Empire of Blood (Book 2): Fading In Darkness (27 page)

All the while she reached out ahead and below the ground searching for minds. It was like flipping a switch when she found them. One moment there were none and then there were many. They were to the east. She sent out new instructions to her growing army of mindless followers. They all began running to the east as
Bellona
rose to the sky. Sifting through the different memories of the
humans
underground,
Bellona
saw his face.

Simon.

She could wait no longer to get her revenge. Her body accelerated sending wind whipping and howling all around her. She could see them now from this distance. Most were fleeing the cave and leaving in large black semi trucks yet still many minds remained underground including
his
. Down below the followers were starting to catch up to her. They were ripe with hatred and ready to tear apart whoever might get in their way. The crowds of people and the trucks they were filling were growing closer. One by one the semis started to drive away each one following the last. There were three trucks still sitting as the fourth drove off when
Bellona
hovered over them.

Then, without any warning to the people inside, there was a loud thud as a large group of the mindless followers rammed themselves into the first truck. The truck leaned sideways from the impact and then fell back on all four tires. The followers pushed into it again, this time leaning it a bit further before it fell back into place on the ground. They pushed it again and still gravity brought it right back down where it had been, this time crushing two men and one woman who fell too close during the initial push.

Screams erupted from inside the truck and the driver scrambled to start the engine.
Bellona
watched from on high as the followers pushed the truck one more time, managing to get it over its tipping point and sending it sideways, its trailer crashing through the next truck’s trailer like a wrecking ball tearing through a papier-mâché wall.

Satisfied they were getting results,
Bellona
turned back to her main objective. She sent
an urgency
out to another crowd of followers headed for the cave. They ran faster, eventually disappearing into the dark opening in the ground.
Bellona
soared forward toward them until her feet were again touching the ground and she broke into a run.

* * *

Hank caught up with
Whindsor
, nearly out of breath followed by a wide-eyed Toby. “Everyone who wanted to go is outside in the trucks and on their way out of here.”

“Okay, good. My men and I are heading out
now,
you two should come with us. We’re
gonna
need your help.”

Hank hesitated for a moment and then an idea hit him. “Okay, great, thanks.” Then he turned to Toby, “Come on, son, and stay close to me, just in case.”

Toby nodded as they began to jog toward a cavern Hank hadn’t seen before. A loud distant crash nearly tripped them as they ran along in between stalagmites and slipped in mud and slick clear rock.

“What the hell was that?” Hank said.

“Probably nothing good.
We need to get moving, now,” Bill said.

Hank wasn’t about to argue with that logic. He wanted nothing more than to protect Toby at all costs. And if his plan worked out, he would be able to protect his son from the Empire and himself very soon.

* * *

The Queen watched as Hank and Toby fled the main cavern. A spark of guilt hit her for the first time in centuries as she watched them go. But she had made her decision long ago and there was no turning back now. Too much depended on her silence. The young one would meet his destiny today like it or not and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
And if they did.
There would be little hope to remove the Emperor from his place of rule. She cleared her mind and instead focused on the cavern entrance. Soon they would come—soon she would come. And there would be much to watch. She grinned in bloodthirsty anticipation as a chill ran through her body.

My children, it is time. She is here.

* * *

Simon and
Ishan
flashed in front of the Queen faster than anyone in the room but probably the Queen herself could see. A dozen or so other vampires took places around the cavern in preparation for attack as the bonfire continued to pop and sizzle in the center of the room. A moment later, what had to have been nearly a hundred humans, men, women, even small children, rushed into the cavern and charged the nearest vampire in sight. The vampires slashed throats with their claws and teeth but they were far outnumbered by the humans and eventually several vampires were knocked to the ground and torn to pieces by the ravenous crowd.

And then she was there right before Simon’s eyes. Every bit as beautiful as the Queen but much different and yet he could feel nothing but hatred for her as she tried now to attack his Queen’s home and place of safety. But it didn’t take long to realize that she wasn’t here for the Queen.

As soon as her eyes locked with Simon’s she blasted forward at him like a bullet. Before Simon could move out of the way her teeth were locked on his throat and she was viciously sucking the life from him. The faint yellow light within the cave began to fade as the sounds of this other queen’s suckling and the feeling of becoming lighter all overwhelmed what little sensory input Simon was receiving.

And then there was an eruption of silent movement and Simon felt his body fall to the ground as
Ishan
pulled her away, blood gushing down her chin, her face contorted into a raging thing. Rocks began to slice at his flesh and cool wet mud slid beneath him as he realized he was being dragged backward. He looked behind himself and saw only darkness.
The Queen.
He closed his eyes. Then the thought of
Ishan
gripped him with fear and he opened them to see the ancient vampire swinging and slashing at the other queen, each blow landing with precision but barely moving or damaging her small solid body.

