An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) (7 page)

“The targeting software still isn’t running efficiently enough to use the turrets, sir!” the frantic voice replies.

“Cole, what’s going on?” Cheza thinks.

“The base is about to come under siege by vampires. Exit the room, cross any sky bridge you can find, ride
an elevator down to the ground floor, and go outside; I’ll meet you there.” I reply.

“I guess that’s my cue.” I announce and start to head out the door.

“I’ll stay here and relay information to you.” Natasha calls out after me.

“Thanks!” I reply and sprint for the elevator.

I head down to the ground floor and run around the outside of the building, past the armed soldiers setting up sand bags for cover in certain locations. I find Cheza standing near the front gate, dressed in her armored suit with the Synergistic blades on her right hip.

“So what’re the specifics?” Cheza asks.

“About a thousand vampires are moving in from all directions.” I reply.

“Is that all?” Cheza
lightheartedly inquires.

“I know, right? What are they getting so worked up over?” I chuckle.

“Cole, where do you and Cheza want to be?” Natasha thinks.

“Wher
ever the most enemies will be, I suppose.” I reply.

“Okay, I’ll let you know.” Natasha says and the connection closes.

I look at the geography around the compound and notice a large number of green hills, indicating that we are in a small valley. We stand around waiting for twenty minutes until a wave of bronze auras appears on the tops of some of the hills and the wave continues to flood in until a bronze ring is around the compound. Three lone auras slowly approach the compound and stop about a hundred feet from the front gate.

“The director is requesting that you and Chezarei accompany Agent Simmons to meet the vampires.” Natasha thinks.

“Can do.” I reply.

“We’re going to meet the vampires with Agent Simmons.” I relay to Cheza
while pulling the bandages off of my left arm and stuffing them into my jacket pocket; I consider unzipping my sleeve, but it will probably be better to not advertise my identity with my noticeable silver arm.

Cheza nods as I notice Simmons approaching the gate in the same clothing he was wearing a moment ago
i.e. not combat attire. Simmons nods at us in greeting and takes point as we head through the gate, Cheza on his left while I take the right. The vampires stand at attention with their hands behind their backs as we approach.

“Our commander wanted
us to relay a message before the engagement. Ahem… surrender and we won’t kill all of you. If you choose to fight, we will kill every last one of you.” The lead vampire says.

“Did you really think we’d surrender?” Simmons asks
, his Aussie accent quite noticeable.

“I was actually hoping you wouldn’t.” the vampire replies, the moonlight gleaming off his eyes and the white fangs he displays with his smile.

The vampire on the right pulls a short sword from behind his back and starts to move towards Simmons until I throw a left punch into his face. The other two vampires start to move as their friend’s head explodes. My left arm flushes black as I turn and blast the last two with a torrent of water strong enough to knock them over.

“It’s
salt water so you’re going to have to dip the temp below negative two degrees Celsius.” I report to Cheza as I hear several sickening pops behind me and to my left.

“I know.” Cheza replies and encases both of the vampires in ice that has spikes along the interior in a move
that I’ve aptly named ‘the
ice
ron maiden’… I said aptly named, not well named.

“Nice!” I tell her as the sou
nd of a sniper rifle rings out.

Since the round didn’t hit me or Cheza, I look to my left and see that it did hit Simmons right in the heart, or at least it would have if the bullet had been able to penetrate the scaly hide of his now seven foot form with crocodile head and tail as hi
s clothes lay in tatters at his feet.

“Fall back.” Simmons orders with a gravelly tone and heads back to the gate.

We run back through the gate and take cover behind one of the sandbag mounds as the vampires open fire on the compound while advancing forward. The ‘diggers’ start returning fire on the vampires, but the bullets do little to halt their advance because of the vampires’ bronze aura enhancements. A few vampires try to climb the electrified fence, only to get zapped and fall down, but they manage to get back up a few seconds later. The way the vampires have packed around the fenced compound reminds me of something out of a zombie movie. I pull my silver, .460 S&W handgun from my back and fire through the fence from behind the sandbags. My gun packs enough of a punch to kill the vampires with every shot, but I only have about forty rounds, so it’s not going to be much help.

