The second dark ages box.., p.20
The Second Dark Ages Boxed Set, page 20
part #1 of The Second Dark Ages Series
“Not a demon, Fitzsimmons, a man… one who knows what honor truly is, and compassion. Although compassion...” he shrugged his shoulders as he clenched his hand, those nails piercing Fitzsimmons’ heart, cutting it apart, “...was taught a bit more recently, and I have trouble backsliding to my old habits from time to time.”
Michael pulled the arc rod out of Fitzsimmons’ hand and turned it around and pressed it to his chest, blowing the man back off his arm, leaving his nails dripping blood. Michael made the sign of the cross with the arc. “Go with God.”
He turned the arc rod off and picked up the other two, turning them off as he added them to his collection.
Michael stared down the alley and sent out the mental thought, Scared, Billy?
Billy gripped his arc rod and considered what to do. The Nacht group was the elite, but something had taken out…
Scared, Billy? The voice entered his mind once more. You don’t mind scaring others. Are you just a bully, Billy?
“Go fuck yourself!” Billy called out, his voice reverberating down the alley. The vampire they had cornered started jogging towards the figure.
BULLSHIT! Billy started running down the alley. He wasn’t sure what had happened to his teammates. It was too dark, but he wasn’t allowing this bloodsucker to eat his friends.
Mark watched as the final Enforcer attacking the other vampire died. Come this way, Mark. He turned to look at the remaining attacker before running towards the unknown man. He didn’t know what this new person promised, but he absolutely knew what the other meant to do to him.
There was no contest.
His savior was ahead of him and he was running for all he was worth again. But this time, towards someone, and something, not away.
Billy wasn’t going to make it to the new challenge before the skinny little fuck was safe. So, Billy would just take care of him now by shooting him in the back.
Billy pulled out a pistol and started aiming at the skinny one when blue arcs of electricity blasted forth from the stranger’s outstretched hand to his gun.
“Shiiiit!” he yelled as the weapon was painfully electro-shocked out of his hand to clatter off to the side of the alley.
Billy felt his sweat suddenly go cold.
The new man had walked past the bodies, but Billy could see them. The three of them dead. Wally’s head had disappeared, Dodd’s was black, and Fitzsimmons’ chest was bloody, caved in near his heart with arc burns on his chest.
Billy’s eyes narrowed. “Killed my partners,” he spit out. “You’re going down, you bastard.”
“No, I’m just getting started, Billy. Justice is rising like the sun in the east,” the vampire replied calmly.
Billy slowed down and put out his quarterstaff, tips blue, the electricity arcing. “Over my dead body.”
“Well, that was the plan,” the malevolent voice said as the demon shrugged. “But since you insist, I now have absolution.” The eyes narrowed. “How nice of you to deliver that.”
“Fuck…” Billy held the quarterstaff in the middle with his left hand and one-quarter of the way down towards the end with his right. He twisted, pushing out the longer edge to deliver a slam to his opponent’s head, expecting him to duck, “…you!”
Billy’s eyes widened when the man just slapped the tip away, causing Billy’s arm to go numb in pain and shock. It was like he had hit a concrete building. Billy turned the violent redirection of his quarterstaff and twisted backward. He adjusted to holding his staff like a bat, bringing it back around with all the power his six-and-a-half-foot body could muster.
But there was nothing there to hit, and he continued twisting and fell down as the momentum tangled up his feet. He rolled to the side and got himself back up, holding his quarterstaff at the ready.
You know, the voice spoke into his mind. Billy’s eyes tracked everywhere, turning around continuously to make sure no one could sneak up on him. The Ulfberht is a very special sword. You can tell them often by the “+VLFBERHT+” engraved on them. I’m rather fond of this one, myself. I own three, all in as perfect condition as when I had them first made for me. The other two I took off of enemies. Enemies who thought their swords were more impressive than mine.
