Then, the Terror fell. Ukwesaba had been a horror story that my master, Silumko, had told me around the campfire. I hadn’t believed it could all be true. Vampires were horrifying already. But Ukwesaba - he was a nightmare made manifest.
And now I was living it.
But it wasn’t the onslaught, the violence, or the relentlessness that got to me. It was how close it came to seeming normal. Human terrorists were normal. And Ukwesaba wasn’t doing anything that a sick, twisted human couldn’t do themselves. But what separated Ukwesaba from a human terrorist were his goals.
A terrorist would stop when his goals were fulfilled. When the violence had reached its apex. And, if the violence didn’t work, they would eventually give up.
I had no such expectations of Ukwesaba and the Children. There was only one way we were going to end this.
Last man or last vampire standing.
And I would make sure it was me and my own standing underneath a golden sun. Even if it meant vampires stood near us in the shade.
I arrived outside the Sanguineas manor house, nestled in the dark, woodland suburbs of Constantia. I had been here before, but the normalcy of the manor still struck me. It wasn’t a gaudy, gothic-style manor house, a Transylvanian castle or even an opulent, modern villa. It would have fit in easily in any suburb in Hope City. Functional, quaint, even for its size, as it was no doubt teeming with vamps.
My heart, previously calm, began to beat like a machine gun. I should turn back. This was stupid. Last time I’d come here, I’d tried to kill Victoria Kruger! And now I was asking her for help. Brett was right. This was insanity.
But, I didn’t turn to leave. Because I didn’t know what else we were going to do.
I approached the wrought iron gate and reached towards the intercom.
But, before I could press any button, the gate’s motors came to life and it slowly swung open.
Not the least bit ominous!
They knew I was here. And they were inviting me in. Like a spider offering a nice, warm spot on its web to a fly.
I slowly drove down the driveway, watching the darkness. It was empty. Well, as far as I knew. My gut told me that a dozen eyes were watching me. Considering me. They saw the bulges of my twin holsters, and the weight of a flak jacket underneath my shirt. Perhaps, they even saw the glint of silver, peaking from my knife-hilt, and the collar I wore around my neck.
I came for parley, but I was always prepared for a fight.
I stopped outside the open door of the Sanguineas manor. The door had been open last time as well. Seems that Hope City’s crime rates didn’t really affect vampires. Not that they bothered hunters either. And, remembering what Victoria Kruger had put us through last time…I pitied any burglar foolish enough to walk through that door.
Which meant I had a lot of pity for myself, as I dismounted my bike and entered the dark halls of Sanguineas.
A single candle sprung to life, just as the door slammed behind me. The orange flickering of the candle tried to beat back the shadows. But there was a life to the darkness. It ebbed and pulsated. As if organic.
“Boy…” a chorus of voices whispered and hissed.
“Hunter of Blood. Have you avenged your people, little inkwenkwe?”
They spoke at once. A chorus of mockery. I would have been hurt, once before. But it had all been said to me already. Cindy had changed everything. She loved me. She knew I was a man. And it also didn’t matter to her. And she was all that mattered to me.
I had feared entering this house, but if this was what they thought would scare me, then perhaps I was far more powerful than I’d given myself credit for.
“Your comrades bleed, boy. They are drained by our cousins. And you can’t do a thing. Think you can come to our halls, to our home, and take revenge? Your fight is elsewhere…Crusader of…Nothing.”
I stood, almost bored, as the darkness and voices surrounded me. I’d let them have their fun. I checked my watch. As long as they weren’t too long…
The voices stopped. I felt uncertainty coming from the darkness. Then, the shadows opened, revealing a staircase. Descending said staircase was a lithe, pale woman with a blonde bun, glasses and wearing a blood-red dress. Her every movement seemed deliberate. Simultaneously seductive, elegant…and predatory.
Victoria Kruger smiled, revealing her fangs as her eyes glowed red. She entered the darkness, as it encroached on me again.
“You came to my house once before, Guy Giles-Mgebe. But you had a different name then.”
I felt a cold hand caress my cheek.