An explosion to my left attract
s my attention, followed by a scattering of explosions around the compound as I realize that they’re launching mortars at us. Shit, that’s going to be trouble. I hear the faint sound of a suppressed sniper rifle ring out from the roof of the building behind me. Fifteen rounds later and the sounds of the mortars stops.

“
I’ll take care of the mortars and other snipers.” Natasha thinks to me and I feel that something is off about her.

“Tasha, you didn’t…” I sadly reply when I realize what she’s done.

“Don’t worry; it’s just the normal injection, not the special one that utilizes your blood.” Natasha replies.

“Good.” I think with a sigh of relief.
Now after her adrenaline runs out, she won’t slip into a coma like she did four years ago.

“You and Chezarei focus on the infantry.
The force has centralized at the front gate since they’ve apparently realized that the entire fence is electrified, so give them all you’ve got!” Natasha responds.

I’m about to follow Natasha’s advice when
I look towards the fence and see what appears to be a severed torso with giant bat wings flying over the fence.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?” I shout over the sound of the gunfire.

“That’s a Manananggal, mate! A Filipino vampire that can sever its torso to fly! Watch the tongue! It’s got a proboscis like a cone snail that’s capable of puncturing sheet rock!” Simmons warns me as I see a dozen more flying over the fence.

They all seem to be wearing modified combat vests that remind me of the ones that the ifrits wore in
Shehar. The vests are useful from stopping lethal shots, but they don’t do shit for the manananggals’ wings, which are torn apart by gunfire, causing them to drop out of the sky. The manananggals hit the ground with their wings torn to shreds; without legs, I think this threat is neutralized… until the manananggals get up and continue their advance by hopping around with their severed torsos, which is infinitely more terrifying, even if they are moving rather slowly.

“They’re all like the dad in that show
The Oblongs!
” Cheza giggles and I start laughing loudly, no longer seeing them as threatening. Two manananggals stop hopping and look at each other.

“Are they laughing at us?”
one manananggal asks the other (although this is just speculation because I can’t really hear them) so I start pointing at them while laughing.

Then they both get shot in the head… which only makes me laugh even harder.
The snipers on the roof quickly drop all of the other manananggals with headshots.

“Focus on the brunt of the force! We can take care of any minor threats like that!” Natasha thinks. Looks like Cheza and I should get to work.

“Place your right hand on the back of my left and get frosty.” I tell Cheza while engaging my helmet; Cheza does the same and grabs my left hand as it flushes black.

We stand up and I raise my
hand (and thus Cheza’s) towards the sky over the vampires. Several rounds hit my jacket, but nothing gets through as a torrent of water explodes out from my left palm and shoots into the air over the vampires. The water starts freezing as I concentrate it into a large mass in the air. The blood in my left arm starts turning to slush due to Cheza’s power as the giant mass in the sky grows to the right size.

“Go for it.” I tell Cheza
once I stop the flow of water.

C
heza raises her left hand into the air, pointing it towards the mass of ice, and quickly closes her fist. The mass of ice explodes and rains six foot shards of ice down on the vampires. Once the shards make their impact with the ground and a few unlucky vampires, Cheza points her fist forward and flicks all of her fingers outward. The six foot shards explode into hundreds of daggers all over the battlefield. Cheza’s legs buckle as she sits down to rest behind the sandbags.

“Are you alright?” I ask with concern
as I kneel down beside her while listening to the screams and gurgles of agony from the vampires.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine… just a bit tired after manipulating that much ice.” Cheza replies.

“Go ahead and rest; I’ll take care of the remnants.” I tell her.

I peek over the sandbags and see that the remaining vampires are retreating
while the AUSSIE diggers continue firing at them; looks like we’re done for the day.

