by Rose O'Brien
“But then Medina killed that girl and everything went to hell,” she said, taking a guess at what had actually happened.
“Exactly,” he said. “I was too used to working with professionals. Medina turned into an addict. He wanted to hunt and kill every night. Then he goes and tears a girl’s throat out right in the middle of my club. Well, you understand why I had to get rid of him.”
“Totally,” Alayna said, taking another slow step. Camille moved closer to her boss and glared at Alayna, fingering the hilt of that long sword. Alayna met her stare and stayed still.
“Except he was in charge of shipping the prey,” Dominic said angrily. “My supplies started to dwindle, so I had to step up my game. I take it you figured out I set you up at Hellraisers?”
She nodded. She had suspected that, but hadn’t known for sure and didn’t want to tip him off.
“But then you surprised me, my smart girl,” he said. “You destroyed my hunting grounds and freed so many of my prey. You ruined the surprise!”
His voice was full of so much anger that spittle was flying from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were starting to bleed to red.
“So I knew I had to bring you here, to show you my plan and everything I’ve done so that we can be together.”
Her stomach rolled at the thought, but she kept her expression blank and her body still, hoping he would give something away.
“I know that you took that fucking sapien to bed, Alayna,” he said, his voice harsh and grating, almost screaming. “I couldn’t believe that you turned me down, but you chose him. Ugh. It’s just sickening. But I forgive you because I’m better than that.”
“How did you know?” she asked. The longer she could keep him talking, the longer she hoped she could give her team to get something in place.
“I’ve been watching you since I left the Corps,” he said. “The voices said it was important. You were always so careful about outside threats, but you never thought about internal ones. You never suspected that I would hurt you.”
Her stomach twisted at his words. He was right. While they hadn’t parted on the best of terms, she’d thought they had repaired their relationship enough to at least call it neutral. She had no idea what had happened to his mind in the two years since then. She’d had no idea she could inspire so much madness in a man.
She was about to open her mouth when she heard something crash against the warehouse’s metal roof. The whole building shook and reverberated with the impact. It sounded like a small plane had crashed up there.
A few seconds later, there was the sound of screaming; tearing metal and wind began to whistle and howl through a small opening. More tearing noises and a hole began to open in the roof as something peeled the heavy metal back.
Black claws and then a scaly black head appeared, peeking inside.
“Z!” she shouted, shock ripping through her.
The head disappeared, and she heard air rushing outside and the whoomp-whoomp of his huge black wings.
Suddenly, with a horrible crashing sound of wrenching metal mixing with a dragon’s roar, Z dove through the opening.
Astride the dragon’s shoulders was the most welcome and unwelcome sight she had ever seen in her life.
Alex’s hair was blown back from his face, his combat boots braced on Z’s front shoulders. Both 1911s were in his hands, and he let out a war whoop as the dragon descended.
“Yee-haw, motherfuckers!”
He opened fire on the vampire guards just as Z hit the concrete. The impact cracked the floor, raising jagged chunks. Alex rolled off Z’s back and came up firing, taking out three guards.
Alex was furious grace and deadly precision given form as he moved across the floor, diving behind a crate for cover and popping up again to take aim at a new target. Alayna’s heart swelled to see him here. She didn’t fool herself into thinking for a second that he had forgiven her for leaving him behind, but he was here.
They might just have a shot at surviving this fight.
Z whipped his spiked tail across the floor, sending another two guards into the wall. The dragon caught a third in his jaws and shook him back and forth like a dog with a rabbit. Alayna could hear the sickening pop of bones from where she stood.
That was the only cue the team needed.
Violence erupted around her.
The bark of Ellie’s sniper rifle mixed with the boom of Burdock’s shotguns and the ringing of steel from Dumeril’s kukris.
She charged at Dominic, whip in one hand, war fan in the other.
***
Alex popped up over the top of the crate he’d taken cover behind and squeezed off a series of shots. One took a huge vampire in the shoulder, and the creature turned, lunging in Alex’s direction. The guard moved with the speed and agility Alex had come to associate with vampires.
In the split second he had, Alex squeezed off another shot, but it went wide. Suddenly, the vampire was on him.
The first blow caught Alex across the face, and he felt his head and neck snap around. As his vision started to clear, Alex realized he was on his back, the vampire straddling him. Alex brought his left hand up and clamped it around the big guy’s throat while he drove his right fist into his gut.
They traded blows for a few seconds. The vampire’s hands came around Alex’s throat, and he started to squeeze. With his air cut off, Alex started to panic, grabbing the guy’s wrists. Red eyes and long fangs swam in Alex’s failing vision.
As Alex’s vision started to go black around the edges, he could see the red was fading from the vamp’s eyes, and the fangs were retracting. The grip around his neck was loosening.
As Alex drew a tortured breath, he realized the vampire was weakening, his predator mode fading. He drew back his fist to strike the thing in the face. Every ounce of his survival instinct, fear, adrenaline, and desperate need to protect Alayna and his friends was behind that punch. As it connected, he felt something crack open inside himself, and the vampire disappeared.