But, the voice continued as Billy looked around, it isn’t the sword that makes the man, but rather the wielder that allows the sword to do what it was designed to do. A lot of these swords, Billy’s eyes started darting around, frantically, were made in the Rhineland area of Germany. Ever heard of Germany, Billy?
“How the fuck do you know my name?” the Enforcer snarled.
Billy, does it matter? The bigger concern should be what your sins are? Killing people?
This time, his voice cracked, just a little. “They were monsters!”
What, because they were different from you? It isn’t the external, or internal differences that make us a man or a monster, Billy.
Billy cried out in pain as a sword erupted out of his chest. The man’s voice whispered in his ear. He could feel the air coming out of his mouth. “But what is in your heart that judges you!” His hand squeezed Billy’s shoulder, pushing the sword to the hilt and wiggling it, causing more spasms of pain throughout Billy’s body.
Billy coughed up blood, his quarterstaff clattering to the concrete. He dropped to his knees, the sword sliding back out of his body as he fell, slicing God only knew what, Billy thought, as his muscles ignored his commands.
“Your judgment has come too late for far too many, Billy.” The man making the sign of the cross was the last thing Billy witnessed before his eyes closed for the last time.
Chapter Twenty-Two
New York City-State
Mark stared at the stranger who saved him. The man made the sign of the cross over the Enforcer who had slid off of his sword blade to crumple, dying, at his feet.
Then, those red eyes turned towards him and the glow disappeared, the fangs retracted, and he bent down to use the body to clean his sword. Which then disappeared under his coat.
Damn, this man was so badass! “Can I get a coat like that?” he stammered. Mark’s cheeks flamed, he wanted to slap himself. He tried again, “Ah, thank you for saving me. Sorry, sometimes I can’t control my thoughts from polluting my mouth. It’s like I take a fistful of stupid pills every time I walk out of the house.”
The man looked at Mark, raised an eyebrow and smirked. “In my experience, Mark, the smartest technology geeks I’ve ever known always had poor communication skills.”
Mark was surprised, first that this man knew other people who loved technology, and the second, that he shared anything with them. “They do?”
“Yes,” he said and walked towards Mark. “Come with me, I’ll tell you about a female geek named Tabitha.”
“A female tech-head, really?” Mark asked as he joined the man, never considering if he should follow him or not. His request wasn’t a command.
It just… felt right.
“Oh yes,” he agreed. “Really.”
“Not to be too guy and all,” Mark’s voice carried on the wind as they turned left at the end of the alley, leaving the four dead Enforcers behind them. “But, was she hot?”
Michael’s laughter echoed down the street.
“OH MY GOD THAT WAS AWESOME!” a strange male voice assailed Jacqueline’s ears as she moved slowly through the latest extension in her kata, both arms in tight syncopation. She finished the move, attempting to keep her eyes closed and reach out with her Were senses, sniffing the air, working to see if she could feel vibrations regardless how much she wanted to look.
She could hear two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs, one of them stopping and the second pair, Michael’s, coming towards her. “Oh, wow…” the first, younger male, said quietly, perhaps not realizing Jacqueline could hear him. “Hot.”
She missed a step slightly and grimaced. She knew Michael was watching and wasn’t pleased the guy had made her mess up. She finished her kata and opened her eyes. Michael’s face was unreadable as he chewed on his lip, his head cocked slightly. “You favor your right leg. See if you can figure out how to do the kata starting with the left leg, and work to make it as smooth as what I just witnessed. It typically takes at least a week for most acolytes to attain the level of control you have at the moment.”
Externally, Jacqueline’s face was as calm as Michael’s, internally, her wolf was howling in glee. Michael turned and motioned for the young man to join them. He quickly came forward, smiling at Jacqueline and putting out his hand to shake hers.
“Mark, I would like to introduce you to…” Michael was pointing to Jacqueline when Mark, his eyes glittering in happiness blurted out.
“Tabitha!”
Jacqueline’s eyes narrowed.
