Starnes flipped the switch for the UV lights again. Pleasant backed away from the purple light, shielding his eyes. The vampire writhed in pain, but refused to stop feeding.
“What are you doing?” Pleasant shouted. “Let her finish. I want to see it.”
“Sir, we need to get him out of there,” Starnes said. “Now. Before she kills him.” Pleasant glared at him as though he were mad. They had both known—and the lieutenant may have sensed a bit too late—that once someone entered that room, they weren’t walking back out. Starnes didn’t have time to explain that he wanted to get Lieutenant Yeskie out because the vampire’s bite could infect the lieutenant, and the final step of his plan could be completed.
The UV lights were turned all the way up. There was only so much she could stand. Her skin had started to regenerate the moment she began feeding, but the light was now burning it away as fast as it was growing back. The lieutenant’s eyes rolled listlessly, and he no longer struggled against her. His heart would soon stop, and they’d be back to square one.
The girl released her bite, then rolled suddenly, dragging the much larger man on top of her. This gave her some much-needed shade from the UV lights, but not enough to keep her out of harm’s way. A smile crept onto Starnes face. The lieutenant’s breathing was shallow, but he was still alive. She couldn’t hide beneath him forever. Starnes had won. Soon, he would have his prize.
With speed and force that didn’t seem possible, the tiny girl thrust her hands into the lieutenant’s chest and pried his ribcage open like a set of batwing doors. The man tried to scream as what was left of his blood, along with his vital organs and entrails, spilled down over top of the girl. Then, like some massive tick, the vampire burrowed up into the man’s open torso, pulling his twitching, dying frame down over her like a tent.
Starnes flipped the switch, killing the UV lights. The acid in his throat rose so high he could feel it in his sinuses. Pleasant staggered toward him as if drunk. His usually perfect hair was disheveled, and he compulsively straightened the jacket of his uniform. Starnes had an overwhelming urge to grab the man by his mustache and throw him in the room with the girl.
Pleasant noticed Starnes watching him, and he collected himself, slipping with practiced ease back into the role of General. “I believe an explanation is in order. What just happened in there?”
“Isn’t it obvious, sir?” Starnes couldn’t mask his contempt. “The girl is a vampire. A rather powerful one, I might add.”
“Vampire?” Pleasant scoffed. Apparently, seeing wasn’t always believing.
“Yes, sir. We’ve known of the existence of vampires for quite some time.” Starnes didn’t mention that he was referring to the Light Bearers Society, not the U.S. government. “We’ve kept a distant observation of them, for obvious reasons, but we had the opportunity to capture one, so we took it.”
“And Lazarus, he was a vampire, too?”
“Not exactly, sir. Lazarus was an anomaly. He…hatched, if you will, from one of the obsidian forms we have been collecting. They appear to be, for lack of a better term, flash-fossilized vampires. We had no idea he was still alive. We were unprepared for his unique talents. He didn’t die, as reported, but his escape, though unfortunate, yielded some unexpected benefits, which allowed us to capture the girl.”
Pleasant looked both in awe and livid. “I don’t like being misinformed, General Starnes. I was led to believe that this facility was the R&D department for the super-soldier initiative. Why was I not properly briefed?” His face burned red.
“This is beyond classified, sir, and we couldn’t risk a data breach.”
“Don’t give me that! I am above top secret clearance. You do not keep secrets from me. Understood.”
“Understood, sir.”
“What else do I need to know about this place?”
“We were able to salvage a small amount of blood from Lazarus. Goodalle has had some miraculous breakthroughs. Would you care to see his work?” Starnes’s calm demeanor only enraged Pleasant even more.
“You better watch your tone and show some respect, or you’ll be picking your teeth out of my shiny black shoes.”
“Understood, sir.” Starnes motioned to a door further down the corridor. “Shall I show you what else we have?” Pleasant merely glared at him, so Starnes turned, without another word, and led the way to Goodalle’s lab.
Pleasant stood on the catwalk overlooking the laboratory. He stared down at the various pods lined up like science fiction space capsules. All of them were dark and empty. “What am I supposed to be seeing here?”
