Blood Crusade

by Billita Jacobsen

  He was now close enough that I could easily kill him after turning werewolf. It might be my last accomplishment as the guards behind me would mow me down but it would be well worth it. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of looking at Heather. She still carried a look of absolute terror in her eyes. Her lips were trembling as tears rolled down her face. It was the same sorrowful look I remember when she was two years old and felt it was an injustice when given an answer of no to something she wanted.

  In spite of the additional horror Heather would feel from a werewolf presence, I attempted to turn so I could quickly impale Claudius with my claws. I willed it and nothing happened. It was the same outcome as the last time I tried to become a werewolf in front of my daughter. I began to sweat profusely.

  The techs manning the panel slid their chairs around the controls as alarms began going off. “Sire, excuse me, there seems to be some activity outside of the tunnel. I believe we have a breach—there are blips showing up all over,” said one young worker who looked earnestly at Claudius with a look of concern.

  “This is ruining my surprise,” Claudius said, looking at me with pure hatred as he walked over to the control panel. He was out of reach now. I missed my window of opportunity thanks to the fear in my subconscious.

  “Isn’t there a platoon out there on patrols?” Claudius questioned as the worker pointed to blinking lights on the board.

  “Yes, sire and a squad guarding the entrance,” he replied nervously.

  “Well, tell them where to search you dimwit!” Claudius commanded. He pointed to the twenty vampires that blocked the room entrance. “Get out there!”

  Mark walked out of position and said, “Let me go out and take control of the search.” He obviously wanted to escape watching me die.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Claudius said, “everything is in check.”

  Walking back to my clawing range, wearing a wide grin, Claudius showed his vampire sharp fangs and hissed out, “Now, where were we? Oh yes, my wonderful plans to put vampires in charge of this planet. We have infected hundreds of humans and will be sending them back to their homes around the globe where they will spread a virus that decimates the population and leaves survivors at our mercy. Won’t that be wonderful?”

  Although Claudius was speaking to me, Lance asked, “You’ve infected all the humans you were holding prisoner?”

  “Yes, hundreds of them,” Claudius beamed, “and they’re all back there, waking up.” He pointed to the tunnel behind the guards that remained in the room. “Sir Lancelot, you are about to discover that betrayal has its rewards. We want the loyalty of the Knights of the Round Table, and to seal our allegiance, I have a most delightful surprise for you and Percy. You can come out now, my Queen.”

  She appeared from behind the soldiers, pushing them aside as she made her entrance. Her copper red hair swirled in curls around her shoulders, showcasing her porcelain white skin. She was adorned with more gaudy jewelry than Catherine the Great used to wear. Her face was exquisitely beautiful until she opened her mouth in a grin. Jagged, razor sharp killing fangs destroyed her loveliness and made her appear quite revolting.

  “Mother!” Percy shouted, “What are you doing here?”

  “It’s time to become a family again,” she said. “Claudius will allow us to rule this country and we can all be together.” She glided to Lance and touched his arm, “I’ve missed you so. I heard you’ve been looking for me.”

  “Guinevere, this isn’t how I imagined seeing you again,” Lance said, grabbing her wrist and throwing her arm away from him, “and honestly, I’ve been searching for you so you can pay for your crimes against humanity.”

  Clearly, Lance no longer loved her, Mark was wrong. She stared at him with her lips closed, looking quite stunning again but with sapphire blue eyes that were cold and harsh. “Very well,” she said without a care. “I’m sure my son doesn’t feel the same.”

  Percy let go of Heather and stood up to hug her when she approached him. They embraced for a moment and then she looked down at my daughter and asked, “Who is this?”

  Percy took Heather’s hand to guide her to a standing position and announced, “Mother, I want you to meet Heather, my fiancée.”

  I wondered when that happened and felt insulted hearing about their plans only because Percy told Guinevere. I probably wouldn’t even be invited to their wedding, should we survive this night. Strangely, that bothered me more than the current situation.

  “Why on earth would you want to marry your food?” Guinevere said, making me want to rip off her head. Heather looked at her with eyes that were brimming with tears. “Surely you will come to your senses Percy. No son of mine would ever marry a human, although I must admit she smells delicious.”

