Dominant Species (13 page)

He
stumbled on something and looked down. The remains of a charred body, torn apart, lay at his feet; a piece of bloodied paper skewered to its chest with a long, thin, silver knife. Jake stooped, carefully pulling the paper free of the blade and glancing at it. It was then that he noticed the seared length of the rosary that now seemed welded to the charred neck. Eddy. His head span and he felt like he was going to be sick. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to block out the terrible sights all around. Quickly, taking a deep breath he stuffed the note in his pocket. He looked around in a daze, trying to ignore the contorted and petrified arms that rose from the bodies in death and were silhouetted against the dark sky all around.

Jake continued to clamber over the debris
, trying to avoid the bodies. He staggered on towards the factory centre. As he passed the last wall he froze again. In front of him, against the skyline, stood dozens of crosses, each one was over fifteen feet tall and had been driven deep into the ground. On each cross a crucified body hung, limbs nailed roughly into the wood. Jake slumped to the floor, unable to tear his gaze away, unable to bear the sight before him and his mind was wrenched back twenty years to where a young boy and his brother crept along the side of a building until they appeared at the base of central park.

The younger boy tugged at his brother’s hand, trying to stop him.

What’s
the matter? Asks the young Jake.

‘I’m scared
, Jake’ replies Max, his eyes wet.

The older boy frowns at his sibling.

‘Why?’ he asks, and there was a flicker of irritation in that voice, ‘We already did the hardest bit.’

‘I want
my mommy.’

Jake pulls at his brother’s hand. ‘Come on’ he
says and he begins to drag his brother to the corner of Central Park West, and then he freezes, his heart hammering in his chest. He stares towards the park. In it, a row of giant crucifixes covers the ground; suspended high in the air on each and every one is a body. Jake spins Max round roughly, so his back is to the grizzly scene making his brother yelp in surprise.

‘Stay here... don’t look
, and don’t move until I get back. You understand?

Max nods.

Slowly, Jake’s feet take him forward.

Jake
looks so small, as he stumbles down the street, staring up at the row upon row of crosses embedded deeply into the grass in the park. Bodies hanging, some badly burnt.

Then
, as if in a dream, or more fittingly a nightmare, Jake stops. He falls to his knees, tears crash down his face as he stares up at two figures hanging from the cross to his right. Seconds turn into long minutes as Jake just stares up at his parents. He can’t move until...
...a tiny hand touches his shoulder, wrinkling the cloth of his shirt. Jake looks up into the eyes of his brother; Max’s face is red from crying.

Pulling himself together, Jake stands and clasps his brother to his chest.

‘I told you to stay where you were.’ He whispers in anger.

‘I was scared. I didn’t look at the bad things, but you weren’t moving. Jake I want Mommy, I want to go home.’

Jake pivots his brother round, grabs him by his shoulders, and fixes him with his young, but no longer innocent, eyes.

‘We’ve got a new home now and I’m going to look after you.
I’m always going to look after you. Do you understand?’

A scared Max nods. There’s a slight movement from above. Max looks up and Jake watche
s as Max’s confusion turns quickly into realization and fear.

‘Daddy?’

Jake spins round. Above him, his father struggles to lift his head. He opens one badly swollen eye, tries to focus on his two sons below. A hoarse voice cuts through the silence.

‘Jake? Max? Is that really you?’

Jake stands frozen, his mouth dry, hardly able to speak.

‘
Dad?’ he manages in a quivering voice.

Jake doesn’t move. His father blinks; a single drop of blood plummets to the ground
, splashes at Jake’s feet. Then Jake watches his father look across at his wife, their mother, and sees the pain that flashes across his father’s face. Jake will never know what his father sees in his mind’s eye, which is the image of his wife being pulled away from him by a vampire before he is forced to kneel before them on the ground, then shaking the thought from his mind, Jake’s father re-focuses on his two sons.

‘Dad, I don’t know what to do.’ Jake’s voice is cracked and scared, but beneath the surface his father recognises the inner strength he knows his son
already has.

‘Go
, son. Get...Get’ he struggles to speak. ‘Get Max away. You...you shouldn’t have come back, now go...please, before…’ His eyes glaze, his mouth moves but no sound comes out, then to Jake’s dismay, his head slumps one last time onto his chest.