Chapter 38

Spare the Rod, Hate the Child

Hank, Toby, and
Whindsor
came to the end of the tunnel. They were greeted with open nighttime air, several black vans, and the sounds of utter chaos. Screams and machine gun fire erupted almost immediately and before Hank knew it, a man with long curly hair and a gray polo shirt and two young girls in summer dresses with vacant eyes jumped for the three of them. Out of pure instinct Hank jumped and somersaulted over Toby and
Whindsor
to shield them from the oncoming attack. Before he could do anything else a blast of gunfire mowed down the ravenous-looking trio and Toby screamed. It was horrible to watch, but Hank was somehow sure they weren’t running toward them to get help.

A large crowd of people just as vacant and hungry as the three they’d just seen was surrounding them just past the black vans. One of the vans backed up and then burst forward into the crowd running down a small fraction of them.
Whindsor
, now openly armed with a small machine gun, yelled for Hank and Toby to get in the second van as he fired into the crowd coming around the back of it. The two jumped in and a moment later
Whindsor
was inside sliding the side door shut. The van took off, hands and fists slapping at the windows from outside as they went.

“Any idea what the fuck all that was about?” the driver of the van yelled back.

“Not a clue, Reynolds, keep fucking driving and pretend those are Imperial soldiers you’re about to run over.”

“Ten-four!”

The next moment there was a huge thumping as the van shook and jolted upward several times. Gurgling screams and the revving engine sent a chill down Hank’s spine as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to think about what was happening. Toby sobbed and Hank held him close. “
It’s
okay, Toby. We’re
gonna
get out of this.
It’s
okay, it’s okay.” Toby was shaking and sobbing all the more. They rocked together there in each other’s arms as the van made its way to solid ground again and sped away.

* * *

As soon as Simon’s body slid away into the darkness,
Ishan
turned and took another swing at
Bellona
. Now he would be able to concentrate completely on the fight without interruption. All around them humans tore pieces of his fellow vampires away and left them to bleed and occasionally one or two would wander up to
Ishan
and he would push them away or slash into them. A gurgling splash of blood that only increased the animal instinct in him to kill would follow.
Bellona
was swift, but he had quickly found her weakness. She was so fueled with hatred that she wasn’t calculating her moves only acting and reacting.

Her red eyes bounced up and then disappeared as she somersaulted toward him.
Ishan
timed his movements so that when she landed his fist struck her in the gut and sent her backwards. But before she could hit the ground she used the momentum to spin herself back to her feet and the next moment she was gone.
Ishan
spun around scanning every crevice behind every living being still managing to ravage in the
bloodfest
going on all around them. He hoped Simon and the Queen were safely below in the main lower cavern of the hive. Because what he was about to do, although it couldn’t kill them, it could trap them for an unknown amount of time.

He turned and struck the nearest cave wall with all his strength. The whole of the cavern ceiling caved in on the entire room putting out the fire in a loud never-ending crackling that made it hard to concentrate on anything else. But a moment later the sound he was waiting for belted out from the falling rocks of salt. The other queen’s voice squealed in pain.
Ishan’s
ears noted the direction of the sound and he leapt over and under falling rock as he went, running toward her voice. When he made it to the section where she should be, he found nothing but a huge pile of fallen rock. Was she unconscious under there?

He watched and waited for sound or movement.

Nothing.

Human and vampire screams called out all around but none of them were hers. She couldn’t be dead. He knew she wouldn’t die so easily. But he could hope she was at least knocked out. A small sound dissonant with all the others gave her away just before
Ishan
could react and she was on him tearing into his neck with her teeth.
Ishan
let out a scream of anguish and then punched her in the face, tearing her away from his shoulder, her teething taking some of his flesh in the process. He turned and jumped tackling into her midsection and sending her down into the ground with a thud that clearly broke several bones in her rock solid body. She screamed out in fury.

“You will die for what your brother has done. And then—”

Ishan
punched her again. Blood spurted from her nose, a drop of it falling on
Ishan’s
tongue. It was every bit as intoxicating as the Queen’s but an earth-shattering revelation made it even sweeter.

He could have it all.

With that thought engulfing every cell of his body,
Ishan
leapt at the other queen’s throat and began to drink with a ravenous abandon only a fledgling bloodlust could match. She struggled desperately with teeth, feet, and claws.

* * *

Nearly an hour later the van sat in a dark parking lot alongside the other two.
Whindsor
was outside talking to the other men for a long time as Hank and Toby sat not speaking for a long time.

“Toby, I need to tell you something. It’s really important.”

Toby didn’t respond
,
he only stared off into space tears still sliding down his cheeks.

“I’m going to see if there is some place safe you can go until things calm down.”

Toby looked up at Hank then.
“But what about you?”

“I have to help these people in any way I can. I’ll be with you soon.”

