Then, her mother had died because of him. In the flames and wreckage of the bombing of Nagasaki.
Oh yes, Kamiko Kana knew the name of Michael.
She spoke, “Michael has no brothers.”
The woman raised an eyebrow, “No wonder you try to carve your own little fiefdom. You are so woefully ignorant of the bigger world. A little girl who would make herself Queen.”
She was getting irritated. This peasant woman was going to sit in the sun… Kamiko Kana’s face became a little tighter. Stephen was known to be able to walk in the sun. That meant that this woman was most likely who she said she was.
That put her at just two steps from Michael himself and a very, very strong opponent. “We in the East do not recognize any above us but our own. I am the Queen, and you have made the mistake of coming into my own lands to say what?”
“You are to immediately cease your Vampire-on-Vampire violence and retract your political ambitions.” Gabrielle told her.
“Or?” Kamiko Kana asked.
The black man grunted, “There is no ‘or’.” He replied to her, “They will stop.”
Kamiko Kana noticed Gabrielle rolling her eyes and asked her, “You cannot stop your own men from commenting?”
“Who said they were my men?” She answered Kamiko Kana.
Kamiko Kana motioned to the two, “They are here as your support, you lead from the front so they are your men.”
Gabrielle laughed, her sound carrying the thirty feet easily, “I lead the operation you immature bitch! These two are from the Queen’s Own. I’m not here to deal with you, I’m here to try to protect you from them!” Her last notes were almost a snarl of irritation.
The feral smiles that the two men behind her displayed caused a slight rustle among her men. Her guards were not stupid. It was obvious these three were more than willing to start violence. Those that were willing to start violence and yet refrained were rarely ignorant of their abilities.
One of her men shouted back. Unable to keep his temper in check, “Watch how you speak to the Queen! Your Queen is nothing but a false…” The crack of two pistol shots echoed down the chamber. Her man’s head exploded across the one to his right and then against her back wall. His halberd toppled to the ground while his body collapsed.
The white man said, “We will accept a lot of talk…”
The black man finished, “But disrespect of Bethany Anne is not allowed.”
Gabrielle shrugged, “Well, that about finishes my part of this. I can tell Bethany Anne I tried.” She lifted her sword up, “C’mon Kamiko Kana, care for a little girl-on-girl action? My guys are wanting something to turn them on.”
The red in Kamiko’s eyes threatened to blind her vision as she hissed, “Kill them. Kill them all!”
Gabrielle smiled, “Remember she said that guys, I want it known I didn’t start it!”
Scott laughed, “Your command oh fearless leader?” he asked Gabrielle.
Gabrielle smirked, “Fuck’em up.”
Darryl’s pistol started barking as fast as a machine gun, “Sure hope that means kill them, not the other stuff.” He turned his pistol to find new targets.
Scott yelled back as he was racing in vampiric speed to his left, “I’m pretty sure anything means kill them!”
Darryl got busy running to his right, “Then why not just say it?”
Unfortunately, the eight Vampires that were left reached them and stopped Scott’s response.
Kamiko Kana’s mouth was agape. Within seconds of the her command half of her men were dead, their head’s exploding. The female in the middle was attacked by two of her men. She could hear the backup of the second wave rushing down the hallway. The new reinforcements were not the best she had.
She should never have needed the backup at all. But her elite were dying, and dying quickly. The Vampire had just cut the head off of one of her attackers and stabbed through the chain mail of the other. Her kick sent his body flying to slam against a column. Then Kamiko Kana could see her turn her eyes on her.
She wanted to stamp her foot down in frustration! This was wrecking her plans. Her second wave was arriving but it was too late. Kamiko Kana threw down the glass sphere which released the smoke.
She stepped into the Etheric and stumbled into her secret chamber. The calm of her chamber was reassuring as she moved to the hidden door and opened it. She stepped hurriedly into her personal room, her human assistant came running when she pulled the bell cord.
“Mistress?” She huffed, a little breathless from the exertion.
“It is time, Machiko.”
“Time?” Machiko’s face drew down into puzzlement.
“Time!” Kamiko Kana came close, her eyes turned red and Machiko barely had time to gasp before the pain of the bite into her neck erased all other thoughts.
While her men were fighting above, Kamiko Kana drained the blood of her faithful servant of the past twelve years. The young girl’s body dropped down lifeless when Kamiko Kana finished. She stepped over her assistant to grab what she could.