“
The vampire forces are in a full retreat, for now.” Natasha reports.

“We’re going to go get some rest before they regroup.” I tell Simmons and he nods
his large head.

I scoop Cheza up so she doesn’t have to walk, and head inside the building. I carry her into the elevator, across the sky bridge
, and to the door marked 35. The card key is pulled from my pocket and swiped through the reader before the door clicks open. I carry Cheza to the bed and set her down as Natasha walks through the door, looking absolutely exhausted as a side-effect from the enhancement injection. We all strip down to our underwear and pile into the bed before passing out in mere minutes.

…

Chapter 7
: Mappa Tassie

I awaken
the next morning to a pounding at the door. I notice that the girls haven’t woken up yet so I quickly jump up and grab the door.

“We’ve got a couple of predator drones inbound and we need help.” Simmons reports. I look over my shoulder at the girls and there stat
e of peaceful sleep.

“I can handle it. Get a vehicle and meet me at the gate
.” I tell him.

Simmons nods and runs off while I quickly put on my armored jeans and jacket, forgoing my t-shirt. I stick my pouch on and run out the door, across the sky bridge, down the elevator, and over to the front gate. After waiting for just under a minute, Simmons pulls up in the red Jeep Wrangler. I hop in the passenger seat and Simmons takes off down the road.

“I need a place in the drones’ flight path, preferably on a hill top.” I tell Simmons.

“Right. They’re coming in from the north-east and they’re about ten minutes out.” Simmons replies.

“Why isn’t the air force doing anything about this? Shouldn’t they be doing something when they’ve got drones flying over the mainland?” I question.

“The drones
somehow got clearance. We’d have no idea if it weren’t for a friend of the director who found the drones headed towards Adelaide to be bizarre.” Simmons answers.

We drive down the bumpy dirt road for five minutes before the
two predator drones come into view. Simmons pulls over and I hop out before running to the top of the nearest hill. I hold my left arm out as it flushes black and a purple lightning bolt appears on the back of my palm. I lock onto one of the drones as it approaches and I wave my hand downward. A bolt of lightning strikes the drone, but instead of taking a rapid descent towards the ground, it doesn’t really do anything at all.

Shit! I was not expecting that! Maybe the electr
ical water torrent will do it? The only problem is that since lightning didn’t do anything, the water would be the only thing doing damage and I doubt I could even hit the plane from here… fuck!

(Relax, Master. Just shoot them down using your gun)

“Even with a velocity of 2,300 ft/s, the weight of the bullets will slow them down too much for me to do any real damage, or even hit the drones to begin with!”

(Trust me. Use Jupiter’s lightning bolt to pump electricity into the gun,
and then fire at the drone)

I do as Airi says and pull my .460 S&W from its holster. The black in my arm floods into the silver gun as the purple lightning bolt resurfaces on the back of my left hand. I take aim at the first drone and fire
. Lightning flies out of the barrel of the gun and hits the drone, causing it to explode in midair.

(I was able to coil the
electricity around the barrel of the gun, enhancing the speed of the bullet in the same manner as a coil gun/ Gauss gun: using electromagnetism that pulls the copper bullet towards all sides of the barrel, accelerating it forward. The bullet penetrated the hull, allowing the lightning to effect the electronics. You got lucky and hit the fuel tank before the lightning ignited the fuel, causing the resulting explosion. Do not expect this to be the case every time)

“Thanks
, Airi.”

I take aim and fire three rounds at the second drone as it
’s in the process of turning away after seeing the first drone get taken out. I must hit something important because the drone starts a quick descent towards the ground for a crash landing.

“I think we’re done here!” I announce to Simmons
.

“I think you’re right, mate.” Simmons replies with a fair degree of astonishment
from the base of the hill as I walk back to the Jeep.

I get in the car with Simmons and we head back to the AUSSIE compound.

“I’ve gotta ask, mate; does your Cook’s hair match her mappa tassie or what?” Simmons asks on the drive back.

