by J. C. Diem
I didn’t want to give the van behind me a chance to bulldoze me into a tree so drove fifty feet away then stopped. I’d rather face bullets than fire any day. Apparently, fire couldn’t kill me but I’d rather not test the theory unless I had to.
Imps boiled out from the two remaining vans and thunder ripped through the air. Grabbing my backpack from the passenger seat, I kicked open the door. Ducking down behind the car, my body jittered and jived as it was riddled with bullets. Most went straight through but the ones that caught on bone wormed their way back out and dropped to the ground. The wounds healed fast, even for me.
Silence descended as the grey monsters ceased fire. While I’d come out of the attack unscathed, my stolen car was a complete write off. It looked like mangled swiss cheese and sat on four flat tyres. Steam rose from the ruined engine. It wouldn’t be going anywhere unless it was on the back of a tow truck.
While the latest group of monsters tried to work up the courage to see if I’d survived their barrage, I slipped away and circled around behind them. Not only had my stolen car been ruined by their attack, my clothes were also full of holes. At least I wasn’t wearing one of the leather suits. They would be difficult to replace unless I made another trip to Japan.
At a quick count, there were ten grey skinned creatures surrounding the wreckage of my car. Make that twelve, I corrected myself as another two slightly singed imps stumbled into view. It was time to see just how well I’d been trained.
My twin weapons poked out of the top of the pack where they were easily accessible. Metal rasped quietly as I pulled both swords free from their sheaths. My feet made little noise as I crossed the road in a run. One of the offspring turned, pointed at me and gurgled out a warning. He lost his hand when one of my swords sliced out. It fell to the road and lay there like a prop from a horror movie. Howling, he clutched his spurting stump. I cut his misery short by taking his head.
More bullets hit me but I ignored them and went to work. Twirling and spinning, the twin swords moved in graceful, deadly arcs. A sword much thicker and less agile than mine swung towards my head. Steel met steel in a sharp ringing sound and the vibration raced up my arm towards my shoulder. The imps were stronger than me but this wasn’t an arm wrestling contest, it was a contest of speed. I was much smaller and faster and far better trained in combat.
In less than two minutes, I had sliced my way through all but one of the monsters. Their abnormal blood and rank sweat coated my ragged clothing, not to mention my skin. Turning to face my final foe, I found myself looking down the bore of a gun. “Dodge this, Mortis,” the female offspring said, unintentionally rhyming. She pulled the trigger.
My head slammed backward and my neck broke with a sharp crack. I found myself suddenly looking up at the cloudy sky above. The constellations seemed different from back home in Australia. I saw them only out of my right eye. My left eye, along with half of the back of my head, had been demolished by the large calibre bullet.
For a moment, everything went blank and I was unable to do anything but look up at the twinkling stars above. Once upon a time, when I’d been new, I’d thought that even I wouldn’t be able to survive a killing blow to the head. No being on earth could survive having its brain scrambled. Unless you were me, apparently. My wounded brain, flesh, bone and everything else inside my skull regenerated with lightning speed. By the time I lowered my head, I was as good as new again. The imp’s expression changed from gloating happiness to dismay. “Why can’t you just die?” she asked me almost plaintively.
“I have no idea,” I replied and ran both swords through her heart.
They might be big, repulsive and smelly but the grey beings died easily enough. I wasn’t sure if the First knew the limitations of his soldiers. Even puny humans should be able to fight them off if they used enough bullets. Then I noticed something extremely disturbing about the fallen monster. She had a suspiciously large bulge in her stomach area.
Dropping down to one knee, I lifted her filthy, oversized men’s t-shirt up to reveal her stomach. Oh my God. She’s pregnant. Dazed, I stared at the bulge in disbelief. Vampires, being undead, couldn’t conceive. How then was a creature that had been made from vampire flesh able to gestate? How was it able to gestate to such an advanced state so quickly? It had been less than a week since the First had awakened his horde of soldiers. The dead offspring looked to be about six months pregnant. By some dark magic, she had advanced along her pregnancy at a rate of about one month per day. In a total of nine or ten days, she would have given birth to the beginning of a new army of imps.