  Claudius was so close to me now and laughing uncontrollably at Guinevere’s cruel words, that I could easily kill him if only I could turn. I was trying so hard that I grunted, drawing his attention. “So who should we start with? You’re welcome to help me torture this bitch,” he said to Guinevere, pointing a stubby thumb in my direction.

  “I want to begin with this one,” she replied, “and my son will help me.” Facing Percy, she spoke in a soft motherly tone, believing that her evil determination would convince him to kill Heather. “She must be sustenance, Percy, it’s her fate. We must be firm and disciplined when killing our food. It’s the price we must pay to rule this world,” she said, “and you and your father have no choice, if you want to live.” Percy just stood there, his mouth open in disbelief.

  “We’ll do this together, son. Share this meal with me,” Guinevere said, grabbing Heather.

  My daughter looked at me and cried out, “Mom!” She had her arms outstretched as if reaching out to me, screaming, “Help me!”

  Claudius quickly turned to me and shouted, “That’s your daughter? Good fortune has smiled down on me! How marvelous! Lance, I’m disappointed that you didn’t tell me. You’ve forced me to give the order for Camelot to be destroyed!”

  My motherly defenses kicked in and I was grateful for the first time for my werewolf self. “I don’t think so, mother-fucker!” I informed Claudius, in all my werewolf glory.

  He backed up in fear and screamed, “Shoot her!” He looked at his soldiers, “Shoot her now, you idiots!” He was terrified of me and had no intention of fighting for his life. Claudius was a coward, as bullies often are.

  The slow motion yin and yang of battle began. The soldiers pointed their weapons at me as I lunged forward with my claw. Mark moved, watching me with a firm look that confirmed he knew what he was doing, as he leapt in front of me, taking all the silver bullets.

  Lance and Lozen jumped into action, battling the soldiers, who were caught off guard since they had no further orders from Claudius. One claw swipe from me nearly severed his head. The second swipe from my left paw propelled his bald cranium across the room. It landed with a thud-- his eyes wide open in fright on a face without a body.

  I bounded towards Heather but I was too late to protect her. Percy had punched Guinevere so hard that she landed on her back and laid on the floor rubbing her cheek. I jumped on her body and raised my paw to deal a killing blow. “No, Nola, please!” Percy yelled.

  I stopped my claw in mid-air. It wasn’t my duty to dispatch the bitch, that was up to Percy and Lance. I wouldn’t kill Percy’s mother in front of him—that would be unforgiveable and he disliked me enough as it is. I got off her and she ran towards the tunnel where the human victims were kept.

  Gunfire rang out in the tunnels leading to the control room. Lozen did a somersault towards a soldier, knocking the weapon out of his hands, allowing Lance to catch it. The remaining soldiers began to fire on Lance and Lozen. Otis ran into the room, spraying his colloidal silver super-soaker in the soldiers’ faces, blinding them--it wasn’t such a stupid idea after all. Lozen took out two of them while Lance ordered the rest to drop their weapons.

  Master Kong bounded in as a werewolf, striking fear in
their hearts. They dropped their guns and Lance herded them to stand by the control panel. Lady Makeda, Magnus, Elaine and a group of hunters and vampires, working together, brought in twenty vampires who had survived the battle.

  Elaine and Makeda were arguing. “We don’t take vampire prisoners, they should be shot,” Elaine insisted.

  “That’s not our way,” Makeda said, “they deserve the chance to serve humanity. Let us rehabilitate them. You’ll see.”

  “I reluctantly agree,” Elaine replied, sealing the alliance.

  Heather rushed to me, embracing me in a hug. “I remember everything now—it all came back to me when you turned into a werewolf. You’re not a monster, Mom, you never were.”

  Acceptance from her meant everything to me. “It’s okay, honey,” I said, “everything will be fine.” I looked at Percy who still seemed to be in shock over the encounter with his horrible mother. “I need to go to Mark and see if I can remove the silver bullets.” He understood and put an arm around Heather to guide her into his embrace.

