seemed to be more or less back to normal. My fingers had reformed and, best of all, the holy marks had returned to my palms.

  Dressing in my final black leather suit, I could have joined the others but opted not to. From the lack of screaming and only intermittent gunfire ringing out, I figured there were only a few fledglings harassing the village this time.

  The first to return, Geordie screeched in glee to see me dressed and waiting for them. Launching himself at me, he gave me a full body hug. One of his hands dropped down to my butt for a squeeze and he was suddenly yanked away. He ducked away from Igor, narrowly avoiding a skull cracking blow to the head. “I was just checking that everything was there!” he whined.

  Elbowing the teen aside, Luc t
ook his place. No one hauled him away when his hands dipped to my backside for a quick squeeze. “Everything seems to be intact,” he confirmed.

  “Are you fully healed?” Gregor asked as the truck rumbled into motion.

  “Mostly. My skin is still growing back in some places.”

  Geordie made a face and opened his mouth. Before he could utter his wisecrack, the sun came up. Igor caught the teen as he dropped and eased him to the ground. Despite his gruff demeanour, the Russian cared for his apprentice. I had the fleeting thought that Geordie was a replacement for the son that Igor had unknowingly eaten after he had risen as a monster.

  One by one, we settled down to sleep. The suffocating blast of dawn heat seemed to be less harsh than usual and barely affected me this time. Maybe I was finally settling into my new life as a vampire.

  Closing my eyes, it only felt like seconds had passed before I opened them again. It took me only a moment or two to realize I was dreaming.

  Wherever I was, I was pretty sure it was someplace new. A thick forest surrounded me on all sides. It was different from the jungles of Africa in both foliage and atmosphere. Drawn by some strange instinct, I followed an overgrown path that was too narrow to have been made by man.

  Moonlight broke through the cover of trees and glinted on a building ahead. Reaching a clearing, I was somehow unsurprised to see a dilapidated castle looming over me. The forest had closed in on the castle and seemed to be trying to hide it from view. Crumbling grey stones were half covered in vines and lichen. Of the four towers that had once graced each corner, only one was still standing. I couldn’t help but feel that the scene was familiar despite the fact that I’d never been here before.

  Firelight flickered from within the tower and a face suddenly appeared in the window. I recognized the Second instantly even though I’d never actually seen him in the flesh. His skin was still slightly grey from forty thousand years of starvation and entombment. His flesh was no longer withered and skeletal and he had filled out from repeated feedings. If I hadn’t known what he was, I would have considered him to be quite handsome and maybe even regal. He stepped away again, giving no indication that he’d noticed me watching him.

  Judging by the repairs that had already been made to the building, this was my adversary’s chosen lair. Boards had been nailed over the empty windows from the inside and the door looked new.

  Wandering closer, I heard a man moan from somewhere deep inside the castle. It wasn’t a sound of pleasure but rather of pain. The human began screaming and even above his ululating cries, I could hear sucking sounds of several ravenous fledglings feeding from him.

  Another scream sounded, female this time, then another. I couldn’t understand how the Second had managed to locate a lair and begin to create a new army of servants so quickly. My subconscious heaved a put-upon sigh. Obviously, this is going to happen sometime in the future. Honestly, I don’t know why I put up with you sometimes.

  Wincing at the sarcastic barb, I sat up. It was early afternoon and my friends were still dead asleep. I was amused to see Igor clutching a knife, as if he could somehow defend himself while being completely unable to rouse until nightfall.

  Now that I had an inkling of where the Second’s lair was going to be, we just needed to locate it. A street sign would have been handy but I hadn’t seen any streets or signs of any kind. Wherever the castle was, it had been abandoned and forgotten long ago. It certainly didn’t seem to be a thriving tourist attraction. “Someone has to know that it exists,” I murmured to myself. How else would the disciple have found it? Through sheer dumb luck? That was highly unlikely.

  Igor was the first to wake when the sun decided it had had enough for the day. One second he was absolutely dead and the next he was alert and sitting up. After a quick glance around to make sure there was no immediate danger, he tucked his knife away and nodded at me. “Did you sleep well?” he asked me politely.

  “Not really,” I replied honestly. “But I did have an interesting dream.”

  The Russian’s interest sharpened but he refrained from asking me any questions until the others woke. Last to wake as always, Geordie frowned when he opened his eyes and found us all staring at him. “What?”

  “Nothing,” I reassured him. “We were just waiting for you to wake up so I could tell everyone about a dream I had.”

  Wriggling back against the side of the truck, Geordie looked at me expectantly. “What did you dream about?”

