Death Banishes (Mortis Vampire Series Book Six)

by J. C. Diem

  Appalled by the treachery, I couldn’t hide my anguish. “What did he say?” Gregor asked. Kokoro’s small white hand crept into the crook of his arm as she peered upwards at the metal ceiling that was at least fifty feet above us.

  “Apparently, Robert has been lying to us from the start,” I said to no one’s surprise. “He was only pretending to be my servant and was really serving his Viltaran master, Uldar, all along.”

  “There’s more,” Gregor deduced.

  “He also said we would all be dead within the hour,” I said bleakly. Everyone except for me, that was. At least I didn’t think their sun could kill me. I guessed I’d find out soon enough.

  “I thought it was unlikely that their nights would last for twenty hours,” Gregor said softly.

  Ever practical, Igor searched for a way out. His knuckles rang with a metallic sound as he worked his way around what would shortly become our tomb. “Solid metal,” he pronounced when he was done.

  Fumbling the alien weapon from my pocket, I pointed it at the metal doors above and methodically pushed every button.

  “Let me try,” Geordie said and held out his hand when I failed to get it working. I handed it over then gathered in a huddle with the others.

  One of Ishida’s warriors had a suggestion. “We could try to form a pyramid and attempt to break the door open by force.”

  “It is worth a try,” Igor said and swiftly got everyone into motion. He put the strongest warriors at the bottom and we quickly formed a pyramid in the middle of the pit. Naturally, I was chosen to be at the top since I was the strongest of all. Busy playing with the weapon, Geordie stood off to one side as I studied the door. I could see a tiny seam in the middle but couldn’t get a purchase with my fingers to pry it open. Bright violet light burst into life below, bringing spots to my eyes. The pyramid wobbled as everyone turned to stare down at Geordie. The teen was staring at a scorch mark that used to be a Viltaran skeleton with his mouth open in surprise.

  Stationed below me, Gregor steadied me with a hand on my knee and looked up at me speculatively. Gleaning his intention, I heaved an internal sigh and accepted the inevitable without protest. “I have a new plan,” Gregor said. “We need to move quickly if we want to survive.” At his urgent tone, the pyramid broke up as we jumped to the ground. “Can you make the weapon work again?” he asked Geordie.

  Nodding, the teen pointed at a couple of buttons. “You need to push these two buttons simultaneously. But what good will that do? It destroyed bone and clothing but it had no effect on metal.”

  “He’s not going to shoot metal with it,” I told my young friend. “He’s going to shoot me.”

  Luc’s expression turned thunderous. “We have no way of knowing whether you can survive being shot with their weapons. Why can’t you just break yourself down into small particles to free yourself as you did when you were frozen?”

  “Because that will take too long.” My response was heavy with dread and I could feel time sprinting away from me. “If we don’t try this, you’ll all be dead and I’ll be reduced to ashes. Then I’ll regenerate again and have to live on this shithole of a planet alone possibly until the end of time or until Viltar finally implodes.” Even then, I wondered if I would die or if I would simply drift in space forever. It was a daunting thought and one I didn’t want to contemplate.

  Luc was swayed by my reasoning but he wasn’t happy about it. Taking the alien weapon from Geordie, he gestured for everyone else to move aside. Just before he depressed the buttons, I remembered he was about to incinerate my clothes. If this worked, that meant I’d be naked. While Geordie might appreciate me being in that state, I wouldn’t enjoy being unclothed in front of them all. “Wait! Let me undress first.”

  “I’m finally going to get to see you naked!” Geordie said with unseemly glee. Igor gave his apprentice a sour glance but was too far away to punish him. One of Ishida’s female warriors did the honours and Geordie let out a yelp as her hand connected with the back of his head. Ishida gave his warrior a nod of approval then smirked at his fellow teen.

  “It would be nice if everyone would turn around,” I said dryly. Everyone complied until only Kokoro and Luc remained facing me. Stripping off, I handed my clothes to the seer. “I don’t suppose you know what’s going to happen when Luc zaps me?” I asked her hopefully.