“That seems a little personal…
but yeah, it does; just don’t tell my… uh, Cook, that I said anything.” I reply, catching his meaning from the context; after all, anyone who talks to me about hair is usually talking about Cheza, which is usually follow by a guy asking about her hair matching something.

“Secret’s saf
e with me, mate.” Simmons replies with a grin.

We get stopped
at the gate before it automatically opens for us. Simmons drives down the ramp, parks underground, and we take the elevator to the grounds where crews of people are fortifying areas for cover; there are even a few witches and wizards casting spells, which I assume have something to do with protection. I look beyond the fence, noticing the piles of ash and blackened skin flakes where the bodies of the vampires used to be. Simmons and I take the same elevator up to the second floor before giving each other a brief nod and heading our separate ways. I take the sky bridge back to the room, slip in quietly, and strip off my clothes before climbing back into bed beside Cheza and Natasha.

****

I find myself lying on the floor of a black space, a cone of light shining towards me from a large hole in the space as a figure walks towards it. The figure passes through the hole and stops. The figure gives a last look over its shoulder as the hole starts to close and I recognize the figure:

It’s me.

I try to call out and move towards the light, but my body is frozen. The hole closes, leaving me alone in complete darkness as it surrounds me, travels down my throat, and chokes me.

****

[December 22nd]

I jolt awake to find Cheza at my side, hugging my head to her chest. My frantic breathing slows as I calm down.

“Are you alright?” Cheza whispers.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay…” I reply.

“I couldn’t see your dream, but it certainly didn’t feel pleasant.” Cheza says.

“Yeah, it really wasn’t… so where’s the cafeteria? I could use some food right about now.” I say
.

“Alright, let’s take a shower and
go look for it.” Cheza replies and softly kisses me before standing up and walking into the bathroom.

I follow after her as the shower turns on.
I slip off my boxers and step in the shower behind Cheza. We start scrubbing up when a question dawns on me.

“By the way, where’s Natasha?” I ask.

“I don’t know; she was gone when I woke up.” Cheza answers and we finish our shower. We step out of the shower and dry off before I realize something.

“Did you also just realize that we didn’t bring any other clothes?” Cheza asks.

“That I did.” I reply.

I
grab my phone and Cheza’s hand before touching my triskele. I port the two of us to our house in Washington where we grab clean underwear and my armored, black leather suit from the closet.

“Want to just grab a bite to eat while we’re here?” I ask as
I get completely dressed while Cheza puts on her bra and panties.

“Sure.” Cheza says with a shrug and we head downstairs to the kitchen.

“So are you cooking, or am I?” I inquire.

“Hmm… I think it’s your turn.” Cheza replies.

“I was thinking ham and cheese omelets?” I suggest.

“Perfect.” Cheza responds with a satisfactory smile while I get to work.

Ten minutes later, I set two plates down on the bar table and sit beside Cheza before admiring my handiwork. I notice Cheza blush slightly out of the corner of my eye before turning to look at me and sighing heavily.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“It’s nothing…” Cheza replies and sighs again; that’s not a good sign.

“No really, what’s wrong?” I inquire as I set my fork down
and turn towards her.

“Well, I’m sitting here half naked and I thought you were checking me out only to realize that you were checking out your omelet. That’s very demoralizing… Cole, are you still attracted to me? I mean, we’ve been married for four years and we just don’t have sex like we used to… is this because I’ve gotten older?” Cheza asks in a
timid manner.

“Cheza, what are you talking about? You haven’t aged a day!” I reply as I realize that she really hasn’t aged a day; neither have I, now that I think about it. While it may be the
result of living in close proximity, I haven’t noticed any actual aging in Cheza in the four years that we’ve been married.

“Really?” Cheza asks
uncertainly.

“Really. Now
, we should eat our omelets before they get cold.” I respond.