“It pains me to see such lively flesh…be claimed by the golden-touched. Such a waste…”
Cold breath touched my neck. I didn’t move.
“But, why should I let her have you for herself…when I could just have a little taste…” she purred, like a tiger.
“Enough, Victoria,” I said, command in my voice. The shadows dulled, lightened, for just a second. Victoria went silent. And I heard muttering from the rooms of the house.
“Drop the monster act. We both know you’re a rational professional. You didn’t kill me or my colleague back then, and you don’t plan to now. You, better than anyone else, understands the ecosystem of this city. And you know that killing me won’t help you.”
Victoria was silent from her hiding place. Her magic shadows were hesitant, but then strengthened.
“Au contraire, little hunter. Do I need a reason to kill you besides sating my thirst? Perhaps, I could carve you up afterwards, and deliver your head to Ukwesaba as a birthday gift. I don’t know his siring date, but I think he’d care much for the technicalities.”
“You wouldn’t do that,” I replied, confidently. “Because Ukwesaba is not of your clan. He is an invader on your territory. I am not a vampire, but I know enough about your kind to know that you would never aid an invader of your hunting ground. And for me? I know you believe we must coexist. For your own sake, if not ours.”
The shadows loomed, and the candle flickered. Until Victoria sighed in a very human manner, and the darkness fell completely, replaced by electric lighting.
She stood at the foot of the stairs and gestured for me to follow. I did, as her kin watched us leave the entrance hall where they’d failed to scare the life out of me. If anything, I was calmer than I had been before.
“I will speak with you candidly, Guy Giles-Mgebe,” Victoria said, dropping her predatory voice and replacing it with an officious one. That of a strict teacher. “Congratulations, by the way. Cindy Giles is not my type, but I can see the appeal.”
She led me to her office, where she had taken Brett and me to task years before and offered me a seat. I accepted. I was feeling confident, but not stupid enough to decline an offer from a vampire queen.
She sat opposite me; her bare, white legs crossed. Her eyes examined me through her secretary glasses. Not the way a predator would gaze at prey, but appraising me, nevertheless.
“Well, speak up. Why have you come here? Not to try slaying me again. It would be a shame for Kat Drummond to lose one of her lieutenants. Where is the Last Light, anyway? Oh, don’t make a face! I’ve never held anything against her, or the angel that killed my kin. I am pragmatic. Charlene chose the path of death, and it caught up to her. I would like to know where the hero of this city is on this, another night of terror.”
“Your intelligence-gathering is sloppy,” I replied. “Kat is incapacitated.”
Victoria didn’t betray her feelings on that. Her face remained perfectly impassive.
“I did not expect those Eastern fools to be able to harm her. The rest of you, yes, but not her. The remnants of the Blood Cartel still whisper of how she banished their god.”
“She was attacked by a civilian. A cursed knife. Perhaps Ukwesaba’s work…we do not know.”
Victoria uncrossed her legs, then swapped them.
“So, you have come here…why?”
“I would like to propose an alliance.”
&
nbsp; Victoria burst out laughing, letting spittle fly and hit me on the face. My cheeks reddened at the display. Victoria had to clutch her belly, as she guffawed. Finally, she stopped, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Why would it be so ridiculous?” I asked, unable to keep at least a bit of offence out of my voice. “You can’t really be okay with the Izingane Zegazi staking a claim over your city? They won’t stop with us. If we’re defeated, they will purge all the other vampire families that don’t bend the knee, like they did in the Empire. Would you bend the knee?”
“Bah! Of course not. But it would never come to that. If they want to fight, we will fight them. But they won’t. We are rational creatures. Vampires don’t fight other vampires if they don’t have to, even those as foolish as those imperial lapdogs. Your comrades have extinguished the lives of countless of my flock. Do you really think my kin would be willing to work with you?”
She shook her head, exposing her fangs as she grinned, toothily.
“A childish, foolish notion. So amusing that I’ll even let you walk out here alive. Just a small reward for…”
She went silent, suddenly. Something sparked in her eyes. A dark spot in the sea of red. Somehow, her white skin went even paler.