“No Mark, Jacqueline.” Michael finished.
“What?” Mark asked, turning his head to Michael in confusion, with his hand still held out. He surreptitiously sniffed and realized he was shaking hands with a Were.
“Jacqueline,” the beautiful young woman took his hand. “Sorry to burst your bubble.”
Mark turned back to the girl. “Sorry! I didn’t mean anything by it, but Michael said he knew another vampire female that was into tech and was… ahh… umm…” His face, stricken, looked at Michael who merely looked back at him, not offering him an out.
“Hot?” Jacqueline suggested.
Mark’s blood drained from his face, and his chin hit his chest. He groaned, “Another round of stupid pills, please.” Jacqueline decided that maybe she wasn’t meeting a complete idiot.
Just a social idiot.
But Michael had mentioned Tabitha, so she knew who he was speaking about. She knew of Tabitha as well as Bethany Anne, Gabrielle, Ecaterina and a host of other females. Why it annoyed her to be mistaken for Tabitha, she wasn’t sure. But it did.
Michael continued, “Now that the two of you have been introduced, would you please show Mark around the house and show him where to get something to eat?” Mark looked up at Michael after dropping the handshake with Jacqueline. His eyes looked away. “What is it?” Michael asked.
“Um,” Mark turned his mouth away from Jacqueline and whispered, “Blood?”
“Ah, first lesson, young one.” Michael chose to leave Jacqueline involved in the discussion. “We,” he pointed to Jacqueline, Mark and himself, “are all human. Just different. The differences are science based. We have significant amounts of small medical machines inside our bodies that are called nanocytes. For us,” he pointed to Mark and himself, “we energize these nanocytes through the blood which has a connection with the Etheric Dimension. Don’t ask me how that works. Science was never my specialty.”
“Bet it was Tabitha’s,” Jacqueline murmured before biting down on her tongue.
Michael turned to her. “No, just computer science. Tabitha couldn’t engineer her way off a jungle gym without falling, I don’t think. But, get her around a computer interface, and she could work magic.”
He turned back to Mark, ignoring the look Jacqueline gave him. “So, these machines are making you want blood, or they will start eating you to drive them and eventually, you will die. You could prolong this by going into a long sleep, substantially reducing the amount of energy they need.”
“Is there another way to get this energy?” Mark asked.
“What about mine, is it only food that can drive mine?” Jacqueline asked, deciding to push her personal issues off and hopefully forget about them. She wasn’t driven by her emotions anymore, she decided. Whatever feelings they happened to be.
“Yes, Jacqueline,” he told her and turned to Mark. “And yes to you as well.” He stopped to consider what he had done with Gerry and the Etheric energy he felt he could tap at will. It was an unfathomable amount of energy, and there was probably a huge amount of ability wrapped up in it, but he needed time to study. Even moving into an advanced state of speed, rushing ahead to review and think, try and fail, he could be busy for days, weeks, months or years. Time he didn’t have at the moment.
He had made a promise.
He lifted his left arm and used his right to roll back the sleeve on his coat. He took off his watch. Mark’s eyes lit up, fascinated. Michael handed the watch to Jacqueline who tried to keep the delight off of her face. Michael looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged, pointed at herself and mouthed, “Female!”
Mark had missed it, his eyes strictly on the watch until he noticed Michael’s left hand was glowing.
“Whoooaaa!” He whispered, then took a step back when Michael’s glowing hand got closer to him. “What? Sorry!” He took a step forward, deciding that trusting had worked for him so far.
The hand pressed against the middle of his chest, and he felt warm. The constant desire to find and feed on blood went away, and then he felt more energy than he had... well, ever before. “What’s happening?” he asked, watching little scars he had from his flight out of his sister’s broken window heal in front of his eyes.
“That’s how it is supposed to work if your nanocytes are functioning properly,” Michael told him. “You are a very weak vampire. Probably six or seven generations from the first is my guess.”
