Damage Control

by Eric Alan Williams

Hearing the other teams converse, Vanzan called out. "Team 203 engaged the vampire Vladislav the second and turned up nothing more than an empty research facility. Though clues to our Queen and Lord Dracul being there were clear."

  Aywren was shocked. "Vladislav is alive?"

  Vanzan nodded. "Very much so. He managed to get away. Of all the sites attacked, he was the only Grand Alpha to escape, though intelligence reports coming in, indicate that the majority of the Dark Council have all gone elsewhere already."

  Aywren cursed. "FUCK!."

  Durga spoke up. "Who guards Prague Castle? So far, we have seen no Grand Alphas?"

  Aywren shrugged. "We did kill a ton of vampires in the feeding chamber."

  Aywren looked at the door ahead. "Either way, we need in that door."

  Durga smiled. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

  Durga pointed her finger at the door and released a white light from her fingertip. It sang through the air and exploded the metal door at the end.

  Aywren went rushing in first with her guns pointed forward. Across the large laboratory, she saw one of the targets strapped to a table and surrounded by IV's pumping a purple liquid into his veins. It was Damien Winters…

  Aywren gasped. "Dracula!"

  He wasn't alone. The aged laboratory had a guardian. A woman dressed in a white lab coat left the Dark Prince's side and stepped towards Aywren. It was a woman she had never seen before, but the scent was clearly revealing. The woman standing before the teams was a Grand Alpha, a creature rare to the Immortium races. A breed of Gargoyle known as the Nagga.

  The woman with curly brown hair stood there smirking and laid her tablet off to the side. "Naddia and Lucifer told me to expect an attack, but I have to admit, I am quite impressed that you made it into Prague Castle."

  She leaned against a lab station. "You must be the traitor Aywren. I suppose you're the reason they made it into the secret tunnels?"

  Aywren took point. "Where's Lilith?"

  The scientist laughed. "Sorry she isn't here. She is with our Archbishop of the Scientific Arts…"

  Aywren scoffed. "And you really expect us to believe The Conclave has allowed such a division to arise with all the dogmatic practices in place?"

  The woman shrugged. "We evolved, what can I say."

  "Where is Lilith?" Durga asked.

  "I told you she isn't here."

  The woman pushed away from the lab station and crossed her arms. "I suppose this is where we fight, and I rip each of you to shreds. Oh well, let's get on with it, shall we?"

  Durga smirked. "You're not the only Grand Alpha here."

  The woman smiled. "True, true. You Hindu Aeonians may be quick, I will give you that, but I'm also not alone…"

  The room filled with hissing noises alerting the teams to pay attention to everything in the place. The walls were moving. Nine serpents had hidden by camouflaging into the surroundings of the stone-built room. These were not typical gargoyles or gorgons. These were all Nagga.

  The creatures had no legs, but a serpent's body with a humanoid torso. They moved quickly, faster than your typical reptilian Immortium. The Nagga here looked like they were infused with a Cobra, the rounded skin flaps on both sides of the head expanded. They each hissed, showing off their long fangs. Each of them arched their bodies, they were every bit of fifteen feet in length and stood at nine feet while balancing themselves.

  As for the woman standing by the lab station, her body began to change. Her clothing ripped as her body morphed. Her skin became black, covered with opal shaped smooth scales. She had the same facial features merged with that of a cobra, but her hair took on a life apart from her. The hair clumped together like dreadlocks, forming into individual snakes. She hissed. "End them."

  _____

  Lulia Dolenigan was standing in the center arena as half the council had gathered around her. Most of them were bickering in confusion. They couldn't understand why so many were absent when such essential issues laying ahead of them, only half were present.

  Erissa was beside herself. The Gargoyle Queen sat there stewing in her own lust for the throne, that and she was running behind schedule in what Lucifer wished her to accomplish. Half the council present would delay certain votes she planned on putting to the test.