“Carlos…” she whispered. “No…”
Suddenly, she fell to her knees, clutching her heart. “No…no…NO! My children. Fuck! Why? How…it can’t be…”
She looked up, past my shoulder, towards the door. An explosion wracked the house.
Rage, as intense and as cold as the most primal storm, awoke in Victoria’s eyes. She stood, her calmness more terrifying than the horror show she had attempted on me minutes before.
I made way for her to pass. She didn’t stop to open her door. She pushed it away using the pulsating darkness, letting it fly off its hinges. The sound of combat reverberated through the house.
She stopped and looked at me over her shoulder.
“You may draw your weapon, Giles-Mgebe.”
Like a little boy obeying an order from his teacher, I drew my pistols and followed the vampire queen into her manor.
Rubble was strewn throughout the foyer, and among it, vampires fought claw to claw, fang to fang. They’d blown a hole in the roof, letting moonlight spill into the entrance hall. The vampires lashed out at each other, like beasts, raking through fine suits and combat fatigues. Vampires wouldn’t have silver to kill one another. So, they used their bodies.
Victoria descended the stairs quietly, calmly. A black-clad vamp charged her. She flicked the air, sending a tendril of black to pierce the vamp through the head. He fell limp and collapsed in a heap.
I had never felt so thankful that I’d never come to blows with her before! Brett and I had never stood a chance.
It took Victoria killing three more Izingane Zegazi before I came to my senses. I aimed my weapons and fired a volley into my enemies, missing the Sanguineas vampires. Never thought I’d be sparing vamps. But it was a night for change.
Vamps hissed and smoke rose from the silver in their wounds. Those that didn’t die instantly were put down by Victoria or the others. But the Zulu vampires were strong. They had weapons with them. Brutal, thick blades. The types I would have wanted to use against vampires myself. They had come prepared.
Sanguineas vamps fell, even as Victoria’s onslaught decimated the attackers.
A vamp flew to my position on black wings. I rolled down the stairs, dodging its attack, landing by Victoria’s feet and opening fire on the flying vamp. It plummeted to the ground, just by my head. Victoria stomped down on its head, letting her stiletto pierce its skull.
The surviving Sanguineas formed a circle around their queen, as I stood and kept firing at the enemy. But there were too many of them. I hadn’t packed for an extended battle. I fired again, and again. One shot, two shots. Click…click.
I was out.
I holstered my pistols and drew my knife. But the Izingane Zegazi and the ghouls that served them froze. Victoria dropped her arms, letting her tendrils dissipate.
The circle of enemy vampires and ghouls opened, and Ukwesaba himself appeared, clapping his clawed hands with glee. I could see his white, fangless grin in the moonlight.
“Oh, how lucky of me. The Blood truly brings fortune on this night of terror. I came here to honourably extinguish the life of a squatter, and I get to destroy the human who killed not one but two of my brothers. Good fortune indeed.”
Victoria laughed, but there was no glee.
“Squatter? You’re the invader. We could have lived peacefully, imperial scum. I had no problem with you hunting the hunters. But this…” her eyes shone an angry crimson. She yelled. “You killed my kin!”
“Do not weep for them, pretender,” Ukwesaba replied. “You will join them soon. And the rest of your kin shall follow. After you…”
A sonic boom deafened me, as I was pushed away by the shockwave. I rubbed my head, lying next to groggy and shocked Sanguineas vamps. I had never seen a vamp move that fast! I looked up, towards Victoria, fearing for the worst. My eyes couldn’t believe what I saw.
Victoria stood, her dress and pose unchanged and impeccable, as she held Ukwesaba’s balled fist, daintily in her own.
“Your first mistake…” she hissed. “…was coming to my home…”
Ukwesaba’s scream forced me to bring my hands to my ears. He fell to his knees, holding a bloody stump of crushed bone, oozing blood and muscle.
She grabbed him by his hair and lifted him up. His eyes showed white. Palpable fear. I’d seen it in fledgelings. Never in true vampires.
“Your second mistake was killing my children.”
