Vampire Apocalypse: Descent Into Chaos (Book 2) (36 page)

The vampire crossed a surprisingly well-kept square,
and the normality of the scene struck Steele like a blow. With the
soft streetlights and the clean paths, the square was almost like
it would have been before the vampires had come, and even before
the energy crisis. Steele was struck with thoughts of happier
times, and he slowed as he took in his surroundings. Von Richelieu
must have moved his base of operations, as Steele had never seen
this small piece of heaven before. He found his thoughts returning
to the squalor that the thousands of humans lived in mere feet away
and he forced himself on.

The building that Von Richelieu had made into his
head quarters was an old court building, and a tattered flag still
hung limply by the door. The material was faded and torn, but its
presence alone was enough to bolster Steele’s resolve. If he had
the chance he would drive the flag through Von Richelieu’s heart
and fuck the consequences.

The vampire crossed to a desk and began to talk in
low tones. The room had been cleared of all furniture and it echoed
hollowly as he entered. There was evidence of wooden paneling along
the floor that had been torn out, and the walls had patches of
brighter paint where pictures and wall-mounted cabinets had been
removed. He shivered, more from the cold that emanated from the
bare room than any physical coldness.

The vampire was still talking to a thrall at the only
desk in the large room, so Steele strode over to two large wooden
doors at the far end of the room. The thrall suddenly jumped up and
crossed toward him at an incredible speed, but it was not fast
enough. Steele had opened the doors and was already stepping into
the room by the time the harried soldier had reached him.

“It’s all right,” a voice rumbled from the darkness
within and Steele felt fear grip him despite his burning hatred.
“Let him enter.”

The thrall nodded and Steele could see the sweat on
the soldiers face. He sighed as he stepped through and felt the
darkness wrap around him as if it was alive.

“So you have finally returned.” The disembodied voice
seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Steele stood in the
darkness as the door behind him closed. He tried to make out some
shape or figure but the darkness was absolute and he felt his fear
grow. Had he actually thought that he could hope to stand against
such evil alone? He felt his legs drain of strength, and he had to
grope out in the darkness for something to hold onto, something to
assure him that there was actually something real around him. His
desperately groping fingers failed to find anything of
substance.

“You are nervous, Steele,” the voice chuckled. “Why
is that? You are not normally so timid.”

Steele heard a swish of material to his left but he
forced himself not to turn. Von Richelieu was playing with him and
he had to compose himself if he was to have any hope of delivering
his message.

“I’m not usually left in the dark,” Steele managed,
though his voice cracked.

“Ah, humor.” Von Richelieu seemed to speak quietly
into his ear, but when he reached out there was nothing but the
cold of the dark. “That’s more like it. It has been some time since
you reported in; I was beginning to get worried.”

Steele heard the tone in Von Richelieu’s voice, and
he felt his body grow cold. He had heard that tone before, usually
before he gutted the bearer of news he did not like.

“I had to be sure before I came back,”

“Sure of what, exactly?” Von Richelieu asked and
Steele tried to imagine the vampire’s face in front of him. He had
to give himself something to focus on or his imagination would
continue to embellish what he could not see. And that way only led
to paralysis.

“There is a community of humans living free in Nero’s
territory.”

Steele smiled to himself as he imagined the shock on
the vampire’s face, and he used this to gather himself.

“Don’t you think I know that?” Von Richelieu snorted
contemptuously.

Steele paled. How could he know?

“You don’t seriously think that you are my only spy,
do you?” Von Richelieu continued. “And my other source is far
better at keeping in touch that you have been.”

Shit. Steele felt the strength ooze from his body as
Von Richelieu’s words struck him. We have a traitor. But who could
be…?

“Now I hope you have something worth reporting, or I
will have to rely purely on my other source. And I must say that
they had some very interesting things to say about your involvement
in raids into my fellow council members’ territories.”

He knows everything. Steele felt as if the darkness
was pressing in on him, and he felt sweat break out on his skin.
There was a faint, disturbing odor on the air, like dead flowers or
mould on bread, and he shivered.

“Then you know about the serum and its effects?”
Steele’s mind raced as he tried to find an angle, something to
allow him to determine where Von Richelieu was and get him close
enough.

“I am well aware of what your chemist says and his
theories about its effects, though I am not entirely
convinced.”

“Then you will die with a maddening thirst as your
very mind rots until you are merely a slobbering idiot.”

“I didn’t say that I was not taking precautions,” Von
Richelieu chuckled. “I have a small experiment running outside that
should prove the theory quite satisfactorily.”

“It will be too late if you wait for such an
experiment to run its course. Millions will die.”

“So? I have ample resources here to last and plenty
for breeding if the theory proves accurate.”

“But what about the effect on you and your
vampires?”

The silence that greeted this question spoke volumes
to Steele.

“Ah, it seems your spy neglected to tell you
everything.” It was Steele’s turn to chuckle and he felt the
darkness become less oppressive as his words finally had an
impact.

There was a swelling of the odor he had smelled
before and the room suddenly became colder and Steele knew that Von
Richelieu was close.

“What is this about an effect on vampires?”

“The taint of the serum is changing you,” Steele
answered as tried to coax the vampire closer. “As it kills the
humans it is also killing you.

It will drive you mad first though. Why do you think
Wentworth and Von Kruger are tearing each other apart right
now?”

The silence descended again.

“You didn’t know.” Steele laughed out loud and then
felt the vampire grip his neck.

“By now there should be a few hundred dead vampires
by the way things were going when I left,” Steele forced the words
out as he tried to distract the vampire.

“It is no matter,” Von Richelieu managed at last and
released Steele but leaned in close as he laughed.