  The Gargoyle stood up from her stone bench. Her black silk dress was dragging the floor. She looked over her shoulder to her left, then right and rested her gaze on Lulia. "Lulia Dolenigan. It would appear that several of our council members have forgotten themselves, and their places." She pointed out where the newly appointed Hindu Aeonians to the council was meant to sit, along with the Egyptians. "For example, Isabel Nile, where is our Egyptian Aeonian? Defected perhaps?"

  Poseidon sat there rolling his eyes at the ambitious reptile, hidden by her blond beauty. He stood up. "Sit down you winged lizard."

  "Excuse me?" she asked.

  Hanna Tarker, the other gargoyle queen on the council, nodded. "He said, sit your bitch ass down!"

  Erissa growled. Her eyes turned to reptilian red. She looked at the other Gargoyle and demanded it. "How dare you ssssspeak to me with such insolence!"

  Lulia smirked. "Sit down Erissa."

  Erissa looked at Lulia with pure hatred in her red and black slit eyes. "You are but an Adjudicator, you have no real authority other than what this council grants and half of them aren't even present."

  Vet Khan growled as his white fur tried to erupt, but the monk held it at bay. "You will learn your place, gargoyle."

  "What is going on here? I demand to know the reasoning for this discourteousness, NOW!?"

  Several holographic images began to display in the missing seats. Each display was that of a council member not present. They were elsewhere, each one had a holographic depiction of wearing red kevlar uniforms. The woman looked at them. "What is going on here?"

  Lulia moved from the center throne and paced the dais at the bottom. "Thank you, everyone, for finally arriving, be it in person, or through holo-communication. I will start with Lord Brahma, how are things progressing?"

  Brahma's hologram sputtered. "We have breached Prague Castle and have received reports that Lord Dracula has been found, but there is a problem. We are sending additional Sentinels in to help with the resistance."

  Erissa growled. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!"

  Lulia addressed her with a smirky grin and a chime in her voice. "Simple Erissa. I approached every council member that voted in favor of appointing a Grand Adjudicator and approved a strike against The Conclave. Recent intel acquired from some of our recent defectors has indicated Twenty-seven targets in all. Tonight, each of these targets is under siege as we speak, simultaneously. You will have to forgive the lateness of the holo-communication given that the majority of the Council members absent chose to go to help lead a team then sit here and be idle. Many of them are leading their own houses into battle with our enemies this night."

  Erissa's eyes grew wide as saucers. "YOU WHAT?!"

  Several others that were displeased with the appointment growled. While a man sitting furthest from Erissa inquired. "What did you do?" The werewolf asked.

  Lulia smirked at Lord Baldwin." Simple. Lady Lilith's transport had a scorch mark on the undercarriage, a small one, about the size of a little marble. Our forensics teams tell me the only thing that could have caused it was a device with a built-in self-destruct element. Likely a tracer and the only ones that had access to the Queen's private vehicles were herself, her house, and council members. So, I simply deduced that one of you that was against my appointment is a traitor. I then went to the majority of the council for approval for a secret strike so that if I am correct, the locations, as well as the timing, could not fall into enemy hands. That's all."

  Lulia looked right at Erissa.

  Two other council members reported in. So far, no sightings of Lilith had been seen. Brahma spoke up again. "I am requesting additional forces to Prague.

  Seven of those who opposed the
appointment looked at one another, most of them more pissed off than anything. Erissa was sweating, reptiles didn't usually do that.

  Lulia kept her gaze on Erissa. "I've never known a gargoyle to sweat unless they were nervous. Tell me, would you decline or accept another Grand Alpha peering into your mind to prove your innocence?"

  Lulia smiled, "Unless of course, you have something to hide, I mean, that would be the only thing I think that would spur an objection? Yes?"

  Lulia looked around the room. Every face was fixed on her. Every eye watching her move, even those who had voted against the appointment were now curious. Sure, they hated the appointment, but deep down they had nothing to hide.