  Mark was bleeding profusely, trying in vain to push himself to a sitting position. I fell to the floor, cradling his body. He’d been shot too many times; I wouldn’t be able to save him, there was no way to remove that many silver bullets in time. I touched one of the wounds, trying to stop the bleeding.

  Mark looked up at me, the light from his brown eyes fading, “Don’t bother, you’ll ruin your lovely fur.” I didn’t realize I was still werewolf. Heather had hugged me in spite of my form. I quickly changed back into the human appearance he knew.

  “You could have confided in me,” he said, weakly, “werewolf or not, I still love you.”

  “I love you too, Mark,” I cried.

  He knew he was dying and I did my best to comfort him. “Do you think I’ll see her again? Do you think she’ll forgive me?” He was looking forward to what would be. The fear of nonexistence is strong in all of us. We don’t want to die even when we know it’s happening, we aspire to go on, it’s the desire that inspires religions.

  “Of course she’ll forgive you. You saved the children. She’ll be there, waiting for you,” I said, trying to be strong for his sake.

  Lance and Makeda approached but kept a respectful distance with sorrow in their eyes. Mark motioned to them, “Get a connection to Camelot. I can stop the madness before I go.”

  One of the techs at the control panel patched him through on the speaker. “This is General Anthony, who is in command at Camelot?” he said, gathering his ebbing strength to sound firm with his last words.

  “Yes, sir, this is Governor Legatus Lucius, what are our orders?”

  “Claudius has fallen. I’m ordering you to stand down and retreat. Leave Camelot now and return to duty in Las Vegas. Sir Lancelot will be taking command and you’ll be under his orders,” Mark decreed.

  “Yes sir,” Lucius replied, quickly ending the horrific plans of Claudius’ reign.

  I held Mark tightly, caressing his cheek, not wanting to lose him now that a future happiness had been dangled in front of me. Blood began oozing from Mark’s mouth, he could no longer speak. The last words from his enchanting voice saved Camelot. He looked up at me, embracing me with his eyes one last time. He crumbled into dust as I held on; all that was left in my arms was his military toga. I brought the cloth to my face, smelled the Green Irish Tweed, and sobbed. The amulet around my neck felt ice cold; the connection was lost forever. Mark sacrificed his life for me, even after watching me turn into a beast.

  Lance bent down and tried to help me up. I violently shook his hands off. I was inconsolable. “Leave me alone!” I shouted, burying my face in Mark’s toga, inhaling its aroma.

  Harold ran into the control center, in human form and out of breath, declaring, “We have fifteen minutes to get out of here! The charges are set to blow! Let’s get the kidnapped people to safety!”

  Lance stood up and left my side. “We can’t help them as I hoped. They’ve all been infected and there is no antidote. We have no choice but to leave them here so the virus isn’t spread.”

  Harold, a panicked look on his face, said, “You mean to tell me I parachuted into this dreadful place to save people and we’ve failed? What happened to our plan to rescue them?”

  Lance was beginning to show exasperation, a look I’ve seen before, when he speaks a truth he knows to be infallible and the astonishingly stupid will not listen. So, he spoke slowly and with precision, “Yes, I have rescue helicopters on the way…our plan was to rescue them. However, I didn’t know they were all contaminated. We cannot save people who will infect the whole planet.”

  Percy, coming to the realization that time was working against them, took Heather’s hand and said, “Alright, let’s get out of here.” Heather pulled away from him and ran to my side.

  She sat on the floor by me and said, “I’m not leaving you, Mom.” Her kindness was the only thing that could shake me from my sorrow.

  I nodded at her and stood up. “It’s okay, honey, we can go,” I said, putting Mark’s toga on over my tattered clothes. I grabbed her hand and turned to Harold to yell, “Why the fuck would you set explosives to go off in fifteen minutes? Stop the countdown so we have more time!”

  Lance answered, “It can’t be stopped Nola, that was the plan. We didn’t believe we’d get out of here alive, it was necessary to stop Claudius. Setting explosions that couldn’t be interrupted was the only option. So, let’s hurry. That’s the way out.” He pointed to the entrance behind us, where Guinevere had escaped.