It was time to leave.
“Seems like she didn’t want to stick around!” Scott yelled. He shot another guard in the head as he dodged a halberd. Grabbing the halberd that just went past him by the shaft he kicked the holder who flew back to land in the middle of the room ten feet away. Scott turned the halberd around and used it to first block a swing at him then slice at another. “These things suck!”
Gabrielle stabbed a fourth, “It’s because you’re supposed to use it with two hands you uncultured swine!”
“Seriously?” Scott replied and then tossed it to a confused vampire who easily caught it, only to open his eyes in alarm when Scott’s pistol was up and emptied three shots into this skull. “That’s just fucked up.”
Seconds later, the room started filling up with reinforcements. Darryl yelled, “Status?”
Gabrielle replied, “SNAFU”.
“Good to know.” Darryl yelled back. “Plan?”
Gabrielle grunted when a halberd got through her defense and hit her ceramic armor. “Gott Verdammt you shit, that’s my tits you’re hitting!” The offending Vampire lost his head to Gabrielle’s cut.
“Need a hand over there?” Scott asked when three of the new guys came rushing at her.
“No!” She dodged one slice, parried another and kicked a third away. She swung her sword back around to lop off the first guy’s head and then blocked the second’s backhand swing. She quickly brought her leg around to knock him back with a roundhouse kick then set to receive the fresh attack of the third guard. That guy’s head disappeared in gore when two shots took him out.
Gabrielle heard Darryl yell over to Scott, “That’s eleven!”
Scott’s loud reply came back, “Look mother-fucker, that was Gabrielle’s kill. You’re just cheating!”
“Don’t be a pussy, Scott.” Two more shots rang out “Dead is dead!”
Gabrielle smiled as the second guy set himself up to be the sole focal point of Gabrielle’s attention.
She feinted to her left then stabbed to her right, catching him in the grove of his armor and causing him discomfort. He next planned attack was interrupted when he was shot from behind and his blood splattered her.
The sound of machine gun fire wasn’t expected. “Tweedle-dee,” She yelled as she turned quickly towards the door and started running, “Time to leave! She was halfway back to the door when she yelled, “Make sure you leave the presents!”
Her armor caught two rounds when she saw Scott toss a grenade toward the other end of the hall. She arrived at the door and turned to see where her team was. She was shot two more times in the chest and the last thing she saw as she flew back through the door was Darryl getting hit multiple times himself and Scott grabbing him.
She struggled to get up when the larger hole she had made was increased in size yet again by Darryl and Scott barreling through it and then a huge explosion rocketing the inside of the hall.
Barely a half-second later the pods lifted to the sky, leaving behind a smoldering ruin.
She checked Darryl over. He was hit twice in his left leg, once in his right arm and the lower right side of his neck. That one wasn’t too far into his neck, so it more creased him than did damage. She reached down under the seat and grabbed a specially made cooler and pulled out a small pouch. She could count ten different shots that hit Darryl’s chest.
“Drink this!” She commanded.
Darryl nodded and drank the small vial. He spoke after finishing the contents, “We going to need Bethany Anne for this bitch?”
Gabrielle’s eyes glowed. “Hell no! The Queen sent her Own, and her Own are going to finish the job.”
“Just us three?” Darryl asked. He wasn’t concerned, but looked curious.
“No.” Gabrielle said as she reached for the mic, “It’s time John got involved.”
Darryl chuckled in his pain. “You really don’t like that Vampire much, do you?”
Gabrielle smiled, “She gives sluts a bad name. Besides, I’m ready to see what John can do.”
Darryl closed his eyes to wait while the nanocytes and blood mix he just drank worked on his body. “Well, there goes all our fun.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
TQB Base, Colorado - USA
Cheryl Lynn was eating a late lunch when she noticed a man and woman enter the commissary. He was striking. Tall with a chin she could die for and a chest to wake up on. Unfortunately, it was obvious that he was smitten with the woman. They were talking and Cheryl Lynn could hear an accent in the woman’s voice.
She figured out that the couple was Nathan and Ecaterina. She had heard about the two of them from John. Although John failed to mention how good looking the couple were.
Sometimes, life was just a bitch. She bet they grew up together or something and had loved each other from childhood. Like most men, John had neglected the interesting details.