We finish our meal and Cheza takes the dishes to rinse them off before bending over to place them in the dishwasher. As she’s bent over, I move behind her and swiftly pull her panties
to her ankles while I kneel down and get to work. What’s a better way to show that I’m still attracted to the tree than by sampling the fruit…? Wait, how about: what’s a better way to show that I still appreciate the house than by sticking my tongue in the garden…? Why am I having so much trouble coming up with an analogy that makes any sense?

Cheza’s muscles quiver a few minutes later and she straightens up. She turns around and kisses me deeply before hopping up on th
e granite countertop and spreading her legs while pulling me closer. She unzips my suit and pulls it down below my waist before I realize that it’s not going to work if I keep it on, so I take it all of the way off.

Taking off a skin tight leather suit in a sexy manner is practically impossible for a man
; it’s quite similar to having to remove your socks before sex. By the time I finally free both of my ankles, I’m surprised to find that Cheza is still turned on enough to have sex with me. She smiles at me seductively and pats the insides of her thighs, beckoning me towards her. I enter the gate, and the race begins!

“
This is Cap.”

“
And this is Bill. We will be your announcers for this race. The gates open and the horses are off.”

“
The horses are down the first stretch with A Horse Named Slickback
3
in the lead
; a Jamaican thoroughbred, he’s favored to win this race, Bill. Portland Murdered is on his tail as Luckysumbitch is in third. Oceancracker is trailing behind in fourth as the horses hit the first turn. Luckysumbitch takes the inside on the first turn, passing by A Horse Named Slickback and Portland Murdered. As they hit the second stretch, A Horse Named Slickback catches up to Luckysumbitch; they’re neck and neck as Portland Murdered starts to fall behind. The horses round the second corner and are on the home stretch as A Horse Named Slickback regains the lead!”

“
What’s this!? Oceancracker has started turning purple and six inch fangs are jutting out of his mouth, Cap! OOH! Oceancracker sprinted forward in a burst of speed before jumping and kicking at Portland Murdered, decapitating the jockey! The out of control horse flew into the stands before exploding and killing dozens of patrons! Oh, the humanity!”

“
Oh, the entertainment, Bill! This is the most excitement I’ve seen at a horse race since the commissioner banned juicing and ride-by-shootings in 1913!”

“
I can’t believe my eyes, Cap! Oceancracker just shot a beam of light out of his mouth towards Luckysumbitch, narrowly missing and hitting A Horse Named Slickback instead!”

“
I guess that’s one horse that really lives up to his name, eh Bill!? Ha ha!”

“
A Horse Named Slickback and his jockey have both been turned into a grouping of about two dozen chickens. Oh my stars, Cap! The two dozen chickens have apparently acquired a thirst for blood and have started going for the jugulars of the spectators! Blood is filling the stands as Luckysumbitch bobs and weaves to dodge the bolts of lightning and the flames that are erupting from the mouth of Oceancracker.”

“
Luckysumbitch crosses the finish line in a blaze of glory and makes his way to the winner’s circle as Oceancracker roars in frustration and disagreement. He just bit through the neck of Luckysumbitch! Ooh, he just tore the head off and tossed it into the stands! Looks like one lucky fan is going home with a souvenir, isn’t that right, Bill?”

“
They’re got me, Cap! The chickens are drinking my blood! AH! THEY’RE EATING MY FACE! THEY’RE EATING MY FACE!” *Gurgle Gurgle*

“
Well, I have to go save my partner. This is Cap, signing off. COME AND GET SOME YOU FEATHERED SONS OF BITCHES!” *Blasts from a shotgun*

*Feathers flapping*

*Blasts from a shotgun*

*Demonic
bu-caws*

*Blasts from a shotgun followed by shotgun clattering onto the floor*

*Cough* “They’re dead… but not without sacrifice. I’ve sustained heavy injuries and I’m slowly bleeding out. Don’t tell my mother I was killed by a chicken… tell her I died at the hands of a rabbit!”
2

“Cole… what are you… doing?” Cheza asks while breathing heavily as I snap out of my inner monologue to find that we’ve both finished.