Death Embraces

by J. C. Diem

  “I had a couple of dreams about him,” I answered reluctantly and sat back down.

  “Vampires don’t dream,” Geordie said and rubbed his eyes like a tired kid.

  “I do. I dream because I sleep like a human.” Every time I divulged just how different I was to the rest of my kin, I felt a little more distance open up between us. “Anyway, I dreamed about him and saw him force the shadows of his followers to ascend. Instead of a bunch of possessed vampires, we’re now facing full-on monsters that are a shorter version of him. By the way, their favourite food is roasted humans.”

  Dismay swept around the table and I wasn’t immune to it. I hated to rain on their parade and make matters worse but I thought they should hear just how bad our situation was. “I was followed by a couple of imp packs on my way here.” I had their full attention, even Geordie’s. “One of the females was pregnant. She looked about six months gone but the First only recently changed the possessed into their new imp forms.”

  “How long did it take her to progress to that state do you think?” Gregor said out of lips that seemed to have gone stiff.

  “I’d say about five or six days.”

  Geordie swayed on his chair but he wasn’t quite able to faint. Igor steadied him automatically. “If these imps are able to grow so quickly as foetuses, we should assume they can also grow quickly to adulthood. This means that the First will have an army of his progeny within a matter of weeks,” the Russian said.

  After a lengthy silence, I sealed the fate of everyone sitting at the table with a single word. “Yep.”

  “It’s late,” Gregor said wearily. “The sun will be up within the hour. I suggest we reconvene our meeting when we rise.”

  “Just tell me one thing,” I said before the trio could stand. Gregor raised an eyebrow in query. “Do you know where Luc is being held?”

  “Oh, yes. We know very well.” His smile was strained and he couldn’t meet my eyes.

  “He is being kept in the Comtesse’s bedroom,” Geordie blurted. His young face was miserable but mine went blank.

  “I see.” I did see and I saw it all too vividly. Luc, helpless to disobey an order from his master, lying naked on a bed with the praying mantis poised above him. What if he wants to be with her? I puzzled over the question as the three men quietly left the table. Too bad, I concluded. The Comtesse was going to die and then the spell she’d cast over Luc would be broken. He would then be free to choose where he wanted to go and who he wanted to be with. A large part of me hoped he’d choose to be with me. The smaller part wondered if he’d try to kill me again if I destroyed his master.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Come nightfall, we were huddled around the table again. Igor had drawn a detailed plan of the Court mansion that was only a few short kilometres away. I’d been inside the building twice but the map gave me a clear idea of the areas I hadn’t seen. The rooms I was interested in right now were on the fourth floor.

  “Here,” Igor’s blunt finger stabbed at the map. “This is the Comtesse’s bedroom.” The suite was on the north-west side of the mansion. Apart from the bedroom, she had a bathroom, living room and guest room in her suite.

  “Where are the windows?” I asked. My grizzly ally leaned over and made a few marks with his pencil.

  “You won’t be able to enter through the windows,” he warned me. “The Comtesse is paranoid about being attacked and they remain shuttered at all times.”

  She should be paranoid considering her unlife span was about to be cut short. “Just her windows or all the windows on the fourth floor?”

  “All,” Gregor said. “And the windows on the lower floors are regularly patrolled. Every entry point to the mansion will have at least two guards.” At a quick count, there were eight doors leading inside.

  “Only two?”

  “And a hundred others within shouting distance,” Igor added.

  “Chérie needs a diversion,” Geordie suggested. He was more subdued than usual but a faint sparkle of mischief shone through his gloom.

  “Now is not the time for your childish games,” Igor warned him.

  “He’s right.” Both of the older vamps turned to stare at me while Geordie gave me a grateful grin. He’d narrowly missed out on another slap up the back of the head. “If you can draw the guards away, it’ll give me a chance to slip inside and break Luc free.” And to chop the Comtesse into little pieces when I find her. This was a rescue mission but I had an even more important agenda; I had to find out where the First was hiding.