Cheryl Lynn turned back to the papers she was reading. She was trying to get ‘up to speed’ with the background information she would need to help Bethany Anne. She got engrossed in a small bit of information, related to a minor company involved in conceptual opportunities of space mining, when she heard a deep ‘excuse me’ causing her to look up.
Right into his eyes. “May we join you?” He asked.
Cheryl Lynn looked over to see Ecaterina smiling to her and she nodded, “Please!” She gathered up the file folders that held her documents and dumped them in a chair next to her, making room for the food trays that her new table mates were holding.
The two introduced themselves and Cheryl Lynn did the same. It took only a few minutes for Cheryl Lynn to realize a couple of things.
One, she was a bitch for being jealous. Two, her cousin could be a bastard, he hadn’t told her anything about the couple being Werewolves!
They talked for a while before Ecaterina asked Nathan if he should go and ‘help the Wechselbalg learn a few new ways to hit the floor?’. Nathan bent over, kissed Ecaterina on her cheek and reached across to shake Cheryl Lynn’s hand. He told her he was happy to have met her, but he was taking this opportunity to go and get a work out.
He was gone pretty quickly.
“Don’t mind him,” Ecaterina said. “He hasn’t been able to get in any sparring for the last couple of days and he can get edgy.”
Cheryl Lynn was captivated, “You mean his, uh, his…”
Ecaterina smiled, “His wolfie side?” Cheryl Lynn nodded. “Well, I know that makes a difference, but he is just naturally an aggressive sort and we aren’t due to head back out on a trip for another couple of days.”
“Why did you come over here?”
Ecaterina smiled, “So I could answer questions about your new job.” Ecaterina looked at Cheryl Lynn’s confused face. “Let me guess. Neither Bethany Anne nor John told you that I was Bethany Anne’s assistant for the last couple of years?” Cheryl Lynn shook her head. “That figures, sometimes those two just assume everyone picks it all up through osmosis or something.”
“Wait,” Cheryl Lynn said. “How did you become her support help? I’m lost. Aren’t you like, and forgive me if I’m out of order, Nathan’s wife or something?”
“I’m his mate, but it basically means the same thing.” Ecaterina grabbed Nathan’s untouched dessert and pulled it in front of her. She grabbed a spoon, “I tell you, between the ability to eat anything and the complete lack of needing bra support I’ll never go back. I’ll return my nanites when someone sucks them out of my cold, dead and I hope very old, body.”
“Your nanites?” Cheryl Lynn was getting hopelessly lost. “Aren’t those something like tiny little machines in your body?” Ecaterina nodded her agreement as she ate another bite of the dessert. She thought for a second, “So, these nanites are what make you different than me?”
Ecaterina answered, “Yes. There are two groups of nanites that we are aware of so far. I’m sure out in the universe there are a lot more, but right now on earth I’m only aware of those that create what are called Vampires and those that create the Wechselbalg, or the changelings.”
Cheryl Lynn looked around the mostly empty room, but still leaned forward even though no one was nearby. “Does it feel weird changing? Does it hurt like on Michael Jackson’s video?”
Ecaterina grinned, “No one has shown you yet?”
Cheryl Lynn threw her arms up, sat back and huffed, “Hell no! My own cousin, I’m learning, is way up in the organization and I’m trying to learn as much as I can. I don’t even know what I don’t know so I can’t know how I can fix it.” A look of determination came over her face, “But I’m going to figure it out, dammit! Then I’m going to kick little John right in his damn shin.” She crossed her arms in front of herself with a steely look of determination on her face.
Ecaterina smiled to herself, ‘that’s the spirit’, she thought. She said aloud, “Well, let me give you some pointers on what you need to know and how to get more information from others. I’ll also give you my cell phone number in case you need to text or call me.”
Over a hundred feet away hidden from the ladies by a door, a large man, easily topping six foot smiled to himself and then continued down the hallway.
Washington D.C. – USA
Barb had spent another two days on her report while also trying to find out more about whoever was behind the request.
Her questions to Don were fruitless. It wasn’t that he knew the answer and was withholding it, she was sure that he just didn’t know. They had the right request documents and that was enough for him. His effort running the organization was taking the rest of his focus and it didn’t occur to him that the request might not be on the up-and-up.
Now, she had a report to file. She was finished and she was pretty sure it could cause a few waves.
All of the evidence was circumstantial at best, but it was enough that a black group in the government would check it out and most likely believe everything that she had reported. Which concerned her.
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