Chapter Twenty-Six
As if my horror wasn’t already complete, the stomach of the dead monster began to move. “It’s still alive,” I whispered and stood so rapidly that I almost fell over backwards. Tiny fists stood out clearly against the rippling flesh. From within the body I heard a muffled, enraged roar.
Like all the others, the imp was wearing a loincloth made of whatever material had been handy. The creatures were too large for their old vampire clothing and only the pregnant one had seemed inclined to wear a shirt anyway. Maybe it had done so in an effort to hide the pregnancy from me just in case their mission failed. Well, I knew about it now and my job had become a lot more urgent all of a sudden. If the imps could breed this quickly, the First would have the army he craved much sooner than I’d anticipated. Humans would be overwhelmed before they could even begin to mount a defence.
I didn’t want to watch as the baby’s head appeared between its dead mother’s legs but my revolted gaze was riveted to the sight anyway. A misshaped dome pushed its way out and tiny, clawed hands grasped meaty thighs. Pulling its body out of the passageway to freedom, it left small, gaping wounds in its mother’s flesh.
Exhausted and covered in disgusting black goo, the premature imp baby lay on the road, panting. Its skin was the same grey shade as its mother. It had the same batlike face and long ears that curled under at the tips. The very sight of the infant hurt me somewhere deep inside. It was an abomination that didn’t belong on this earth.
Sensing my presence, the baby lifted its head to regard me. Orange eyes glittered and it opened its mouth to reveal twin rows of sharp teeth. It knew me for an enemy on sight. Only a few minutes old, it should have been helpless but this thing wasn’t a normal infant. It was the offspring of an alien and had been born with the strength of a monster. It was on its feet in a flash and running towards me with murder written on its tiny, hideous face.
It moved with eerie speed, closing the distance between us in seconds. Still dazed and disbelieving, I made no move to stop it. I believe it intended to scale me with its clawed hands and latch onto my face. It was right at my feet and reaching for my leg when it was suddenly yanked backwards. I’d seen the same thing happen to vicious dogs when they ran out of chain. Saved by the umbilical cord, I thought in relieved amazement.
Climbing to its feet again, the baby examined the cord hanging from its stomach. A swipe of its claws freed it. Grinning evilly, it took a step towards me and that’s when my training kicked in. It took only one swing of my sword to cut the horrid thing in half. Now it was its turn to be dazed and disbelieving. The puzzled look faded as it died and then it was just a lifeless, doll sized freak lying on the road.
Looking around at the carnage, I debated whether to clean up the mess. Why bother? If they’re breeding this quickly, humans will know about them soon enough. It seemed unavoidable now and burying this many bodies would be a waste of time and energy.
I did take the time to clean my swords and to change into one of the black leather suits. I looked a bit like a dominatrix on the prowl but it was better than wearing tattered, bullet riddled rags.
Turning to survey the vehicles, choosing one wasn’t difficult. Mine was totalled, one of the vans was toast and another sported a rash of bullet holes. Only one vehicle was still usable. The van that had rear ended me had a crumpled nose but apart from that it was ok.
Opening the
driver’s door, I blinked at the bare emptiness inside where the seat should have been. Now I knew how the creatures had managed to squeeze inside. Feeling like time was running away from me, I jogged to my old ride and wrenched the door off. It hit the ground with an unmusical crash. Then I tore the driver’s seat out and carried it to the van.
Without the tools or knowledge of how to properly affix the seat, I instead judged how close I’d need it to be to the steering wheel then drove it into the floor. Twisted, broken metal punched through the flimsy floor. The seat was wedged in tightly enough that it wouldn’t slide around when I drove.
Thankfully, the keys were still inside. I left the battle scene behind but couldn’t leave behind my feeling of impending doom. I was one lone vampire up against creatures that spawned like maggots. Even if I did wring the location of where the First was hiding from the Comtesse, how could I possibly fight my way through hundreds, if not thousands of imps to kill him?