“No! What if something happens to you? What if the Emperor finds out you’re still—
”

“Toby, I’m far more concerned that something’s going to happen to you right now. You have got to go somewhere
safe
.”

“Fuck that. I’m coming with you wherever you go. I’m not going to be somewhere else waiting and constantly worrying whether you’re going to die anymore. I won’t do it.”

Hank stood and opened the sliding door. “I’m sorry, son. But this is for your own good.” He spotted
Whindsor
and called out to him.

“Yeah, what’s up?”
Whindsor
said as he came running.

“Is there somewhere safe where Toby can go?”

“Yeah, Johnson is just about to go pick up some of the other families that need protecting, he can go with them.”

“Great. Thanks. Once he’s off with them, anything you need from me, just say the word.”

Whindsor
smiled and nodded. Hank looked back at Toby. The boy returned his look with one of bitterness.

About twenty minutes later Johnson came around looking for Toby and Hank motioned for the boy to come out of the van.

“No. I’m not leaving you, Dad.”

Hank grabbed Toby’s arm and pulled the boy up to his feet. “I’m sorry, Toby, but you have to go somewhere safe.”

“But I feel safer with you, Dad. I don’t know these people and I don’t know where they’re taking me and I’ve been so afraid being away from you all this time and I’m not going. You can’t make me.”

Hank stiffened. “Hell if I can’t, Toby.” He picked up the boy from behind with ease and pulled him from the van and began to drag him kicking and screaming to the other van. Johnson followed staying clear of them, a look of concern on his face.

When Hank set Toby down, the boy immediately took off in a run and before Hank had a second to think he was in front of him. All the fear and frustration of worry had built up to a single point and now it was exploding out of Hank. He struck Toby in the face sending him to the ground. Toby lay there nose bleeding and crying.

Hank stood there, his mind spinning with guilt and grief unable to do anything else but apologize over and over, but Toby only responded by sliding away from him.
“My nose.”
He choked for a second and then spit up blood and vomit all in one big gush along the pavement.

“Toby, I’m sorry, you don’t understand—”

“GET AWAY FROM ME.” Toby’s scream echoed off of the nearby buildings and inside Hank’s head in a way that would never stop torturing him. Then Johnson helped Toby up and walked him to the van. Another soldier ran up with a small case and began cleaning up Toby’s nose. All the soldiers were staring at Hank with an uneasy sense of fear and disdain. Hank turned away and sobbed at what he had done. If only Toby could understand. But ultimately what mattered was that the boy was away from his father before he did even worse to the boy. He tried to focus on that much as he heard the van start up and drive away.

* * *

In a vast white temple the echoes of many footsteps and voices bounced around the room in a cyclone of confusion as Joseph stepped toward the crowd of news reporters and gathered followers held back by police officers and Imperial soldiers. Joseph waved at the crowd, a large smile on his face that transferred to theirs as they saw his gesture. His long white robe stretched out behind him as he made his way in front of the many cameras prepped for the announcement.

Everything was going according to plan and he couldn’t have been
more happy
with it all until a sense of falling gripped him from out of nowhere and he literally and physically fell to the ground in slow motion. Hands from every direction reached out to try and help him. Screams and cries called out to him in a low pitch of nonsense. The pain he felt in every inch of his body was not real, he knew, but that’s what made it even worse. He knew it’s what
she
was feeling.

Tear them apart, my love. Tear them apart before they have a chance to come after you.

A fury filled Joseph then both from his own sense of terrible loss and from what he knew
Bellona
was filling his soul with. He fought back against it though. Now was the time to stand and be the rock he needed to be to keep the people in line. If he showed weakness now, even more would strike back at him. And this little
revolution
had gone far enough.

He stood solid as stone then as he felt the last moments of her life fade away. Then he smiled and waved at his people again to show them he was back on his feet. The crowd erupted with applause. One final outpouring of love came from
Bellona
as she bled her last.

* * *

The blood was filling
Ishan
in a way he had never experienced before. He could feel his body convulsing but somehow that was so far away and nowhere near as important as what was happening in his mind. He saw times long before he had ever
known,
people in a cave not much unlike the hive. They were like no people he’d ever seen before. Even their faces weren’t recognizable as completely human though there was an obvious relation there. Through
Bellona’s
eyes he saw these people surround her and worship her and eventually die and become food for her.

She was young then,
still
a child. Something
Ishan
had never imagined such an elder queen vampire could ever be. But he’d known all along they hadn’t just come from thin air. They had been born and raised same as any other ancestor vampire. And with that thought, he wondered why there were no ancestor vampires. So far all he’d seen were human vampires waiting to court the queen. He watched, he waited and he lived through a dozen years in her skin and understood vague early languages that almost couldn’t even be construed as such. And as she grew she eventually developed into a young woman and then the need came.