The door at the end of the catwalk opened and Goodalle came shuffling up, his hands knotted together, his eyes cast down at his feet. He approached the two Generals, but seemed unwilling to get too close to either.
“Tell General Pleasant about your work,” Starnes said with a broad smile. “Laymen’s terms, please.”
“Um…okay… Well,” Goodalle adjusted his lab coat. He really did look like a mad scientist. Sometimes stereotypes were stereotypes for a reason. “This is a massive oversimplification, but essentially, we were able to take the blood we recovered and clone it.”
“You cloned Lazarus?”
“Not exactly. The sample was badly deteriorated.”
Pleasant looked at the pods again. “But you were able to grow something, correct?”
Goodalle glanced at Starnes. The little pipsqueak couldn’t even answer for himself. Starnes gave him a little go-ahead nod. “Yes, we were able to use the sample. We managed to grow several specimens, though they weren’t vampires… At least, not like your typical, natural vampire. And they weren’t exactly like Lazarus, either.”
“There were some deformations,” Starnes interrupted. Goodalle glowered at him, though why that was, Starnes couldn’t say. He interrupted the little twerp all the time. He should be used to it by now. “But the results were more than promising.”
Pleasant didn’t seem that impressed. “And where are these specimens?”
“They died.”
“So it was a failure then.”
Goodalle seemed physically injured by Pleasant’s words. “The blood sample deteriorated very quickly, like I said. We had hoped to use the vampire’s blood to strengthen them, but she has been uncooperative.”
“That’s an understatement,” Pleasant said. He turned with a snap to face Starnes. Goodalle backed away, as if frightened a fight might break out. “General Starnes, I must say that I am disappointed with your results here.” He waited for a response, but Starnes gave him only a cold stare. “You have been in this facility for some time, with ample funds, and all the resources you would ever need. And though you did well by capturing that…thing, you have, nonetheless, failed at taming and utilizing her. That, coupled with the escape of Lazarus, and the death of the new specimens, I have no choice but to relieve you of your post.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, sir.” Starnes’s voice remained dangerously calm. “Permission to ask who my replacement will be?”
“I’ll take command of this facility.”
Starnes flashed a broad, tooth-filled smile. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that.”
Pleasant’s eyes bulged. A throbbing vein climbed his neck and ran up his temple. “What did you say to me? How dare you talk to a superior officer in such a way.”
“Superior? Oh, I think not, you sawed-off piece of government trash. Purgatory belongs to the Light Bearers Society. You’ve been in the darkness too long. But I will show you the light.”
Pleasant backed away. He placed his finger in his ear and began to speak into his wrist. Starnes had noticed the earpiece and microphone right off, but it was of no consequence. No communications escaped Purgatory, unless it was through a landline, so his cry for help would not reach the Marines, or the Blackhawk pilots waiting outside.
“Chimera, do you copy?” Pleasant repeated for the third time. “Chimera, I am under attack. Lieutenant Yeskie is down. You are authoriz
ed to engage.”
Starnes walked over to a touch screen computer mounted on the wall. With a couple of taps and a swipe, he brought up a live feed display that caused the words to die in Pleasant’s throat. It was from the surveillance camera in the room where the Marines had been ordered to wait. Two of the Marines writhed upon the floor, gasping and clawing at their own skin. Thick, black veins spider webbed across their skin. The other men had been beaten to a literal pulp, leaving nothing more than piles of gore oozing out of their uniforms.
The door to the catwalk opened and in walked the twin umbilicus. “Oh, I forgot to mention,” Starnes said. “We did have two specimens survive. So I guess I wasn’t a complete failure.” He looked to the umbilicus. “Kill him.”
The umbilicus turned their black, lifeless eyes on Goodalle. “Father?” one of them questioned.
Goodalle cleared his throat. He looked as though he might vomit. “Go ahead. Do what he says.”