‘Nooooooo!’ screams Jake and he runs, pulling Max, clearly in shock, behind him. Max tumbles and for ten yards is dragged along the floor by his older brother who can’t comprehend the terror of
everything that has just happened.

‘Jake! You’re hurting me.’ It’s his brother’s pitiful sobs th
at bring Jake back to his senses and he yanks his younger brother up.

‘Come on!’ He d
emands.

‘What about Dad, you can’t leave him.’

‘It’s too late, Max. Now come on.’

Jake pulls Max up, who falls again.

‘No!’ Max clambers to his feet, beats Jake in the chest with clenched fists.

‘It’
s all your fault, it’s all your fault; you did this.’

He screams at his older brother and Jake can hardly
breathe. Max sobs uncontrollably as his small hands continue to pummel at Jake’s chest, whilst Jake just stands there letting him,

‘I shouldn’t have listened to you
! It’s all your fault!

Max’s words seem to break the last of Jake’s resolve and with defeat in his eyes he takes hold of Max’s wrists. Not looking back, and in total silence, he drags his brother away.

The crackle of the dying fire
s jerked Jake back to the present, he looked up at the crucifixes and the terrible sight seemed to galvanize him, snapping him back into action.

‘Cut them down!’ He demand
ed.

‘But, if the
…’ one of the men began to argue.

‘I said, cut them down. All of them,
now.’ The look on Jake’s face left the man in absolutely no doubt that to argue was not an option.

In the general assembly hall of the United Nations Building a low rumble
of chanting ran around the auditorium. The room filled with the sound of roar power and anger, as the assembled vampires waited for their Queen to arrive.

Outside, Drameer
stood with Voltan in heated debate, the sound of the assembled vampires thundering out in the background like a distant storm.

‘He needs to show s
trength,’ Voltan growled at Drameer, ‘the Queen has demanded that the resistance be destroyed. Now she has called on Rodan. Overlord Karick’s position has been dramatically weakened.’

‘Voltan, sometimes true strength is standing up for what you know is right, regardless of the consequence, or
for that matter the views of the others,’ Drameer glanced at the thick doors to the auditorium, then back to Voltan. ‘Voltan the truth is we need the humans.’ He paused, before adding quietly, ‘Perhaps more than we’d care to admit.’

Voltan snorted.

‘You have been blinded and cannot see.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘We all know of your...’ he tried to select his next words carefully, but anger burned in him like a red hot rage ‘your perversion.’

Drameer’s eyes narrowed. The two vampires faced each other in an uncomfortable silence
, a hint of a snarl present on Drameer’s lips.

Then Drameer
breathed out and broke eye contact. Voltan would never know how close he had come to being attacked. Drameer took another breath and steadied himself before continuing, this time more quietly.

‘This is not about individual feelings, but about logic. About what is right,
about what needs to be done.’

‘
Drameer, I think there is far more at stake here tonight than what may, or may not be right.’

‘How can that be?’

‘If Overlord Karick loses power your…’ he spat out the next word ‘…
truth
as you would call it won’t count for anything.’

Drameer, still angry,
began to respond, but instead he paused and took another breath. He turned his back on Voltan and closed his eyes.

‘Voltan, I fear we might both be right. But for now Overlord Karick needs our undivided support.’ He looked
up and both he and Voltan fell silent as Karick entered the chamber.

Jake sat on a pile of debris, deep in thought. The others stood in silence
around him, nervously scanning the area, expecting the vampires to appear from out of the darkness at any moment. None of them wanted to be there, out in the open, for a moment longer than was absolutely necessary. With them a handful of survivors that they’d discovered sat still in deep shock from their ordeal. However, despite their unease, they were as equally nervous about disturbing Jake, who seemed lost in his own nightmare.

It was
Megan who finally approached him, gently touching him on the shoulder.

‘Jake?’

He looked up into her beautiful face, filled with concern, and found it difficult to accept that this beauty could exist so near the terror that they had just witnessed. Each of the crosses now stood empty, some of the large wooden crucifixes lay spent on the ground.

‘We need to leave,’ she continued.

Jake nodded, ‘how many survivors did we find?’