Despair tried to sink its claws into me. Kokoro had prophesized that I would have an army of my own but I still doubted it. She’d admitted that her sight was clouded when it came to our Father’s first child. She didn’t know what the outcome of my battle with the First’s progeny would be. Maybe this mystery army was just a figment of her imagination. It could be her way of spurring me on. If I believed backup would arrive to save me then maybe I’d psych myself into attacking the First head on. But I was a realist and the idea that an army would suddenly appear out of thin air and come to my aid didn’t seem very likely.
When dawn neared, I was in a reasonable sized city somewhere in Europe. I’d lost track of exactly where I was. Each time I had to stop at a border crossing, I bamboozled my way through. Wherever I was, English wasn’t the national language.
Spotting an underground parking facility, I nosed the van inside and headed several floors down. There were no curtains in the van but the windows were tinted darkly enough that I should remain undetected. Wearing all black could only help with that. I would be a shadow amongst more shadows if any nosy parkers came to investigate. A human would have to shine a torch inside to be able to spot me.
Lying down on the plush carpet, I kept my swords handy but I didn’t think the imps would follow me into a populated area like this. They weren’t quite ready to confront the human armies yet. From now on, I’d stick to the main highways until I reached France. If I was lucky, the Comtesse would be holding court back in the French mansion. I’d been there twice before and knew where it was so I wouldn’t have to waste time searching for the place.
I allowed myself to sleep but not deeply enough to fall into the dark dreams that waited to claim me. I sensed the First’s red eyes turning in my direction like an evil divining rod. Amusement and scorn rolled from him in thick waves. “Do you really think you can best me, vampire?” he chuckled deep inside my mind. “Once we meet face to face, you will be mine. I long for that moment, my bride.”
Behind the First was a harem of pregnant female imps. I wasn’t sure if he’d sired all of the offspring himself or if he’d had help from the male members of his army.
Snapping awake, I sat up and put a hand on my stomach. Thankfully, it was still flat and devoid of life. He might be powerful but even the First isn’t mighty enough to impregnate me in a dream. Besides, my womb is as dead as the rest of me. I was almost relieved at the thought that I’d have to become an imp before I could get knocked up.
Wiping my sweatless brow, I became aware of the sound of humans bustling to their cars. When most of them had left, I exited the van, carrying my backpack. A lone man striding towards his car spied me and did a double take. His face lit up in appreciation of my leather outfit. Reaching him, I had to take his face in my hand and forcibly lift his gaze from my chest to capture his eyes. He was already half hypnotized before I be-spelled him. My intention had been to feed from him quickly then to steal his money and his car. Then I noticed that we were roughly the same size and I decided to take things a step further.
“Take off your clothes,” I instructed him. A grin of dazed happiness filled his narrow face. He divested himself of his clothing quickly and efficiently. When his hands dropped to his boxer shorts, I stopped him. A sulky pout pooched his bottom lip out, making him look like a thwarted child. That brought back the image of the dead monster baby and I almost lost my appetite.
It had been days since I’d last fed so I shrugged off the faint feeling of nausea and drank my fill. Small, girlish hands grasped my hips and slid straight off the slick leather. I could see why the Japanese vamps liked these outfits so much.
“Find the nearest bathroom and sleep for an hour,” I ordered the dreamy eyed meal when I was done. Wearing only socks and boxers, he stumbled off towards the elevator.
Dressing in the suit, I had no doubt that I looked like a chick trying to be masculine. It was better than walking around in a teenage boy’s idea of a bondage outfit. As much as I liked the leather suit, it wasn’t appropriate for wearing anywhere but on the battlefield or when sneaking around at night.
My new stolen car was a red Toyota. Since there were about a billion others just like it on the roads, I determined it would be an excellent alternative to the black van. The boot was a lot squishier than the back of a van but you couldn’t have everything.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Two days later, I was finally back in France. There had been no trace of imps on my tail since the last fight. Maybe they’d given up. Or maybe the First called them off, I thought uneasily. He’d seemed pretty certain that he’d have control of me as soon as we came face to face. The command to ‘rise’ he’d whispered in my ear still haunted me. So did my trio of shadows. Every time I caught sight of them overlapping each other, I started and they started with me. It was unnerving but there was nothing I could do about it. I resolved to quit worrying until I had something concrete to worry about. It would be best to try to ignore them altogether.