The umbilicus shot forward with impressive speed, catching Pleasant before he had a chance to even scream in shock. The twins had already fed on a pair of Marines, so they didn’t need any blood. General Pleasant’s death was not a clean one.
“There are two Blackhawks parked on the helipad,” Starnes said to Goodalle. “I don’t want them taking off.” Goodalle nodded and the umbilicus zoomed out the door. “We will need to accelerate our efforts. Pleasant and his team won’t be listed as missing for two weeks. After that, they will come looking for them. We need to be gone by then.”
“What if we can’t get the vampire to comply by then?”
“We’ll have to neutralize her and use the umbilicus to start again.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Ow, that hurts! Stop. Okay, that’s enough.” Thad squirmed on the bed, rocking back and forth, trying to avoid the alcohol-soaked rag.
“Oh, you big baby,” Beth said. “This can’t hurt worse than being beaten with a whip made out of vampire teeth.”
Thad tried to push himself up, but the bruised and torn muscles of his back didn’t allow for quick, evasive movement. “At the moment, they’re about equal.” He winced. “What is that? Sulfuric acid?”
Beth dabbed at his back a few more times, then allowed him to roll off of the bed. “You’re going to get an infection. You should have let Sebastian heal you.”
He snatched his shirt from the bed and tried to put it on, but it hurt too much to lift his arms over his head. Beth walked toward him. There was a hungry sort of look in her eyes that both captivated him, and made him want to look away. She closed the gap between them, gently touched his chest, and let her fingers slide down his torso. At the last moment, her hand veered to the side and took the shirt from his loose fingers.
“Let me help you with this.” Her smile was intoxicating. His heart thumped in his ears, and his face turned blood red. She reached up, gently placed her hand behind his neck and brought his head down to her level. She leaned in close, her breath tickling his lips.
Thad pulled away. “I’m sorry.” The look of hurt in her eyes was worse than the whip. She handed him his shirt, then turned and walked to the other end of the small room. Thad wiggled his way into his shirt, stifling every grunt and groan of pain. He deserved to hurt.
“It’s her, isn’t it? The vampire you came here with.” Though Beth’s back was to him, Thad could tell from the tremor in her voice she was embarrassed almost to tears. “Do you love her?”
“Jerusa? I…we… It’s complicated.”
“Ah, the old ‘it’s complicated’ bit.”
Thad stood there, dumb as the bedpost, unsure just what to say. Of course he had feelings for Jerusa, but the image of them together had grown murky. She was a vampire, now a Hunter. He was trapped here, a servant until he died. No matter what he had felt for her at one time, he had to come to terms with the reality of the situation.
He really did want to kiss Beth. But this place had done something to him. In this place, hope was better off dead. There was only pain and disappointment at the end of that road.
“Can I ask you something?” Beth didn’t wait for him to answer, which was good, because his tongue seemed to be on sabbatical. “What is it about this Jerusa that has everyone so spellbound? I mean, she’s just another vampire. From the whispers and rumors around this place, you’d think she was a goddess or something.”
“Well, she actually was—” Thad caught himself. He was about to say turned by a Divine Vampire, but he didn’t know who might be listening. To even speak of the Divines was forbidden. He couldn’t bear another whipping. Beth gave an inquisitive glance over her shoulder. “Jerusa is the only vampire that can communicate with ghosts.”
Beth gave a little shrug and her mouth pulled tight on one side. “Well, yeah, that’s a little impressive, I guess. Where did she pick up that little talent?”
Thad couldn’t help but smile. Even Beth’s sarcastic jealousy was a bit endearing. “I’m not sure. I think she’s always been able to see ghosts. Made her a bit of an outcast.”
“I bet. I thought mediums lose that power when they’re turned.”
Thad shrugged. “I don’t make the rules. I just work here.”
“They say that when you are born of the blood, the power of the vampire that turns you determines much of the strength and gifts you inherit. Who was the vampire that made her?”
There didn’t seem to be any malice in the question. Still, he didn’t feel comfortable talking about it. “I’m not really sure. He caused another vampire to go savage, turned Jerusa, then he was gone.”