  “I was in a forest with a decrepit, mouldy old castle looming over me.” I suddenly realized why it had been so familiar. “It looked a bit like the Romanian Prophet’s castle but it was even more run down. It had four towers but only one was still intact. A light was shining in the window and I recognized the Second when he looked outside.”

  Gregor leaned forward, gaze intent on my face. “Were there any signs telling you the name of the castle?”

  “No. It isn’t a tourist attraction and it looks like it’s been abandoned for centuries.”

  “If it is so remote and forgotten, how did the disciple manage to find it?” Igor asked, echoing the question I’d already asked myself.

  Resting his chin on his fist, Gregor put some thought into it. “Wherever the Second has fled to, at least some of the locals must still be aware of the castle. There is probably a legend that it is haunted or cursed, which would keep most of them quiet about it. Some humans can be quite superstitious about relics that have been abandoned.” His lips twisted in a rueful smile at an aspect of human nature that he had given up thousands of years ago. Creatures like us had no need of superstition. After all, we were the things that went bump in the night then snacked on the frightened humans.

  Luc curled his arm over my shoulder. “We need to narrow down which country our adversary has settled in.”

  “I don’t think this has happened yet,” I told them. “I’m pretty sure it will happen sometime in the next few days or so.”

  “Then he could end up practically anywhere in Europe,” Gregor surmised with a troubled frown.

  “It’s too bad we don’t have a computer,” Geordie said and hunched his shoulders when we all turned to look at him. “We might be able to search for images of spooky old castles,” he said in a much smaller voice.

  “That’s a brilliant idea, Geordie,” I told him and he immediately brightened at the praise. He might be young and mischievous but he was far from stupid.

  Our vehicle lurched to a sudden stop, sending the teen tumbling head over heels with a squawk of surprise. I would have laughed at him if a fist hadn’t thumped on the side of the truck to gain our attention. “We could use your help!” Sanderson yelled with barely contained panic.

  Distant screams and rapid gunfire alerted us that our job of hunting down fledglings wasn’t quite done yet. Leaving my sheaths behind, I grabbed my swords and was the first one out of the truck. Surrounded by his followers, Aventius spied me and offered me a tentative nod of greeting. Only my friends and Kokoro had seen me since I’d been blown apart but I figured everyone else had been given regular updates on my wellbeing. I nodded back and he smiled in relief. Since none of his people had tried to kill me yet, I still considered him to be relatively trustworthy.

  Ishida saluted me with his sword and I returned the gesture. It was the first step in mending our relationship but we didn’t have time for more right now. Our reconciliation would have to wait until after the battle. We all raced towards what would hopefully be our final clash with the fledglings that had been left behind to impede us.

  Numbering in the dozens, the newly-made vampires were intent on feeding. Some were several days old by now and had learned to be more cunning. They were the most dangerous and were consequently doing the most damage. A female vamp wearing tattered, bloody clothing, launched herself into the air and landed behind a soldier. Spinning him around, she bit into his neck and used his body as a shield as his comrades opened fire.

  Laughing, she dropped him and sprang aw
ay, aiming for another victim. Her blood caked face reflected shock when I materialized between her and her next meal of choice. I didn’t give her a chance to escape and stabbed her through the heart. She disintegrated the instant I pulled my sword free. Nearly gibbering with terror at his close call with death, the African soldier sank to his knees, babbling thanks in his native language. Targeting the next wily fledgling, I quickly lost myself in the thrill of battle.

  For a change, I wasn’t covered in gore and ooze when we were done. I picked up a dirty scrap of a dead vampire’s shirt and used it to clean my blades then jogged over to Colonel Sanderson. “I think that’s all of them,” I told him.

  He almost seemed to eye me warily before nodding. “If there are any stragglers, General Merwe’s men can take care of them. We need to focus on where the Second is heading.”

  “I might be able to help you with that. Do you have a computer that I could borrow?”

  Sanderson didn’t waste time questioning me and merely signalled to one of his men. The soldier scurried away and quickly returned with a heavy duty laptop. Resting the computer on the hood of his jeep, the colonel indicated for me to get started on my search.

  Kokoro’s white kimono caught my eye and I paused to shoot a thought at her. Do you know where this is? I sent her a picture of the castle and was disheartened when she shook her head.

  “What are you looking for?” Sanderson asked when I fired up the search engine.

  “A spooky old castle that few people are probably even aware still exists. I’m pretty sure its somewhere in Europe.”

  The soldier’s brows furrowed at my unhelpful account. “I hope you can narrow it down further than that. There must be hundreds of castles that fit that description.”

  My search quickly brought up an array of decrepit old castles that were spread all across Europe. A couple were similar to the one from my dream but none were an exact match. One came close to the image in my head and I leaned forward to examine it in more detail.