She lifted him up, and swiftly swung him towards the ground. The crack of his legs echoed. Even the vamps to my side winced.
“Your last mistake,” she whispered, just loud enough so I could hear, despite the ringing in my ears. “Was thinking this city belongs to anyone but ME. I am Victoria Kruger of San-fucking-guineas! This is my city. And I won’t have imperial dogs feeding on my turf.”
She lifted Ukwesaba to eye-level. I could see a flicker behind his eyes. She stared deep into him. Past him. Into whoever was watching through his eyes.
“You brought this war upon yourself, King of Blood. I’ll be ready.”
She plunged her open hand deep into Ukwesaba’s chest, as the vampire screamed. Suddenly, he stopped, as she crushed his heart. He collapsed into ash, as if scorched by the sun.
The Izingane Zegazi that had surrounded us were gone. Fled? No…that was ash. How potent was that attack?
I had never seen a vampire fight a vampire before. Perhaps, we should have been recruiting them all along…
A Sanguineas vamp, wearing what looked like a butler’s tuxedo, kneeled beside Victoria, holding up a towel.
She accepted it and wiped away the blood from her hand. Without looking at me, she spoke.
“I agree to your offer, Guy of the Crusaders. This is my feeding ground. My domain. And I’ll help you put down these rabid dogs.”
Chapter 17. Void
***KAT***
It had been an age since I wandered the fields of Ithalen like this. The blood soaked fields of that final stand haunted my nightmares, but very seldom had I been allowed to walk the settlement peacefully. Not a corpse, moving or unmoving, was in sight.
When I had been here last, in life, it was as if in a dream. A blood-drenched haze. None of it seemed real. My muscles had been exhausted far past the point of pain. And my mind had come close to breaking. I had survived when hundreds had died. It changed me. And I never saw myself, life or anything else, the same way since. And perhaps, that’s why I returned here now.
I walked through the half-open gates of the Ithalen stockade, stroking my hand across the rough timber. It felt real. I sniffed and smelled the dew of the dawn. No rot. No blood. No fire.
It felt more real than it had ever done in life. And I was more lucid than any other time I had walked this hallowed ground.
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br /> But I knew it could not be real. Well, at least not real by my Earthly standards. I remembered the pain and everything going black. And I remembered trying to turn myself in to save my friends.
I wanted to feel anxious at leaving my friends behind. And I did feel sad. Especially for Brett. His roar still echoed in my ears. It was far sadder than angry. A wail of pain. As if from an animal.
Oh, Brett…
I didn’t know if I would ever see him again. And that broke my heart more than anything else. But for now, all I could do was wander, through this quiet, ghostly village.
And talking about ghosts…
“You’re awfully quiet, Treth,” I spoke, my voice jarring against the stillness in the air.
He didn’t reply.
I sighed. It seems this was a dream. Or something like it. Perhaps, something more permanent. But it appeared I was alone here.
I felt a twinge of loneliness, and the inevitable worry that this may be permanent. That I may have finally died. But I banished those thoughts. Surprisingly, it was quite easy to do so.
There was something calming about this place. The stillness and quiet wasn’t eerie. It was peaceful. And, seeing this place, undestroyed and covered in the dead…it was good. It felt right.
I continued up Ithalen’s path, onto the hillside and past the caves where the people had slept and made a life for themselves in the wreckage of this world.
I crossed by Akreon’s cave. It was here where I’d spoken to the people of Ithalen. I had told them about Earth. About hope. I made them willing to believe in a better future. Of what was possible.
Most of them had died.
But, some had lived. They travelled to Concord. I hoped they had made it. Treth never spoke about it, but I could sense his thoughts, sometimes. He dwelled on it often.
I stared into the blackness of the cave, remembering my short-lived friendships. Akreon, Levi, Kynthen, Gerin, Culurian, Illian…
In a way, I missed them. I stayed still, staring wistfully into the void, imagining smells, faces, words spoken and unspoken - when a bark woke me from my reverie.
Children of Blood (Kat Drummond Book 13) Page 14