Megan paused before she whisper
ed her answer, her voice almost failing her; ‘three.’

Jake closed his eyes, drew a long, deep breath.
Suddenly there was a slight sound, a movement to his left and Jake was up, his gun trained on the shape. As the others span, their guns also raised, Jake frowned, holding his hand out to calm the men. Behind him Megan watched as he slowly picked his way carefully through the rubble. She couldn’t make out what had moved, but continued to cover him with her own weapon just in case. About twenty metres away he crouched down. Megan’s eyes narrowed as she stained to see in the darkness, then she heard him speak in a soft but reassuring voice.

‘Hey
, little girl.’ Jake whispered and the compassion in his voice weighed heavy on Megan’s heart, bringing a lump to her throat.

Jake smiled. A pair of frightened
, dark brown eyes stared back at him from beneath a pile of rubble and discarded wood. The eyes didn’t blink as if by doing so it might cause another terrible nightmare to descend once more. The eyes belonged to the small girl, frightened earlier by Zidtool. Jake held out his hand.

‘Don’t be afraid.’

The little girl swallowed, not moving, not blinking; her face covered in dirt.

‘My name’s Jake, what’s yours?’

‘F..Faith’ she whispered hoarsely.

Jake smiled again
, as she tentatively reached out and took his hand.

Again Jake was transported back twenty years in his mind
’s eye.

Jake stands in a dark room with his petrified brother who is gripping one of his hands tightly, squeezing it until it hurts. Max watches as Jake pushes open the door. Just as Jake peers outside a voice speaks from somewhere out of the darkness behind them.

‘Now
, you remember where to go?’ It is a question asked by a young Father Matthew.

Jake look
s up into the Father’s eyes, behind him Jake’s mother stands with his little sister, both are sobbing quietly, Jake’s father stands off to one side, his head hanging low, helpless and unable to do anything. Jake knows he’s been crying too.

‘I’m scared, Father,’
Jake whispers in a weak voice.

‘I know s
on. But God is with you, here…’ Father Matthew takes a gold cross from around his neck and gently places it over Jake’s head.

‘Take this.
It will help protect you in your darkest of hours.’

Jake stare
s down at the gold cross gleaming in the palm of his hand; it makes him feel stronger somehow. Father Matthew glances back towards Jake’s parents, then back to Jake and Max.

‘Now you must go. I’ll look after your ma and pa, okay?’

‘But what about the vampires?’ Max’s question is spoken so quietly that it is hardly audible.

Jake, although shaking, grasps his brother by
his shoulders.

‘Nothing’s going to happen Max, I promise’ and steeling himself, Jake pushes the door open wider, glances around.

‘Jake! Be careful, the monsters!’ comes a small voice and Jake turns. The voice belongs to his sister, who pulls away from her parents. Her neat hair pulled back in a ponytail. She runs forward, holds out her hand, eyes burning into his. He reaches out, squeezes her hand in his.

‘It’s alright Sis, we won’t be long.’

‘Then can I come too?’

The young Jake shakes his head.

‘No Sis, Max and me have got to meet some people. It’s too dangerous for you. Now, stay here and help Father Matthew look after Mom and Dad, okay?

His little sister moves forward, a frown on her face.

‘Not fair, I wanna go too.’

‘When you’re older, I promise.’

Father Matthew smiles and Jake watches as his mother picks the little girl up, then the two boys step out into the darkness.

Jake stared down at the little girl’s hand in his, thinking how small and cold it was and how much she reminded him of his little sister. His mind raced against his will as he wondered whether his sister was even still alive. Then, looking into the little girl’s scared, but trusting dark brown eyes, he bent forward and picked her up.

‘You’re safe now, okay? I promise,’ he whispered.

As he lifted her into his arms her eyes closed and she rested her head on his shoulder. He crossed to where Megan was waiting, clutching the girl tightly in his arms. Then, with one final look at the death and carnage that lay all around, he signalled that they should move off. With some measure of relief the others followed in absolute silence.

In the great assembly hall the chanting
had reached a crescendo. The Queen stood centre stage as the sound soared around her. Then she raised her hand and slowly the chanting subsided.

‘Today we start a new journey. Together we move forward and reassert the power of th
e vampire.’ Her Eyes swept the auditorium. ‘Overlord Karick, if you please.’