Hoping to verify that the Comtesse was where I hoped she’d be, I headed for the one place where I might find an ally or two. That is if they hadn’t been called to join the First’s army. I’d only been to the country house once but remembered the way well enough. It was only a few kilometres away from the Court mansion.
It was late when I passed through the tiny hamlet near the safe house and most of the windows were dark. Depressingly, so were the windows in the safe house that Luc had once brought me to. There was no movement inside when I pulled over and climbed out of the car. The curtains didn’t twitch and the door wasn’t flung open in welcome.
Trudging to the door, I turned the knob and found that it was unlocked. I closed the door once I was inside and automatically locked it. It felt weird to be trespassing but at least I would have a bed to sleep in when the sun came up in a few hours. With the goal of a shower in mind, I headed for the stairs.
I made it as far as the hallway that led to the stairs before the attack came. I heard a familiar whistling sound and suddenly a stake was sticking out of my chest. Before I had time to groan, it was followed by a crossbow bolt and then a small hand axe. Light flooded the hallway and I raised a hand to shade my eyes.
“He’s still not down,” a familiar gruff voice yelled.
“It must have been taken over by its shadow!” This was said by a younger voice that was shrill and almost girly with panic.
“Use the holy water!” Unfortunately, I dropped my hand as this was yelled by a third person and I copped a bucketful of water in the face.
Wiping water out of my eyes, I beheld Gregor, Igor and Geordie’s shocked faces. “That wasn’t exactly the welcome I was hoping for,” I said and grimaced at the weaponry sticking out of my stolen suit jacket.
“Chérie, you’re alive!” Geordie cried. Dropping a dripping bucket, he launched himself at me. Wrapping his arms around me, he managed to grind the weapons in deeper as he grabbed a handful of my butt with his gloved hands. “I have missed you, Natalie,” he said gravely then kissed both of my
cheeks. Igor dragged him away before he could plant the next one on my mouth. Sulkily, the young looking yet two hundred year old vampire brushed messy, dirty-blonde hair out of his eyes then pulled his protective gloves off. He was still young enough to have a faint trace of blue in his irises.
“Natalie,” Gregor was almost speechless in his surprise at my return but rallied quickly. “Where have you been? We looked for you in the cemetery but you were already gone.” Forty-ish in mortal years, Gregor was the most civilized vampire I’d met. I’d been to his home in the UK and had been impressed with his extensive library. He was one of the few of my kin who hadn’t tried to kill me. Until now, that was and that had been an accident.
“Someone had already dug you out,” Igor said gruffly as he stepped forward and began yanking the weapons out of me. He handed the axe to Gregor, the stake to Geordie and stuck the bolt into an empty loop in a belt around his waist.
“Yeah, someone.” I replied absently. “Where’s Luc?” I asked and they were suddenly looking everywhere but at me.
“You should head upstairs and clean up,” Gregor said in an unsuccessful attempt to divert me.
Sensing instinctively who the weakest link would be, I turned to Geordie. “Where’s Luc?” I asked again. Fiddling with his axe, Geordie stared down at the floor. “Geordie, what happened to him?” At his quick, stricken glance, black spots were suddenly dancing in front of my eyes. I must have blacked out for a second because the next thing I knew, I had Geordie by the throat and was shaking him back and forth like a ragdoll. His feet dangled a foot above the ground. “Where is he? Is he dead?” My distress was so acute that my fangs had descended, shredding my bottom lip. Gregor and Igor hung from my arms, having no effect on calming me down at all.
“He’s alive,” Geordie croaked and that calmed me enough to put him down. Rubbing his throat where an imprint of my holy mark stood out clearly, the kid looked at me warily. “How did you get so strong, chérie? And why did your holy mark not kill me?”