  Shaking her head regretfully, Kokoro folded my clothes neatly over her arm. “I am afraid my visions have not yet returned.” Her tone seemed to imply she doubted that they ever would.

  Bracing myself, I turned to Luc and nodded. With an expression of intense self-loathing, he depressed the two buttons Geordie had indicated. Violet light burst over me and the most excruciating pain I’d ever felt in my life burned me to nothingness.

  My agony only lasted for a moment and then I was a swirling mass of particles so tiny that they floated on the toxic air trapped in the death pit. Gathering a clump together, I formed eyes and a rudimentary hand and gave Luc the thumbs up. His relief was palpable as he smiled and blew me a kiss.

  Aiming for the crack in the door, I broke my eyes and hand down to tiny cells again and slid through the opening. Once free of the pit, I was almost torn apart by the wind. Growing my eyes back again, I oriented myself. Forcing my particles to remain together, I was propelled towards the petrified forest on the wind.

  Robert hadn’t been faking his malfunctioning state and I quickly caught up to him. Forming myself into human shape, I became whole again in seconds. Rushing forward, I accidentally kicked a petrified branch and Robert swung around to face me. His face couldn’t convey shock but his body language said it all. “Impossible! No one has ever been able to escape from one of the sun pits before!”

  “Here’s a news flash you traitorous sack of crap, there’s never been anything like me before.”

  Without warning, his arm flicked out and batted at my head. I ducked the blow and kicked his knee. The droid stumbled back and I launched myself at him. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I took his head in both hands and wrenched it around. His head spun in a full circle until he was facing me again. The move that would normally kill a human easily had no effect on the machine at all.

  Grabbing my head in his hands, he attempted to return the favour. My head decided it didn’t want to become detached and became a whirling mass of particles. Leaning back out of his reach, I reformed again. Putting a hand against my naked chest, he shoved me hard. I hit the ground and skidded a few feet with my hands scrabbling to stop myself. One came to rest on a petrified branch and I leaped to my feet.

  Fleeing as fast as his near crippled joints would allow, Robert turned his head to see if I was following him. He gave a high pitched shriek of alarm when he saw a projectile flying towards him. The thin branch that I’d thrown like a spear lanced through his back, causing him to stumble and fall.

  Picking up another branch, I ignored my nakedness and stalked the metal man as he weakly tried to crawl to safety. Red light from my glowing eyes bathed my body when I glanced down, almost making me look like I was coated in blood.

  Kicking the droid over onto his back, I hefted the branch threateningly. “Free my friends and I’ll let you live.” It was a lie, of course. I wasn’t going to give him another opportunity to turn on us.

  “I cannot.” I doubted he could feel actual pain but he plucked ineffectually at the petrified wood sticking out of his chest.

  “Why can’t you?”

  “My master forbids it.”

  “Can he hear and understand me?” The droid nodded, red eyes riveted to the branch in my hand. Leaning down, I spoke directly into the machine’s face, instinctively knowing his master could see through the glowing orbs. “Know this, I was created for one purpose and that purpose has brought me to this planet. I told your servant that my name is Natalie but I have another name. I am Mortis, which means ‘death’.” Staring into the mechanical eyes, I had one more thing to say. “Watch your back, Uldar, because I am coming for you.”


  The last thing Robert’s true master would see before I demolished his pet droid’s head was the petrified branch zooming right at him.

  .~.

  Chapter Nine

  Sensing the alien sun drawing dangerously close, I finally had my proof that Robert had lied when he’d told us their nights lasted for twenty hours. It appeared their planet rotated faster than ours and only had a sixteen hour cycle.

  Turning in a circle, I couldn’t see shelter anywhere. Kicking at the ground with a toe, it was hard packed and devoid of moisture. Digging a tunnel for all of us to hide in would be difficult bordering on impossible. My only chance to save my friends was to try to break them free from the death pit and find another underground area to hide in for the day.

