Ascension (Powered)

by Zachary Stone

  “You learned to fly really fast,” I said as we landed outside the building.

  “Only because of you,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You gave me that blood infusion which has made me feel stronger than ever before. Also, I could feel you transferring power to me while we were embracing,” she said.

  “I wasn't trying to transfer power to you,” I said.

  “You weren't?” she asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “Then we . . . I can't believe it,” she said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “We’re now symbiotes,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “When two vampires are in love and have been with each other a long time, they can strengthen each other,” she said. “But I've never heard of it happening when two vampires have only been together a short time.”

  “It's because I love you so much,” I said. “I love you as if I’d lived with you a hundred years.”

  “I love you too,” she said. “Let’s go inside.”

  As we entered, I could smell the aroma of meat cooking.

  “Come on in and eat,” I heard Bobby call out.

  We saw a large table in the middle of the room with platters of steaks, pork chops, and roasts.

  Ruby ushered us to the table and told us to sit down.

  “Eat,” she said. “We’re all going to need as much strength as we can get.”

  For the next two hours I feasted. It turned out that Sarah had a friend who ran a catering service, and she had her bring over all the food. As I looked around the table, I could see that everyone was enjoying the meal. For some of us, it might be our last.

  “So did you two have a nice walk?” Lizzie asked.

  “Yes, we did,” I said.

  “He taught me how to fly,” Cathy said.

  “That’s wonderful,” Lizzie said. “He taught me too. Do you mind if I give both of you a hug?”

  She hugged us both.

  “I’m so happy that you’re part of the family,” she told me.

  “I'm glad to have you all in my life,” I said.

  Then Sarah walked over and wrapped her arms around me.

  “I hope you’re enjoying your new life,” she told me. “I know I dragged you into this against your will. I'm so sorry you didn’t have a chance to choose if you wanted this life.”

  “You gave me a gift,” I said. “If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have eternal life, wouldn’t have this new family, and wouldn’t be engaged to the most wonderful woman in the world.”

  Sarah began to cry.

  “I still feel bad for attacking you,” she said. “And now depending how the battle goes you may still die.”

  I put my hand on her face and looked at her.

  “Mother,” I said. “Let’s just enjoy this meal.”

  “Yes, son,” she said.

  Suddenly, I heard a cell phone ring. It was Ruby's. She answered it and I could hear the conversation.

  “Zombies? Are you sure?” Ruby looked shocked.

  “Yes, zombies,” a female voice on the phone said.

  “Where are they coming from?” asked Ruby.

  “Every cemetery in town,” the voice said.

  “This changes our plans,” Ruby said.

  Chapter 15

  “Who was that?” I asked Ruby.

  “A friend of mine who works at the local TV station,” she said. “We have to move up our plans.”

  “Wait a second,” I said. “She didn't seriously mean that zombies, walking undead corpses, are emerging from graveyards?”

  “That’s exactly what she means,” Ruby said.

  “So zombies exist?” I asked.

  “Yes, but not the kind you see in movies. These have obviously been reanimated by the witch,” she said.

  Everyone else had listened in on the conversation as well. The eating had stopped and all eyes were on Ruby.

  “We move on the queen and the witch tonight,” Ruby said.

  Ruby assigned two male vampires from Macon to accompany Sarah, Cathy, and I to the Old Town Cemetery to take out the witch – hopefully without killing Candace.

  “As soon as you get the girls to safety please come and join us. We’ll need your help going up against the queen,” she said.

  Our group raced out the door and into the night. We could hear ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks in the distance. The zombies must be wreaking havoc already.

  “There’s a cave at the far end of the cemetery,” Cathy said. “It leads to the catacombs below.”

  “Oh heck,” I said. “I need the dagger.”

  I’d left the dagger Meg had given me as an engagement present in our car. It only took me a split second to fetch it, and I was back with the group.

  “Now, we need to move,” she said.

  We rushed through the town at high speed. Before we were half way to the Old Town Cemetery, we passed a smaller graveyard. What I saw stunned me – corpses were digging their way out of the earth and getting on their feet. Some were lumbering slowly towards the street, and a few were already walking on the roads.

  “How do we fight them,” I asked Cathy.

  “I don't know,” she said. “I've never encountered them before. I guess we should try and destroy their brains like in the movies.”

  On the way to the Old Town Cemetery we saw more zombies in the streets. Police officers and emergency workers were trying to fight them, terrified citizens were screaming and running away from them, and people in cars were trying to evacuate.