“Wow, who was the first,” he asked, watching a particularly bad cut finish healing, the little scab falling off and the scar going away.
Jacqueline hissed, “Mark!” He looked up to see her using her eyes to point to Michael. When he looked up at Michael, his mouth made a large O. “Uh, another round of stupid pills?” he asked.
“No, more like not thinking it through,” Michael said. “It’s fine, it can be refreshing not to have everyone know who you are.”
“Why’s that?” Jacqueline asked.
“Because then they aren’t afraid of you right away,” Michael answered and turned to her, his hand up. “Care to try?”
She stepped forward so that his hand was pressed to her chest, between her breasts. His hand started glowing, and she could feel a calmness wash through her body, like a constant little annoyance you had grown accustomed to had suddenly stopped. So instead of noticing it happening, you feel its absence.
She stepped back, her eyes glowing faintly yellow. “Oh my,” she said, and then turned back to the training area, did a bow—more head dip than a bow—and stepped onto the mat, losing herself in the latest kata. Michael could tell her movements were smoother. She glided from one to the next, her eyes closed.
He would need to introduce the next three katas and then weapons soon.
“Why don’t I feel like I need food?” Mark asked him.
Michael patted him on the shoulder and started walking towards the kitchen.
“Come with me. You might not strictly need food, but if our resident Were didn’t eat me out of house and home, we have enough for a meal. Food helps the nanocytes keep our bodies running efficiently and have mass for healing other problems.”
“Like if we hit our head or something?” Mark asked, going up the stairs.
“No, like if we get shot,” Michael replied.
Jacqueline, so engrossed in her movements, didn’t hear them leave.
Michael left his two charges back at the house, making sure Jacqueline understood she was responsible for the young man. She nodded her understanding, and Michael felt her sense of protection lock in. He wasn’t a friend now. He was Daniel personified for her.
At least until Michael got back.
Michael floated through the city, trying to understand just what was making these people tick. It wasn’t normal, there were so many levels to the populace. He stopped in a particularly bad area, listening to many of the sick, the indigent and those living here on the street and in the alleys, all talking to themselves. They were muttering, talking about seeing colors.
Like they were drugged, but he could not smell drugs in their body odor. Something he would otherwise have been able to pick up.
He could feel evil coming. He looked to the east, the direction of the storm coming from the sea and something… else.
He Mysted up to a rooftop and listened. Towards evening, he could feel another set of emotions, of Weres and vampires coming out from underground, all heading somewhere. He turned, trying to understand.
There!
Central Park and the large building. It looked like maybe the second largest in the city, a long blue line of lights going up to the top. Rather like the blue stripes he saw on the Enforcers that held the guns on the rooftops pants.
He Mysted over towards that area. Solidifying a couple of buildings away, Michael watched through the darkness as random sets of people all seemed to be converging on one building.
Then two of them broke off, a male police officer and a female in boots, and strode into the building.
Not long after, he noticed two more bodies break off from the buildings in the darkness. The female threw a rock and then both jumped off of a car to go crashing through a second-story window. A grenade, it sounded like, went off shortly after that. All sorts of gunfire and the sound of people fighting and dying broke out.
It seemed possible that New York might have a force fighting for it already.
Michael Mysted around to another side and materialized at street level, inside the entranceway of a closed store. He turned his head, hearing footsteps rushing towards the main building, but sounding like they would pass his location. “Come quick!” a voice called out over a radio. “Enforcer HQ is under attack! Repeat, we have Weres and vampires attacking!”
Michael’s eyes flashed red. He reached under his jacket, pulled out his pistols and dialed them up to ten.
He stepped out into the street and turned the corner towards those he could hear running in his direction.
“God dammit,” Peterson yelled at his men. “Hurry the fuck up. We got people dying back at the base right now!”
The seven men had been enjoying a late dinner when the call came in that their headquarters was under attack, with the code word UnknownWorld tossed into the sentence.