“I hope the Hunters find him before he stirs up more trouble.” She sat on the bed. “So, who bit you? How did you all end up here? And what is the deal with the woman you’re searching for?”
The questions left him stuttering for a moment. “Um, well, a vampire named Taos is the one who bit me.” Just saying the blond ogre’s name left a bad taste in his mouth. “He actually meant to kill me, but… Look, none of this is important now. I’m here and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Beth’s mouth made a sharp downward turn. “I’m stuck here too, y’know. You’re not the only one that feels alone. Everyone I love is dead. And now, because we got caught sneaking around, none of the other humans will even talk to me. I know it sounds really corny, but you’re the only friend I have left. I just thought we could be lonely together.”
“I’d like that,” he said.
Beth stood up and started for the door. Thad darted across the room and caught her by the hand. She wove her fingers in between his, an awkward grin flickering on her face. “C’mon, let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“Let’s go look for your friend’s mom. We gotta hurry, though. My shift starts in a couple of hours.”
Thad stood dumbfounded. Beth had a way of doing that to him. “What? Why would I do that?”
“Because I can see that you won’t stop until you’re dead or you find her. And what good is a friend that’s not willing to get into trouble with you?”
She tried to leave, but Thad pulled her back. “No. I’ll look for Debra Phoenix on my own. You saw what Marjek did to me. I won’t let them do that to you.”
“That’s not your decision,” Beth said with a spark of animosity. “Look, I know we haven’t known each other very long. And I don’t believe in love at first sight, but we’re stuck with each other. Not to sound too clingy, but I need you. Without you, I’m dead.”
“That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
Beth shrugged. “Yeah, but we don’t have the option of taking it slow. The blood suckers could decide, on a whim, to drain us, then toss us out like the trash.” She grew more animated with every word, producing each syllable with the skill of a master orator. “I’m tired of living every day in fear and misery and pain. I didn’t choose this life, but so be it. If you and I can find a bit of happiness in each other, what’s wrong with that? The vampires stole us from the world, but they can only make us
their slaves if we let them.”
Goosebumps crawled up and down Thad’s arms. He had a sudden urge to pump his fist in the air and belt out a defiant scream of rebellion. He pulled her in close before the spirit of the moment could flee, took her head in his hands and pressed his lips to hers.
They broke from the kiss but remained close enough for their breath to mingle. Beth wore a smile that made Thad’s stomach flutter. Maybe she was right. Together, they could weather the storm.
“So, does this mean you’re going to let me help you search for your friend’s mom?”
“I guess so,” he said, “but I still don’t like it.” She leaned in and kissed him again. “I mean, it’s not like I can stop you anyway.”
“That’s true. Now let’s go. I think I know where they are keeping her.” Beth turned on the balls of her feet so fast that her hair slapped Thad in the face. Without even a look back, she was out the door and down the hall.
Thad ran after her. She was very fast for someone with such short legs, but he soon fell in beside her. “What do you mean you know where they are keeping her? How could you know and not tell me?”
Beth motioned for him to keep his voice down. “I said I think I know where they are keeping her. Or, at least, how to get there.”
Thad walked ten paces before asking, “Well, are you going to tell me?”
“It’s easier if I just show you. Stay close and try not to draw too much attention to us.”
It was daytime, so the vampires were resting in their personal sanctuaries, waiting for the sun to set. The human staff, however, was a different story.
“You know,” Thad said as they walked hand in hand down the grand staircase at the heart of the great house. “You never did tell me why the Stewards didn’t have you killed.” She looked at him in abhorrent shock. “What I mean is, all the humans that are infected are killed, without question. Shufah saved me. How did you survive?”
She pulled her hand out of his. “Are we telling origin stories now? I thought we weren’t doing that.” She had him there. If he was unwilling to give up his secrets, why should she give up hers? “Let’s just say, I have a unique talent that the Stewards may want to exploit someday. If they decide it’s not useful to them, into the fire I go.”
Perpetual Creatures, Volumes 1-3: A Vampire and Ghost Thriller Series Page 70