  “I can arrange for a distraction,” Igor said. “And we will have transportation waiting to take you both to safety.”

  “We’ll have to time this very carefully,” Gregor mused. He held his chin in one hand and tapped the fingers of his other hand against the table top. “You can stay awake during daylight hours now, is this correct?” I nodded and Geordie goggled at me.

  “Is there anything you can’t do, chérie?” the kid asked.

  “I can’t fly.” Not yet anyway. Who knew what sort of powers I’d end up with?

  “Quiet,” Gregor said. “I’m trying to think.” He did so in stern silence, staring at the ground and drumming his fingers on the table. The rest of us tried not to fidget and break his concentration. Geordie struggled the most. He squirmed in his seat and opened his mouth to speak several times and subsided each time at a glare from Igor.

  At last, Gregor smiled. Flicking his hair back from his face, he brought both hands together, lacing his fingers tightly. “I have a plan and I suggest we put it into action tonight before we lose our nerve.” He outlined it for us and I agreed instantly. Igor seemed doubtful that it would work but allowed himself to be persuaded. Geordie sat with his mouth open, looking more than ever like a teenaged human.

  “Are you all crazy?” he spluttered. “This will never work!”

  “It’ll work,” I argued. “We’ll make it work.”

  Gregor stood then pushed his chair neatly back to the table. “We all have our tasks to perform and we have little time to spare.”

  “I’ll give you a lift to the village,” Igor offered and I stood to follow him. Geordie dragged his feet in our wake, reluctant to join us in our mad plan.

  A familiar black car was at rest in the garage. I’d woken up with my face in Geordie’s lap the first time I’d been a passenger in this vehicle. I climbed into the front and Geordie slid into the back. He looked more scared than sulky and slouched down in the seat.

  As promised, Igor dropped me off a short distance from the village. My task was the easiest, I had to kidnap a human and wrangle him back to the safe house. Walking around the perimeter of the small town, I carefully searched for a likely specimen. After a couple of hours, I spied just the right guy.

  He pulled up in front of a small house that desperately needed a new coat of paint. Dressed in a ratty pair of jeans and threadbare jumper, he was just exiting his car as I snuck up behind him. He carried a bag of takeout food, Chinese by the smell of it. I let him lock his car door before tapping him on the shoulder.

  Turning, he gave me the once over. “What can I do for you, miss?” he asked me in French. In his mid-thirties, he had sandy hair and a face that was easily forgettable. He was average height and build. There’d be a hundred guys just like him in town.

  Capturing him with my eyes, I crooked a finger at him. “Come with me.” Spellbound, he did as ordered and we stepped into the shadows of his porch. Two ratty chairs and an equally ratty table sat to the left of the door. “Are you single?” I questioned him.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you live alone?” I received a nod. “Do you have to go to work tomorrow?”

  “No. It is Saturday tomorrow,” he said in a drugged sounding voice. He’d switched to heavily accented English for my benefit but it made little difference to me. “You are so beautiful,” he crooned and grinned at me happily.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Checking my watch, I saw that we had an hour to spare befor
e we had to be back at the safe house. “Take a seat and eat your dinner,” I instructed my temporary slave.

  Sitting on one of the wicker chairs, he opened the box and used the chopsticks provided to scarf down his meal. When the box was empty, he let out a contented burp then looked to me for further instructions.

  A metal trash can sat on the other side of the door so I took the time to dump his rubbish before beckoning him to follow me. I maintained a brisk walk that had the human panting for air in my wake. We were back at the safe house with a few minutes of our deadline remaining.

  Gregor gave my slave a critical inspection then nodded his approval. “Igor should be here sometime in the next five minutes. Be ready to leave as soon as you hear his car.”

  Nodding, I headed for the stairs with my slave at my heels. “Wait for me here,” I instructed him. The foot he’d lifted to take a step after me hesitated then clomped to the floor. With his blank eyes, he looked a lot like a robot that needed programming.