As Alex scrambled to his feet, he saw the guy laying about fifteen feet away, unconscious. The lower half of his face was at an odd angle. Dislocated jaw, Alex realized.
He looked down at his fist. The knuckles weren’t even split. With a surge of awareness, he realized that he had sent the vampire flying. Z had told him that his abilities were a well and that well would fill up. It appeared that he had just figured out how to unleash that power.
Movement caught his eye. Two vampire guards were moving toward him from the left. He turned, squared his shoulders, clenched his fists. And smiled.
***
As Alayna charged at Dominic, she swung the war fan in and arc toward his face, but she was blocked by Camille as she brought that long blade down on her armor, aiming for the weak point where it met her neck. Alayna turned at the last moment so the blade slide off her shoulder, drawing sparks.
She brought her war fan up as a distraction and kicked out at Camille’s knee. The female vampire was fast, though, and the strike fell short as she danced back.
With that sword, Camille had the reach on her. She began to call the wind, but before she could complete the incantation, Camille charged, the sword held low and ready for an upward strike. Alayna brought the fan to meet it and caught the sword’s blade between the blades of the fan. The impact as the sword met the bottom of the fan rang up Alayna’s arm. With her other hand she snapped the fan closed around the sword, twisted and wrenched it away from Camille, sending it skittering across the floor.
Disarmed, Camille brought her hands up, the muscles in her legs coiling to pounce. She was not out of the fight yet. It was a fight Alayna was all too willing to give her. Suddenly, a shot rang out and crimson bloomed on Camille’s perfect silk blouse. Her eyes rolled back and she crumpled to the ground.
Alayna turned in time to see a shadow move up on the catwalk. Ellie was watching her back.
Another bullet dinged off her armor and she turned to face Dominic. He wasn’t tryi
ng to kill her, just wound her.
“Damn it, Dominic, stop this before someone else gets killed,” she shouted. He spared a glance for Camille’s bleeding body on the floor and met her gaze.
“You don’t understand, Alayna. They all have to die for us to be together,” he said.
Instead of aiming the gun at her, he pointed it over her shoulder. The gun barked and she turned in time to see Lu clutch her shoulder in pain.
That’s it, she thought. She uncoiled her whip and sprang the blade. She was going to put him down like the monster he was and then mop up this mess.
Alayna charged and swung the whip. Dominic dodged it with lightning reflexes, but that put him off balance when she reached him with her blade.
The upward stroke caught him across the chest, slicing open his suit, shirt, and skin. Blood poured from the wound. He wasn’t armored.
She watched as his eyes went full predator and his fangs descended. He launched himself at her, going for her throat, and knocked her back. Alayna stumbled as his full weight came down on her and only managed to keep his fangs from her flesh by pressing the hilt of the whip across his throat.
She was able to roll away from him, and he came at her with a flurry of blows to the face and throat, putting her on the defensive. They were getting closer to the outer wall of the warehouse, and she didn’t want to be pinned between the ferocious threat before her and the metal wall behind her.
Glancing to her right, she saw Alex get buried under two vampire guards. Alarm rose within her as he disappeared beneath their huge bodies. Suddenly, the two were flying in opposite directions and Alex was standing, muscles coiled in a fighting stance.
What the hell?
She didn’t have time to process what she had seen because Dominic was on her again. She saw an opening and pressed it, parrying his blows with her own and using the blade end of the whip to slice at his arms and hands.
He howled and came at her again with stunning viciousness, spittle flying from his mouth, blood pouring from the wound on his chest.
Alayna stumbled on something unseen and felt herself falling backward. Dominic’s snapping fangs were inches from her face as they fell together. In one last desperate move, she drove the blade upward toward his chest.
His body went completely still, his expression becoming one of confusion. She pushed him off of her and discovered that her silver blade was buried in his heart.
Over the course of seconds, the red bled from his eyes, and his fangs retracted. He seemed thinner, almost deflated. If she pulled the blade out, he would die in a matter of seconds. If she left the blade in, there was a chance to save him.
She settled him on his back, and he looked more like her old friend. His eyes no longer held that maniacal gleam.
She turned to look back. The fight was slowing down. Several of the guards had put their hands up or were running out of the building through the blasted doors.
“It’s over Dom,” she told him.
His breath was ragged, gurgling and he struggled to meet her eyes.
“The voices are gone,” he whispered.
“What voices, Dom?”
He closed his eyes and winced in pain.
“They started after I left the Corps,” he said, struggling to speak. “They told me to do things, hurt people, hurt you. I was weak. I listened. They said they were strong and they could make everything right again.”
He coughed and bright red blood splattered across his lips.
“We don’t have much time, Dom. What’s behind that ward?”
“Don’t touch it, Alayna. You can’t fight them. Just run. That’s all you can do.”
She felt Alex kneeling behind her. He gripped her shoulder through her armor. She noticed the rest of the team was moving up around them.
“Dumeril, can you do anything for him?” Alayna asked.
“I can try,” the Svarturan said, moving to kneel beside the vampire.
Dominic batted Dumeril’s hands away.
Dominc’s voice grew frantic. “They’re coming, Alayna. They are coming for you, for all of you, and they are going to tear this world apart.”