  Robert’s metal corpse was still twitching and jerking spasmodically. To make sure he wouldn’t rise as a robot zombie, I wrenched his head from side to side until it came off. Both of his feet left the ground then thumped back down again, sending a small puff of dirt flying. His arms were splayed out, palms down. It took some effort but I wrenched his left arm free from the elbow down and sprinted back to the death pit.

  In my absence, a thin scrim of dirt had already begun to cover the lid of the metal box that held my friends prisoner. The wind was dying down now and would soon stop altogether when the sun made its appearance.

  I began pushing buttons on the control panel that was attached to Robert’s arm, hoping it didn’t need to still be attached to him to work. Nothing happened and my panic increased as the faintest trace of light touched the horizon. With the wind now gone, the blasted city was revealed in all of its pathetic ruin. For a few seconds I saw several tiny brown figures running close to the ground then they suddenly disappeared.

  My hand was shaking slightly as I frantically continued to push buttons. A whooshing sound from behind me made me jump slightly. Whirling around, I teetered on the edge of a staircase leading to another underground locale. Making note of the button I’d pushed, my fingers flew as I depressed more of them in the hope of opening the cage.

  “If that’s you up there, Natalie,” Geordie’s voice floated up from beneath the ground, echoing hollowly, “then I really hope you can get us out of here soon.” He sounded as bleak as I felt and a dry sob almost escaped from me.

  There were too many buttons left and not enough time so I mashed my palm against the bottom half of the panel, depressing as many as possible. All around the nearby area, doors to death pits opened wide and so did the one that imprisoned my friends.

  Blinking up at me, Geordie’s eyes went wide as he finally had his wish and saw me naked. Before he could make an inappropriate comment, Igor grasped his apprentice and threw him upwards. The teen sailed over my head, eyes still glued to my chest before landing in the hole behind me. He thumped and bumped down the stairs with startled squawks. Then vampires were suddenly flying past me, being flung by their friends and allies in a desperate bid to be free from the death pit before the sun burst into life.

  All ran for the stairs as soon as they spied the opening in the ground. Kokoro landed beside me lightly and handed over my clothes. With a grateful nod, I donned the t-shirt. Thankfully, it was just long enough to cover my nakedness. Ishida appeared and Kokoro and I caught him before he could sprawl on his face. I pushed the pair towards the stairs and they ran for safety.

  Cristov landed beside me and teetered before I steadied him. Turning, he caught Aventius before the aged ex-Councillor could topple headlong down the steps like Geordie had. Gregor was next and he squinted as the sun began to appear. Shimmering like a mirage, it was still faint at the moment but would soon to turn bright and deadly.

  At my count, only two vampires were still in the pit. Luc gracefully landed nearby and then there was only one still trapped. While we could jump fairly high, I’d never seen any of our kind leap fifty feet before. “Go!” Igor yelled from the bottom of the pit. “Save yourselves!” Great, now Igor sounds like he’s quoting a line from a cheesy movie.

  “Hold my legs,” Luc instructed then threw himself at the pit. Gregor caught Luc’s feet a split second before they disappeared back into the darkness that would soon be obliterated by sunlight. I grabbed hold of Gregor before he also went over the edge. “Jump, Igor!” Luc shouted at his oldest friend.

  I was too far back to see into the pit but I heard the Russian backing up. Then his feet thundered across the metal before he launched himself into the air. At the sudden gain in weight, I knew Luc had caught him. Even with my enhanced strength, my feet started to slip. Glancing up, I winced against the growing brightness. Then multiple pairs of hands came around me, yanking both me and my friends backwards. We tumbled down the stairs in a tangle of arms and legs.

  Fumbling for the severed robot arm, I jammed my finger on what I hoped was the correct button just as the horizon became a wall of searing fire. Blessed darkness descended when the door swished shut. Trembling in reaction to how close I had come to losing the love of my unlife and two of my closest friends, I covered my face with my hands.