  "This is preposterous!" She cried out. "Lilith appointed me, trusted me, why would I have any reason…"

  Lulia reminded her. "You were the first to ask for a new placement on the throne, and let's be quite honest, everyone in this room knows that Lucifer and you hail from the same clutch of eggs."

  "Are you saying this is guilt by association?"

  Vet Khan looked at her. "If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about?"

  Erissa looked around the room, biting her tongue. Her eyes then looked at the archway doors that led into the chamber. Erissa decided to chance it. She knew that if another Grand Alpha dug into her mind, they could see more than she wished to share. She had two options, tell the truth, and risk being executed, or flee and hope she could get away and defect to The Conclave. Erissa bolted for the archway doors.

  Poseidon got up from his stone perch. The man's body quickly became covered in thick rough blue hide. A shark’s fin sprouted from his back, while his face became less human, and more like that of a great white. His clawed hand reached out and grasped the Gargoyle by the end of her blond hair and flung her to the dais.

  _____

  In the old laboratory, each of the teams was in direct hand to hand combat with the serpentine creatures. The cobra that had started the line was a spitting cobra, that trait remained dominant. Several team members had been subdued with a paralytic venom spit into their faces. To make matters direr, new forces had arrived from The Conclave. Twelve Grand Alphas residing in Prague had rushed to the Castle to help defend it and willed their underlings to provide support. Aywren was facing off with the Naga with the medusa-like hair.

  The woman Aywren was facing off against was fast. She had managed to disarm the warrior of all her weapons. Aywren was fighting with her claws.

  Each snake upon the Grand Alpha's head could spit venom in any direction it faced, giving the Grand Alpha thirty different paths she could aim at simultaneously, thirty-one if it came from her mouth directly. Aywren was having a devil of a time avoiding it.

  Durga was taking on another Grand Alpha that had arrived, a vampiric woman in her nosferatu form. So far it looked like Durga was winning. Durga's forehead lit up with a red light that transitioned from red to purple. It looked like a gem at first, glowing right above the brow line. Psionic energy burst out the woman's heightened third eye in distinct energy waves that widened from their origin point, knocking back anything within the twenty-foot radius that each pulse expanded too. The vampire she was facing, felt her clothing burn, and her armor crack with each pulse. Even her blade had started to bend and break. Her blaster pistol exploded on the last blast, causing additional damage to the woman's left hip.

  Violet had her own issues alongside everyone else. A resident Alpha of Prague was giving her the fight of her life. Violet was up against another Nosferatu that was skilled with a bladed stave. She wasn't used to this type of fighting. Her one blade, a kukri just wasn't cutting it, literally. She was spending more time avoiding being hit than she was using her sword to take on the skill the Nosferatu was exhibiting with the bladed stave. Finally, the Nosferatu grew tired and threw his left hand forward, tossing a telekinetic wave that sent the purple headed warrior flying against a wall.

  Aywren was wearing down. The Naga loved every bit of it. She wasn't going to paralyze her just yet, she wanted to have some fun now that the famed vampiress was wearing thin. Finally, it got to the point that the Naga was punching Aywren in the face. She hit her twice and then backhanded her across the lab. The Naga Alpha roared with an echoing hiss. The noise caused a werewolf on Vanzan's team to scream out with dog-like yelps.

  Aywren hit the farthest wall in the lab and bounced to her feet.

  Aywren saw the snake-woman slithering her way at lightning speed. For a vampire her age, it was a slow motion to some degree, allowing time to think. The sounds in the room were allowing enough biosonar feedback to tell Aywren there was an old metal candle wrack above, ten feet out from her If she timed it right, she could blast the chain, and hopefully, some of the downward metal spikes on the chandelier would hit the woman.