  As we arrived at the large cemetery at the edge of downtown, we could see hundreds of living corpses. Some of them were simply skeletons with small patches of flesh hanging onto them. Others who weren’t as decayed had pale skin and sunken eyes. One fact struck me as odd; their eyes were all pure black – just like vampires’.

  Seeing the horde of the undead moan and fumble towards us, I suggested that we go around the cemetery to reach the cave. However, looking down the street both ways, there were zombies everywhere.

  “We can go through the cemetery,” I said. “Look how slow they are, we can zoom right past them.”

  As we walked forward I felt the ground tremble as if there had been an earthquake. A strange, blue mist began to fill the graveyard and started to expand into the street.

  “Let's go,” I said.

  However, when I tried to take off running I was unable. My powers were gone.

  “What the heck,!” I heard Sarah exclaim.

  I tried to dig deep inside of me to call upon my power, but nothing happened.

  “It must be the mist,” Cathy said.

  “We have to keep moving,” I said. “We just need to get to the cave.”

  I pulled out my dagger and we ran, at a human pace, into the cemetery. For the first time in days, I was terrified. My powers had made me feel like a superhero or even a god, but now I felt like an ordinary, weak human.

  As the zombies approached us we dodged them and tried to prevent their flailing arms from grabbing us, but it wasn’t easy – there were hundreds of them.

  From behind I heard Cathy call for help. A zombie was on top of her. The decaying, putrid corpse was trying to bite her.

  I took my dagger, stabbed the dead man in the temple with it, and pulled Cathy up to her feet.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  Looking around I could see more of the zombies approaching. Luckily, we all had blades of one sort or another. Sarah pulled out a long knife and stabbed one of the undead creatures in the eye while the two vampires from Macon started dispatching the freaks with swords.

  “I wonder,” I said, as I tried to see if I could transform into my vampire form. Pushing and struggling, all I could do was summon my claws.

  “Keep going,” I said. “We have to get out of this mist.”

  As we fought our way through the graveyard, scenes from horror movies flashed through my mind
as I wondered what would happen if one of us were bitten. Could a vampire turn into a zombie?

  As we got close to the cave at the rear of the cemetery we found a ring of zombies surrounded the entrance.

  “We’ll have to get through them somehow,” Cathy said.

  “I'll do it,” I said.

  Looking at Cathy and Sarah, I could tell they were both very weakened by the mist. Although I didn’t have access to my powers, I wasn’t overly fatigued – but they looked exhausted, both were out of breath and looking disoriented.

  Everyone followed me as we moved towards the circle of zombies. I swung my dagger and easily cut through the spinal column of one zombie and then stabbed the head of another almost effortlessly – the blade was insanely sharp.

  Soon we had broken through the cordon of zombies and entered the small opening of the cave. As we crawled inside I could feel my powers increase and I was able to morph into vampire form – everyone else was able to do the same.

  “Now this feels better,” I heard Sarah say. Looking back, I could see that she was in her vampire form. Her red hair had turned coal black, her fangs were long, and her skin was pure white.

  As we crawled through the tunnel we finally reached an area that opened up. We were in the catacombs and the last traces of the blue mist were gone.

  “This is where they buried the victims of yellow fever,” Cathy said. “There were hundreds of bodies down here.”

  I remembered the story. In the 1800s, there had been outbreaks of yellow fever in the city. To keep people from panicking, city officials hid the bodies of anyone who died of the fever in tunnel systems beneath the city.

  As we walked I heard a laugh in the distance. I recognized the voice from earlier encounter -- it was the witch.

  “Keep moving,” I said.

  “Let’s keep an eye out for the girls,” Cathy said.

  Cautiously now moved along the tunnel and before long it opened out into a larger chamber and standing facing us was I saw a very familiar figure: Candace. But it was obvious right away that it was only Candace’s body, as the woman who looked at us, though outwardly beautiful, was looking at us with eyes of pure venom and wore a cruel smile of derision that I would never have seen on Candace’s face. Behind her, seated on the ground against the wall were the girls that had been captured. They were bound with rope and their mouths were gagged with grey tape. A few of them looked like they had bruises and burn marks on their faces.

  “Let them go, now!” Cathy said boldly. “They did nothing to you.”

  “I'll let them go after all of you are dead,” the witch said.

  I stared at the witch in horror. It was ghastly to hear these awful words coming from the mouth a person I knew was incapable of being so evil.

  “I'm giving you one chance,” I said. “Leave Candace's body now and let go of the girls, or I'll kill you.”