  Luc lifted me onto his lap and cradled me against his chest. He smelled slightly singed, as did the other two. Peeking at my friends between my fingers, steam wafted off Gregor and Igor, giving them a ghostly appearance. Strangely, it wasn’t wafting from either myself or Luc. We’d been pulled into the staircase so quickly I wasn’t sure who had been where but the other pair must have been on top of us.

  “Is everyone ok?” I asked when I’d regathered my equilibrium.

  “We’re fine but I’m guessing Robert isn’t feeling too great,” Geordie said and pointed at the grey arm lying on my lap. Wires sprouted messily from the end but the rest of the limb was intact.

  With the sun now blooming, it occurred to me that the teen should have been unconscious. “Why are you awake?” I asked him. Igor did a double take at his apprentice and he wasn’t alone in his consternation.

  “I don’t know.” The teen’s confusion was unfeigned but he was far from unhappy about this development. He probably felt like a grownup now.

  “This must be due to drinking Viltaran blood,” Igor concluded as he climbed to his feet. The steam had dissipated but his skin was slightly reddened.

  “I wonder what further changes will occur?” Gregor murmured more to himself than to us as he stood.

  Gregor and Igor offered me a hand and I allowed them to pull me to my feet. They both hugged me at the same time so I felt a bit like the filling in their sandwich. “You saved our lives,” Gregor said and leaned down to kiss my cheek.

  “Again,” the Russian added and stroked my hair. It was one of the few signs of tenderness I’d ever seen from Igor and it brought a lump to my throat.

  Geordie stumbled over and added himself to the pile. “Thank you, chérie.” His arms wormed their way through to encircle my waist. Vampires swarmed over us in a group hug as they all murmured their thanks.

  Even without the need to breathe, it quickly became suffocating. “You’re all welcome,” I said when it looked like they would stay like this for the next decade or so. “Can we break this up so I can put my pants on?” Geordie and Ishida sniggered and a hand snuck beneath my shirt to pinch my bare butt. “Ow! Ok, that’s enough. Get off me before I unleash my holy marks.” The threat was empty but it worked and the huddle broke up.

  Luc scooped up the jeans and sweater I’d dropped and handed them to me. He and Gregor made a fairly effective screen while I dressed. My shoes had been kicked down the stairs during the stampede for safety and Geordie shamefacedly offered them to me. “It was I who pinched your derriere, Natalie. Are you going to punish me?” He gave me puppy dog eyes that were impossible to be angry with.

  “No, I’m not going to punish you,” I said as I finished lacing my shoes and stood. Relieved, he turned then staggered when my hand connected with the back of his head. He turned and glared at me accusingly. “I lied,” I said blandly then linked my fingers through Luc’s and pushed past the adolescen
t. The poor kid would probably suffer brain damage if we kept smacking him in the head but he brought the abuse upon himself so I couldn’t feel too bad about it.

  Snorting out a laugh, Igor gathered up his sulking apprentice as everyone followed closely behind us. Our vision was good enough to see down the dark hallways but not quite all the way to the end. I listened for any sound that would indicate that we weren’t alone down here.

  “Do you think you could turn the lights on?” one of the Europeans asked.

  “I could try but pushing buttons on this thing randomly could be a bad idea,” I replied as I held up Robert’s arm.

  “Why?” Cristov asked. It was curiosity rather than rebellion that made him ask. Aventius was silent and wan at his follower’s side. I had the feeling that he badly needed some blood. He’d been starving himself long before we had been ejected into space. His cheeks were hollow enough to have formed small caves and the black bags beneath his eyes had doubled in size. Like everyone else, he’d been energized from the small amount of Viltaran blood he’d consumed but it had only been a temporary boost and was already fading.

  “Natalie and I explored the last underground lair and came across several hundred imps that were contained in cells,” Luc explained. “Someone is feeding them regularly, which means that these buildings aren’t as abandoned as they appear to be.”

  “If I start pushing buttons, I could alert the Viltarans,” I said to the others.

  “You also might unlock the doors to the imp’s cells,” Gregor pointed out. That possibility had occurred to me and I nodded in agreement.