  I hadn’t felt the presence of the First’s minions since being back in France so I’d stashed my pack in my room during the mission. Now I pulled it out from beneath the bed and opened it. I took out the swords and all four leather suits. Looking at the blood-red one almost longingly, I decided it wasn’t time to use it yet. It, along with two of the black suits, went back into the pack and beneath the bed again.

  A car approached and pulled into the driveway just as I finished lacing up the suit. Gregor arched both brows when I joined him at the foot of the stairs. He eyed the twin hilts now poking over my shoulders and straps crisscrossing my chest but wisely said nothing.

  Geordie wasn’t wise and opened his mouth as soon as I climbed into the back of the van Igor had stolen. “You look like a human’s idea of a sexy assassin, chérie.” He patted the floor beside him, trying to entice me to come closer. Pulling my slave into the van, I motioned him to take the spot next to Geordie. I closed the door, ignoring the teenaged vamp’s pout.

  Igor had chosen well when he’d stolen this van. It had no windows in the back and a thick, black curtain separated the front seats from the back. Sunlight would have a hard time finding its way inside.

  We drove the few kilometres to the Court mansion in tense silence and stopped short before we could be seen or heard by the guards. A prickling feeling touched the back of my neck and was gone. It had felt for a moment like someone was watching me. I glanced around as I climbed out of the van but there was no other living or unliving thing nearby.

  I gave the human his instructions then left him at the van. “You all know what to do,” Gregor said with a trace of nervousness. “With luck, I’ll see you all again in two nights time.” He and Igor clasped hands and Geordie threw himself at me.

  “I hope you do not die, chérie,” he whispered in my ear. “Not when I have yet to pleasure myself with your body.” This time, I was the one to slap him in the back of the head. Rubbing the spot ruefully, he pecked me on the cheek then scurried over to Igor. The gruff Russian gave me a nod then ambled off into the dark. Gregor was already gone, hurrying to his position. If I thought it would have done any good, I would have prayed. Somehow, I doubted God cared what happened to creatures like us.

  Dressed in neck to toe black leather, I raced through the shadows, undetected by the few guards I passed. In seconds, I reached the perimeter of the mansion.

  Lights blazed from the lower three floors. As I’d been warned, the fourth floor windows were tightly shuttered. Dawn was nearing and most of the guards that had been on patrol were heading for their barracks behind the mansion. The barracks were much smaller than the main building. It had only three floors instead of four and was about the size of a small hotel. It might be crammed with guards but they would be helpless once the sun came up. So would I, but I planned to be gone before the first killing rays touched the ground.

  It was the guards inside the mansion that I was concerned about. They would be older vamps who didn’t have to sleep during the day. Gregor estimated there would be close to fifty guards prowling around the mansion once the sun came up. Right now they were shuttering the windows on the third floor and would shortly be working their way downwards.

  I checked my watch and counted down the last few seconds. Right on time, an unholy screech came from the east side of the building. That was my cue and I was on my feet instantly. The window just above me was yet to be shuttered. My fist went through the glass with a small crash then I had it unlocked and open.

  With a picture of Igor’s map in my head, I darted for the servant’s staircase. It was well hidden down a series of hallways that led to the back of the mansion. Feet thundered down the main staircase and more screeches, decidedly feminine, came from outside. I wonder if Geordie knows he sounds like a girl when he gets excited? I’d have to ask him if we made it out of this intact.

  “They have holy water bombs!” a guard shouted in warning. My ears were sharp enough to pick up on the sound of water splashing against a target. This time the screams were masculine and full of pain instead of girly with crazed excitement and terror. That’s one guard down. None of these guards stood a chance of reaching Igor and Geordie. My conspirators would be wearing hoods and generic jeans and jumpers instead of their usual garb.

  Gregor’s plan had been for Igor to raid all of the nearby churches and pilfer their holy water. Wearing protective gloves, Igor and Geordie would throw balloons full of the stuff at the guards to draw them away.