  Aywren watched and had her guns aimed outward. The snake woman looked like she was ready to evade a straight shot aimed at her. Aywren kept her patience and waited, she waited until she knew the woman was near the target, she turned one of her guns at anther snake using her peripheral vision and killing it. This enraged the slithering Alpha and forced her to advance quickly. Aywren shot one shot purposely in the direction of the woman to whizz by her while shooting above with her left hand. The woman stopped to let out a hiss. Her hiss turned into a scream as the two hundred pounds of old metal fell on her back. Two of the spikes drove deep into the snake-woman's tail. Aywren’s headshot was unavoidable this time.

  The vampire shifted her attention to helping Durga.

  Aywren’s next headshot was the Alpha fighting the Hindu Aeonian. The shot came as a surprise to Durga. One moment she was getting ready to perform an uppercut, the next, she saw the body lying on the floor. "I had him where I wanted him." Durga barked out.

  Aywren tried her best to avoid rolling her eyes and shot the next creature she saw fighting another of the Society agents. "We need to expedite this endeavor."

  Durga agreed. "Aywren, go and wake up the Impaler, will you?"

  Aywren had assumed someone else would have done so already. She turned around and went through the crowded room, blasting her way over to the table. With the Naga down, many of the serpents in the room had started to slow as they felt their creator's death, forcing them into an evolutionary state. That began to give the teams more of an edge.

  Durga noticed more Conclave vampires entering the room. Some of them started to become stunned with the downfall of their Grand Alpha, making them easy targets. The new wolves to arrive were being picked off by the sibling pair of dhampirs. Both of them were gunning that location heavily.

  Aywren made it to the IV poles filled with a purple liquid, nightshade. She yanked the IV from the shirtless vampire's arm and proceeded to rip off the silver clamps around his neck, elbows, wrists, knees, and feet. She noticed the purple liquid dripping onto the floor from the needle. She picked it up and sniffed it, "Nightshade, alright." She tossed it back to the stone floor. When she tried to pull up the clamp around his waist, she snagged her black leather glove to her left hand, causing a burn to her flesh from the rounded silver bar that had a jagged underside. "FUCK!" She cried out.

  The burn didn't deter her from the task. She used her left hand, and with enough force, she managed to pull the silver bar upward.

  Looking at Dracula's naked body, he was covered in silver burns from the restraints. Given he was being pumped full of nightshade to keep him in a coma, Aywren knew she needed to rely on other measures to wake the sleeping Grand Alpha. The only thing making this rescue attempt awkward was the fact that Aywren saw more of Dracula then she ever wanted to. He was lying there completely unclothed. Aywren couldn’t help but comment. “I guess he’s called the Impaler also for other reasons.”

  Aywren watched the new vampires that had entered the room and begun her selection process. She sniffed the air and located a beta fighting Scarlett. Aywren raced over to help the redheaded Aeonian.

  The man put up quite a fight as both the Aeon
ian and the Alpha vampire backed him into a corner. Aywren managed a quick thrust to the throat, causing him to gasp. Scarlett went to slice the man open with her kukri, but Aywren stopped her. "Not yet. I need him."

  Aywren proceeded to drag the man over to Dracula. Once she had him over there, Scarlett realized what she meant by, "Not yet." Once Aywren had him in a choke hold, Scarlett disemboweled him, the blood spewed all over the slumbering Lord on the table.

  Slowly Damien's coal-black-eyes began to open. His skin, like a sponge, absorbed the blood. Aywren and Scarlett shook the man over him, pouring out everything they could on top of him.

  Realizing that the vampire had died, they worked together by tossing him to the side right as his body began to steam. As for Dracula, he was starting to sit up. He was still weakened from the poison they were using to keep him out of the mix.

  He went to stumble off the table. Aywren rushed to his side. "Careful, my Lord. You're still weak."

  "Blood, I just need more blood."

  Aywren took off the glove to her right hand, and bit into her wrist, offering it to the vampire. Dracula looked up at her and then accepted it. He needed his strength and Aywren being a vampire Alpha would be far more nourishing than that of the beta, plus there was no danger of a blood pact since she was of a lesser Immortium caste.