  We ran down a short tunnel that led to another cavernous, brightly lit room that contained row after row of hospital beds where people were waking up in fear. There appeared to be a lab in the corner, and a nurse paced the floor, putting her hands in the air when she spotted our weapons. “The doctors left with the red-haired lady,” she said. “I didn’t want any of this, I was under orders.”

  “Shit,” I said. “Shit, shit, shit.” I surveyed the room, filled with unfortunate people of all ages and races, including some children.

  The tech who had manned the control panel stepped forward. “Sir, that’s my wife,” he said, pointing to the nurse, “please, may I go to her?”

  “Yes,” Lance nodded.

  “Robert,” she cried as they embraced, “what’s going to happen to us?”

  He turned to look at Lance and said, “You know, we all pretty much hated Claudius and his plans. We were only following orders, under duress. If you didn’t do what you were told, the Emperor had you killed.”

  “Now, where the fuck have I heard that before? Only following orders? That’s no excuse!” I shouted. “A madman can’t lead if nobody will follow!”

  “Sir, we will follow you. We’ll do whatever you order,” he continued speaking to Lance while the captured soldiers nodded in agreement. “Claudius has transit trucks outside the tunnels and I have the keys. We can get far away from here.”

  We were all walking towards the exit now, our eyes on the misery we passed as the infected begged for help. Makeda tried to calm them by saying, “Help is on the way, remain where you are.”

  A woman struggled to stand and make her way to a child in the bed next to her, likely her daughter. She sat on the bed and brushed the girl’s hair with her hand and then tightly hugged her. “I knew help would come,” she said, looking at us with gratitude, “thank you.” That did it for me.

  “Lance, we can’t leave these people behind. We’ve got to do something,” I whispered, walking close to him.

  He looked at me and I noticed that the kindness usually present in his eyes had disappeared. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, “you know that isn’t possible. There are billions of lives at stake. We have no choice.”

  “No choice, like the soldiers who followed Claudius? That’s not true. We can do something—the vampire and werewolf virus will overwhelm the engineered Claudius virus and kill it—they aren’t zombies yet. We can save them if we turn them,” I said, the idea suddenly
dawning on me, a gift from the universal consciousness.

  Harold overheard me and said, “Of course! She’s right. There’s no stronger virus than the werewolf and vampire contagions. We don’t have to leave them behind. We can save them.” Everyone stopped and looked at Lance, waiting for orders.

  He looked at me for a long second. Time was running out. His eyes softened and he said, “The vampires will only be able to turn a few, this mission is up to the werewolves. You only need to scratch them to turn them. Let’s hurry!”

  Harold and I turned werewolf, making some of the patients scream. Master Kong, still in werewolf form, barked out orders, “I’ll take this row, you two make a run around the other beds!”

  I quickly ran down the row, stopping only for a second to grab human hands and scratch. I was well aware of what I was inflicting on the innocent, the child I infected gave me pause, but this was their only chance to live. They could find comfort at Camelot, and purpose.

  Makeda bit her wrist to make it bleed and was dripping blood down an elderly man’s throat. Lozen also spread the vampire virus, a much longer process. Lance was directing operations, addressing the soldiers.

  “I can offer you amnesty for any crimes committed under Claudius’ orders, if you join us now. Please step forward if you want to accept this offer and serve Camelot.”

  Without hesitation, every soldier stepped forward. Robert and his wife also accepted the proposal. “Take the keys and get the trucks ready to leave,” Lance told them. Facing the soldiers he said, “We’ll need your help getting the patients out of here.”

  While moving down the aisles, I noticed that Elaine and Magnus, and the remaining hunters, gathered at the tunnel leading to the exit. Otis had happily joined them, greeted with a kiss by the hunter he was fond of. The humans were deep in discussion and Magnus handed Otis an AK-47.

  Elaine faced us and shouted, “Stop this atrocity now or I’ll shoot!”

  We all froze, looking in her direction. “We accepted fighting alongside vampires and werewolves. We accepted allowing vampires to live but this blasphemy is too much! We can’t allow it! We will let those we fought with leave this place. Everyone else’s fate is sealed and they stay here so they can die in peace as human beings!”