“We will simply switch to the non-tainted blood, and
we should wash its effects out soon enough. In fact,” Von Richelieu
added, “it might work well to my advantage. I am sick of the petty
squabbling in the council. It might just be time for a bit of
spring-cleaning.

Steele paled. Their gambit wasn’t going to work. Von
Richelieu wasn’t going to tell the other vampires about the serum.
He was going to let the humans die and their masters with them. He
couldn’t allow it.

His mission had failed, but there was one thing he
could still accomplish. If he could remove Von Richelieu then maybe
Harris and the others could still accomplish something. He reached
down to his side and searched by touch in his rucksack. He felt the
cylindrical grenade and forced the pin from its holding as he drew
it out.

Even this bastard can’t survive a phosphorous grenade
at this distance. He grabbed hold of the darkness in front of him
where he was certain Von Richelieu stood and grinned as he felt his
hand brush the vampire’s neck. He brought the grenade up but then
his body spasmed and he suddenly lost all feeling in his arm. His
hands gripped the grenade tightly as he fell to the ground.

Not now, God, not now! He screamed in his mind and
cursed whatever fates had conspired against him. He had been so
close. The bullet in his back had rubbed against the nerve and now
he could feel nothing. He forced every ounce of will he could
muster to open his fingers and release the blazing light that would
destroy Von Richelieu, but his fingers remained tightly gripped
around the weapon, holding the pin in place.

He heard a rustling around him and then a soft
whisper in his ear: “I will make you that which you most despise
and send you back to your friends.”

Steele prayed for some feeling to return, anything to
allow him to kill himself, but nothing came. Then Von Richelieu
tore into his throat and the darkness washed over him.

Carlos Ortega whooped as the jeep blew. He let the
bazooka drop to the ground and jumped to his feet and raced towards
the approaching train. Snow stung his eyes and blurred his vision,
making the train appear like a huge Cyclops bearing down on him.
Was it gaining speed? It was hard to be certain but he ran on
regardless.

There were still trucks following the train but the
road was beginning to continue away from the tracks and the trucks
were struggling to keep up as they bounced across the fields that
now predominated on either side.

As Ortega reached the tracks he began to doubt
whether he would be able to hitch a ride after all. It seemed to be
going so fast. He started to run away from the train so that he
would be traveling as fast as he could by the time the train drew
level. Hopefully he would be able to grab on and pull himself
aboard as it passed. The explosives in the satchel he had pulled
from Sherman’s truck bounced against his side, but he didn’t have
the time to stop and remove them now so he tried to ignore them as
they swung from side to side and crashed painfully against his
body.

He pushed himself on, ignoring the snow, the cold and
the bullets that thumped into the ground around him. If he missed
the train then the thralls would take out their anger on him, so he
really had to catch it.

He heard the rumble of the train growing closer and
the ground began to vibrate beneath him but he dared not turn to
look. He forced himself on. Suddenly the train thundered past him,
startling him despite his anticipation. The engine compartment flew
past him and he saw a brief flash of Harris’s face, and then it was
gone and the carriages clattered past one by one so fast that he
despaired.

More bullets smacked into the ground around him and
he threw himself to his right and upwards, grasping outward in the
hope of catching hold of a carriage. For a moment he felt himself
fly and then his hand closed on air and he began to fall. His hand
brushed metal and he grabbed at it desperately. His arm was
wrenched, almost tearing from its socket. Pain flooded through him
but he ignored it and held tightly to the metal spar. His legs
dragged painfully against the ground and then he managed to pull
himself up and throw his leg up onto a small ledge.

The brief respite was enough for him to bring his
other hand up, and soon he was able to pull himself around to the
coupling and he sat, exhausted, as the train continued to pick up
speed. He had barely made it but he was here. He looked around to
get his bearings and saw that he was between the last two carriages
and he whooped again in joy and relief.

He had made it.

Von Kruger swept up into the air and shouted out a
command for the fighting to stop. His voice was heard even over the
howling wind, and the vampires that were left stopped their
fighting and turned toward him. Von Kruger looked around. So
few.

“We must put aside our differences!” he shouted and
no one argued as they all gratefully pulled away from each other.
“There has been far too much death already. Wentworth is dead and
you now belong to me.”

Vampires had long had a tradition of the strongest
ruling all others. If one Master Vampire was defeated by another,
then all lands and resources automatically passed to the victor
unless there was to be a challenge. Judging by their disheveled
appearance and quiet acceptance there would be no challenge to his
rule.

“You are brothers now,” Von Kruger continued. “You
must all feed and recover before the dawn comes or many of you will
not last the night.

“Master,” one of the vampires called and Von Kruger
prepared himself for a challenge after all. “Master Wentworth had
ordered many of his human flock brought to a large cage in the town
beside us. They number nearly a thousand.”

Von Kruger smiled and his teeth glinted in the
moonlight. “Then let us take our fill and find shelter before the
dawn. Tomorrow we rebuild our territory.”

The vampires needed no more encouragement and the sky
turned darker as the shapes spread their wings and flew towards the
town.

“Where are they?” Von Kruger grabbed the vampire who
had told them of the hoard of humans by the throat, and looked
around him, searching for a trap.

“They were here, Master,” the vampire struggled to
reply. “I saw them myself.”

Von Kruger scanned the square and saw the bodies of
thralls and humans, armed humans, in the square below him. He
hovered in place, taking everything in. There were mutterings
around him but he silenced them with a glare. He let his senses
flow from him and concentrated.

He heard the chatter of gunfire in the distance, and
then the heavy thump of an explosion. He looked towards the sound
and saw a fireball a few miles away. There! He thought. Whatever
had happened to his humans he would find his answers in that
direction.

He stretched his wings out and powered forward. The
other vampires fell in behind their new master without a word.