With that, he gripped the hilt of whip and pulled the blade out of his chest. He screamed, the sound mixing with Alayna’s cry of alarm.
There was a small geyser of blood, and Dominic fell back against the concrete.
“I’m sorry,” he hissed as black blood poured from his mouth. His eyes slid closed, and his features went slack as death took him.
Everything was silent for a moment.
Alayna turned her attention to the black wall that stood about twenty feet from where she knelt.
Whatever was behind it would have to be dealt with. She stood and turned to the team.
“Report,” she said, her voice raw from the fight, from emotion.
“I’m a little banged up, but ready to go,” Dumeril said, wiping Dominic’s blood from his hands.
Burdock spoke next. “I took a bullet in the shoulder, but it’s not bleeding too bad. I’ve got still got some juice left, but I’m running low.”
“Same here,” Lu said. The words came clipped and slow as she worked to shape them with those fang filled jaws. “Don’t have much fight left, but what is left is yours.”
Alex just nodded and shot her a thumbs up.
“All good up here, Commander,” Ellie said through her mic.
Z just gave a rumbling purr.
“Dumeril and Lu, secure the guards in one of those storage rooms. Burdock, melt those damn locks off the cages and get those people outside.”
She looked at Alex. “And why don’t you tell me what the hell was going on in that fight?”
He was silent for a moment as he looked down at his hands.
“I think we found the flip side to my abilities,” he said.
“We’re going to have to process this later, but in the meantime, keep the Superman moves to a minimum until we know more about how this might affect you,” she said.
As the rest of the team moved to follow her commands, she moved to the warded area. As she drew closer, the ward sprang to life, glowing green and hovering in front of the wall of darkness about ten feet off the floor.
She studied the pattern. It was beyond intricate, clearly woven by a master. She really wished Dominic had stuck around long enough to tell her who he had hired to do this. She would love to take a rogue mage with this kind of power off the streets.
Concentrating, she began to sing softly, pulling at the threads of the ward with her voice, coaxing them apart. Z joined her, adding his rumbling voice to the mix, and they worked together to untangle it. After what seemed like an hour—but was probably closer to two minutes—the darkness began to dissipate. Sounds began to leak through first. Shuffling sounds, soft moans.
Figures became visible in the dark haze. They were human shaped, but they didn’t move like humans. The movements were too quick, too jerky. And the sounds weren’t human. There were growls, howls, and groans.
As the ward finally died with a pop of sound and flash of green light, they could see what they were up against. And Alayna almost screamed in horror.
Her knees buckled, and she might have fallen, but Alex was there to support her.
There was a heavy chain link fence that ran from one wall to the other and from floor to ceiling. Beyond the fence were about a hundred figures moving around. Their skin was grey and hung from their frames. What used to be clothing hung in tatters. Their eyes were horrifyingly red, and large fangs protruded over lips that had pulled back from gaunt faces.
Some climbed the fence and pulled at it. Others shuffled aimlessly. Others darted faster than an eye could track, from one end of the enclosure to the other.
“Oh, gods,” Alayna breathed.
Alex still supported her weight, and she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to stand again. Her brain was not computing what was in front of her.
“Are those...zombies?” Alex asked.
“There is no such thing,” Alayna answered, her voice sounding far away to her own ears. “These creatures are a thousand times worse.”
She heard Dumeril curse as he caught sight of the things.
“What are they?” Alex asked anxiously.
“Revenants,” she said.
One of the creatures began to frantically pull at the fence, sniffing the air and screaming at the top of its lungs. Almost as one, a hundred pairs of eyes turned to look at them.
“And now they know we’re here,” she said.
“What are they, and how do we kill them?” Alex said.
The rest of the team was starting to gather around them.
“Revenants are just a myth. It’s supposedly what happens when a human is turned by a vampire but starves during the transition. The vampire virus keeps their body moving, but the brain and body are essentially dead. They have one instinct: to feed. And the only way to kill them is to decapitate them or incinerate them.”
Dumeril turned to her, “What’s the plan, Commander?”
She just stared at them for a moment. They were beginning to gather at the fence, tearing at the metal links with their bare hands. The flesh on their fingers began to shred, but they didn’t bleed. Hard to bleed when you didn’t have a heartbeat.
Z spoke, “Let me burn them for you, little sparrow.”
She closed the distance with the dragon and put her hand on his scaly muzzle. Alex and Burdock moved with her, each one standing at her shoulder and eyeing the increasingly agitated revenants.
“You would take these lives?” Alayna asked.
The dragon abhorred killing intelligent things. She knew that the deaths of the vampires he had already killed would weigh on him. What would a hundred do to him?
“I am not the one to kill them. They died by others’ hands. I will put them to rest,” he said stepping toward the fence and taking a deep breath and preparing to incinerate the revenants with his fiery breath.
Suddenly, he reared back, roaring in pain. Thick orange mucus poured from a wound in the dragon’s neck, splattering on the concrete at his feet. From the other side of Z’s scaly body, Camille, covered in her own blood emerged, the long sword dripping in her hand.