  “Kill me?” she scoffed. “No you won't. I know how you feel for this pretty woman I'm inside. You love her. I have access to her memories, and I know about all the times you expressed your feelings for her. You were a pitiful lovesick boy weren’t you? She never had those feelings for you, poor thing!”

  “Those girls are more important to me,” I said. “I’ll still kill you.”

  I was bluffing. There was no way I could kill Candace.

  “I don't think so,” she said. “By the way, how did you like my army? I have them throughout the town now, having all kinds of fun!”

  “You’re sick,” Sarah said. “You not only harm innocent pregnant women but also disrupt the sleep of the dead.”

  “Their souls are where they’re supposed to be,” the witch said. “I'm just playing with their bodies. Now, I have someone I think wants to talk to you,” she said.

  Suddenly, Albert emerged from behind the witch.

  “Albert!” Cathy exclaimed. “You monster! You ratted us out at the beach house, and now you’re on her side?”

  “What was I supposed to do?” he asked. “You sided with a man that embarrassed me in front of everyone. You were my wife -- and now you’re with this half breed.”

  “He’s more of a man than you ever were,” she said. “I'm glad I divorced you.”

  “You’re going to die along with your boyfriend, Cathy,” he said.

  He then transformed into his vampire form and started to glow with a red aura. His eyes turned blood red as the witch began chanting.

  “Albert, what have you become?” Cathy said, in obvious shock.

  “My mistress has made me into something more powerful than even your boyfriend,” he said.

  I watched as his red aura expanded and what looked like shadows started moving towards him. The shadows leaped off the floor and entered into his body.

  “The spirits of the damned now fill me!” he roared. “Their rage adds to my power.”

  I wasn’t going to let him finish powering up.

  “You two take out the witch,” I said. “I'll handle this guy.”

  I ran towards him with my dagger, but with one swift blow he knocked me backwards.

  “Is that all you’ve got?” he laughed.

  I reached deep inside myself and called forth more power.

  “No,” I said.

  He ran up to me and tried to punch me in the face, but I managed to dodge and elbow him in the chin which sent him flying across the chamber floor and into the wall.

  “Now this is going to be a good fight,” he said, apparently unscathed.

  Sarah and Cathy were trying to fight the witch but she was using all her powers to defend herself. In front of her was a barrier composed of a green flame which neither Cathy nor Sarah could get through. She began to push the two women backwards with her telekinetic powers they tried to move forward get close.

  Albert came at me again, and I planned to use the dagger to stab him in the face. I rushed towards him but he knocked the blade out of my hand and grabbed my neck. I could feel my throat collapsing as he squeezed.

  Fear raced through my mind and I didn't know what to do. Before I could figure out a way to break lose, he’d slammed my head into the wall.

  “Focus,” I thought to myself. I remembered back to when Meg and I had fought in the mountains. I had to use the training she’d given me.

  I called forth all the power inside of me and I screamed, breaking loose of his grip. I jumped backwards and with my mind called the blade to my hand. Albert tried to punch me but I dodged and slit his throat. Blood poured out and he paused.

  Why hadn’t the blade sliced his head off?

  A moment later the bleeding had stopped and the wound was healed.

  I screamed again and called up even more power. A white aura surrounded me and I felt stronger than ever before.

  “You’re dead,” he called out.

  “Not yet,” I said.

  He ran up to me, but I focused and by an extreme effort of concentration managed to slow down time. With the extra milliseconds I was able to avoid his flying fist and position myself so I could land a clean to punch in his face and send him flying across the chamber. As he stood I came at him and I punched him again, breaking his nose. Blood poured down his face.

  He roared, and I could see his red aura become even brighter. Suddenly, a ball of red light formed in his hand and he threw it at me. I braced for its impact and managed to create a bubble of power that protected me. Even with the bubble, I could feel the heat from the red light – it was hell fire.

  As he continued to throw balls of red light at me, I could feel my body temperature start to rise. I felt as if my body was burning. If hell was filled with this light, it couldn’t be a pleasant place, I thought.

  In the distance, I could see that the members of my group were fighting the witch. Her defenses seemed to be weakening and she was surrounded.

  I needed to kill Albert, but I didn’t see how I could. It was taking all of my strength just to hold back the hell fire he was throwing at me.

  Suddenly, I
heard Cathy yell.

  “Albert! Come over here and fight us, you coward,” she cried.

  He turned his head momentarily and it gave me the opportunity I needed. I took my dagger and threw it at his head with all my might. It penetrated his skull and he fell to the ground.