Karick bowed,
got up from where he sat with both Voltan and Drameer and turned to the audience. ‘I call this council formally into session.’ He looked at the faces of the various vampires, wondering how many supported him, ‘I wanted to address you today as there has been some disturbing news. As you may be aware...’ He paused, glanced up. One vampire remained standing. ‘I said the council is in session.’

The vampire didn’t move. As Karick fixed his gaze he realized that it was Rodan’s bodyguard, Kadir. ‘Kadir
, as your Overlord, when I speak, nobody stands.’ Still the vampire didn’t move and realisation suddenly dawned, leaving Karick only one option – to ask the obvious question.

‘So you challenge me?’

Kadir growled. Slamming his fist into his chest he crashed down the steps as Karick moved to the edge of the podium and towards his potential attacker. A whisper of excitement whipped around the auditorium.

Kadir jumped onto the platform
, landing with a dull thud. They stood only two feet apart; Kadir a full six inches taller and a whole lot heavier than Karick. But Karick didn’t flinch, his eyes set with a steely determination. Kadir turned to the Queen and bowed his head, bringing it within an inch of Karick’s face, still Karick didn’t move.

‘Your majesty, it is my right as a Council member to challenge Overlord Karick.’

The Queen surveyed the assembled vampire council, one shapely eyebrow raised in surprise. ‘Has it really come to this?’ she finally asked with a voice like silk.

Kadir bowed
again.

‘So be it.’ She stated
in a flat, matter of fact tone, ‘you are of course aware of the rules?’

Kadir growled again and faced Karick. Karick could feel Kadir’s breath
hot on his face.

It was Karick’s turn to
face the Queen, ‘My Lady,’ he said simply.

Karick
turned back, looked directly into Kadir’s face, the edge of his mouth creased into a smile. Although Kadir dwarfed him, Karick remained utterly unfazed.

‘On what grounds do you challenge me, Kadir?’ His gaze flashed briefly to the auditorium and to Rodan, who was simply watching with a smirk on his face.

‘My challenge is two-fold. Firstly that you are too weak to lead and secondly that you advise the Queen badly, stopping her from fulfilling our true destiny. The council knows this; I know this, so I challenge you. It is time for a new counsel to the Queen.’

‘You?’ whispered Karick with a flicker of a smile
.

Kadir hesitated, ‘A new counsel to the Queen
will be chosen, under vampire Law when I am successful in defeating you.’

‘I see.’ Responded Karick with an amused tone, then he smiled, glanced once more at Rodan
, before turning back to face Kadir. ‘And you are prepared to stake your life on this?’

This was stated in such a matter of fact tone that it brought a brief, but deep flutter of concern to Kadir’s face. Karick turned
away and pulled off his jacket, ‘so be it.’

Taking his chance
Kadir bellowed behind him and dived at Karick, who span, spiralling away from him, watching as Kadir soared past. As he did, Karick slammed his fist hard into the back of Kadir’s neck, before continuing in one smooth motion to remove his jacket.

Kadir crashed onto the
floor, dazed. Karick carefully folded his jacket and nonchalantly tossed it to Voltan, who took the opportunity to glance into the audience, directly at Rodan, whose smile had already disappeared.

An angry Kadir clambered to his feet. Swaying slightly
from the blow, he shook his head, re-focused. A piercing roar erupted as he charged headlong toward Karick like an express train. Karick dropped his head to one side in a quizzical manner as Kadir quickly closed. Then Kadir was on him, but...

Karick barely seemed to move as Kadir was thrown to the ground again.

Kadir span on all fours as Karick somersaulted gracefully over Kadir’s head landing behind him. In a panic Kadir span again, this time right into the path of Karick’s foot as it crashed into his face.

Blood dripped onto the floor
and thirty pairs of eyes focused on it immediately. Drameer leaned toward Voltan.

‘What’s he waiting for? He could take him anytime he wants.’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ replied Voltan, a curl of a smile on his lips. Drameer watched Karick as he twisted away from another of Kadir’s massive lunges. He caught Kadir on the side of the head dropping him like a stone, the podium vibrating under their feet. He turned back to Voltan.