  To add to the confusion, Gregor also had his part to play. I smelled the smoke before the milling, anxious guards did as it began to filter inside. “Fire!” a hysterical guard bellowed. Roughly half of the guards stampeded to the west side of the building to deal with the latest threat.

  I quickly darted upstairs to the fourth floor and eased open the door to the long hallway I’d been in once before. The prickling sensation was back, raising the hairs on my neck. Without conscious thought, the swords were in my hands. I sensed the creatures now, surrounding me on both sides. Doors up and down the hallway opened and the First’s minions flowed into sight. I didn’t know how they’d managed to hide their presence from me but that wasn’t important now. Survival was.

  At the far end of the hallway, Luc and his master were waiting for me. I was going to enter that room or die trying.

  Chapter Thirty

  At first, it looked like dying would be probable. I had to remind myself that nothing on earth could kill me, not even the sun. A crowd of grey imps flowed towards me, stabbing and hacking in a frenzy. A few went down beneath my blades then my left leg was cut off at the knee and I lost my balance. My right arm went next. There were too many to fight at once with only one hand and leg and they bore me to the floor.

  Pinned to the carpet beneath the weight of so many bodies, I was all but helpless. Time was running out and I grew desperate. Focussing on my severed arm, I commanded the hand to drop the sword. It did, then turned to face the closest minion. The batlike face of the imp blanched when Righty dragged itself over to him. The monster began to squeal in fright then my hand clamped over his mouth, silencing him. Pouring the dark magic into the holy mark, steam rose from beneath my palm as the creature’s mouth melted. Bucking and heaving, he crawled free from the pile then sprawled on his face.

  Working my left hand free, I clutched clammy skin and another minion howled in pain. Using both hands now, I cleared the monsters out of the way until I had room to move. Righty dragged itself over, bringing the sword it had dropped earlier. Sitting amongst the carcases of the dead, I snagged my severed leg and aligned it with the severed stump. My right arm reached me and I held it so the broken bones were touching. The limbs reattached themselves with a momentary blinding flash of pain and I was whole again.

  Something like religious awe passed over the misshapen faces surrounding me. But they feared their master more than me and renewed their attack. Now that I had room to manoeuvre, my training took over. Limbs hit the floor and heads went flying
as my swords spun into action. Only four creatures at a time could come at me, two from each direction. Soon, they were climbing over the bodies of their fallen.

  Their attack became a rout, then the few who survived were fleeing back into the rooms they’d come from, hurriedly barricading the doors. Covered in black ichor, I headed for the last doorway at the end of the hall. There were no guards to stop me now but the door would be locked and would almost assuredly be barred as well.

  I quickly wiped off my swords and put them back in their sheaths before examining the door. A miniscule crack allowed me to peer inside. Through the limited view, I saw living room furniture and then a bar set at about my waist height caught my eye. While my swords were sharp, they couldn’t penetrate the thick wood. None of the imps had been carrying axes this time so my options for getting the door open were few.

  You punched your way through solid rock to escape from the sun once, I reminded myself. It had taken far too long and I’d ended up being parboiled. A quick glance at my watch told me I had mere minutes left before the sun was scheduled to rise. I had to complete my mission now or I’d be stuck in the mansion with several hundred guards to face when the sun fell again.

  Taking a step back, I kicked the door. It shivered but didn’t burst off its hinges as I’d hoped. Trying again, I left a foot sized hole this time. The door was clearly tougher than I’d expected but the hole was large enough to suit my needs. I reached inside, lifted the bar out of the way then pushed the door open.

  The Comtesse’s rooms were even more opulent than the rest of the mansion. Priceless trinkets and artwork vied for dominance. The carpet was deep and a maroon so dark it was almost black. It matched the wallpaper, making the walls look like they’d been coated in dried blood. The couches were covered in black leather that matched my suit. Other furniture was made of a dark, heavy wood. The other eight Councillors would be hiding in the rooms where the imps had poured from but I doubted they’d be living in quite this much luxury.