Dominant Species (11 page)

Covered in blood and very, very angry, Tolon roared, then he hit Jake hard, knocking him down, pinning him to the ground. Tolon snarled as he sat astride Jake
and then he looked to Max and smiled at the fear he saw in his eyes, with a contemptuous snort he turned back to Jake.

‘Looks like your luck just ran out’ he hissed.

From the corner of his eye, Jake could make out Max as he fumbled in his pockets for some ammo. Jake could sense Max panicking as he realised that he had none. Taking a deep breath Jake forced himself to re-focuses on Tolon.

The vampire was
still smiling. ‘First you, then him’ he growled, a mixture of blood and spittle flying from his mouth.

Beneath him Jake
managed to move his arm slightly, his fingers touching the top of the ten-inch Bowie knife hidden in his boot. From the corner of his eye he saw Max drop to the floor searching in vain for a shot shell. Jake looked back into Tolon’s dark eyes, as the vampire leaned closer. He could feel the vampire’s breath hot and pungent on his face.

‘Any last requests,
’ Tolon hissed.

‘Yeah
…,’ replied Jake, ‘…Die, you bastard.’

Tolon laughed then.
‘Not today,’ he snarled, and then with a roar, he leant back slightly and opened his mouth. The slight movement was enough to release Jake’s arm. Teeth like razors slashed down toward Jake, just as his fingers curled around the hilt of the heavy bladed knife. In one motion Jake jabbed the blade deep into Tolon’s side, in between the straps of the body armour, up between the creature’s ribs. The vampire grunted in pain as the blade dug in deep, Jake pushing with all his might, twisting the blade so hard that it actually snapped.

With blood dripping from its side the vampire roared
as a wave of pain flushed through him. Tolon stood, pulling Jake up with him and with one hand he flung him through the air like a rag doll. Jake crashed hard into a crumbling wall, with the last bricks giving way on impact.

Max scrabbled to where his brother lay unconscious and shook him.

‘Jake, come on, wake up bro.’

Behind him Tolon loomed large in the background, taking a breath the vampire
carefully managed to pull the piece of broken blade from his side and toss it away. He took a few deep breaths, focused on Max, who was still crouched low over his brother, shaking him.

Max could hear the vampire approach
from behind him, his anger palpable. Slowly he forced his hand to move, his fingers rummaging through Jake’s pockets, his fingers finding a loose shell. Gripping the shotgun shell he tried to control his fear, finding it difficult to breath. He squeezed his eyes shut as his fingers wrapped around the shot-shell, sliding it into the guns breech, his other hand gripping the shotgun butt tightly. Tolon loomed behind him, his body-armour hanging loosely from a single strap.

‘Now, you both die,’ he hissed.

In a blur, Max span round bringing the re-loaded shotgun up towards his attacker, there was one explosion. The slug hit Tolon in the stomach doubling him up, bringing him to his knees. Seconds ticked by as Max stared at the crumpled figure of Tolon. Then despair hammered through him as he watched the vampire slowly stand and straighten. Tolon’s eyes narrowed, Max could see the wound caused by the shot-shell visibly bubbling – and he could also see that the vampire was angry, very, very angry.

‘Missed
,’ Tolon hissed, his eyes boring into Max.

With incredible speed he closed on Max, who stood frozen to the spot, the empty shotgun in his hand
, smoke still spiralling from its barrel. Now Tolon stood before him, his face contorted in pure rage, his teeth bared. In a blur one massive arm swung back. The resultant blow span Max through one hundred and eighty degrees, dropping him like a stone. Tolon spat blood on the fallen body, and then leaned forward, picking Max up easily with one hand. He pulled Max’s limp body up towards his open mouth by one of his arms. Tolon’s teeth lengthened his face contorted. Behind him a shadow flickered. A puzzled look flashed across Tolon’s face as he looked down at the hand sticking out from the middle of his chest, a hand still holding a silver bladed knife. Max dropped from his fingers.

Tolon slumped to the ground, dead. Above him Zidtool stood for a second
admiring his work, then his eyes narrowed as he focused on Jake’s unconscious body. Slowly he stepped forward, a frown on his face. Suddenly a shout went up from somewhere behind him. Turning, he dissolved into the shadows.

Inside the factory the half-ling crawled across the floor. Behind it the woman lay dead, her unseeing eyes open reflecting the monster as it dragged itself across the floor towards the corner where
the little girl was buried under a pile of old sacking. The thing couldn’t see her, but it could smell her. The little girl waited in terror unable to move, hearing the creature shuffling towards her, trying not to allow her imagination to put into reality the hideous scene the creature had left. The little girl tried not to move as the beast closed. She could hear its rasping breathing; feel its breath heavy on the thin sacking above her. Clumsily it pulled the sacking cloths away, revealing its prize, the smell of fear increased. The little girl tried not to look at the creature, tried not to look at the dead body of her mother, when a command barked through the machine room.

‘Sen!’

Zidtool stood in the corner, an amused look on his face. The creature paused, confused. Zidtool had slid into the room through the shattered doorway, a shotgun hanging loosely from his bloody fingers. He smiled as the creature turned. The little girl, with long brown hair, watched in wide-eyed terror as Zidtool casually walked forward, placed the muzzle of the shotgun in the half-lings unresisting mouth and smiled directly at her. Then never once taking his eyes from the girl, Zidtool raised his finger to his lips and pulled the trigger once.

In Times Square in the midst of the vampire city confusion filled the air. Half-lings scurried backwards and forward making their strange skittering noise. People hurried home if they were out and stayed in if they weren’t. They could sense something was wrong; something big.

In the United Nations Building Voltan entered Karick’s office. Karick sat alone, the curtains drawn, making the room even darker than usual. Voltan scanned the room before speaking.

‘Overlord Karick, the dogs are…’

‘I am not a fool Voltan. Tolon is dead. I sense it too.’

Voltan bowed and turned to leave.

‘Stay.
Please.’ Karick’s request was just that, not a command.

Voltan paused, his back still to Karick.

‘You do not always agree with my governance do you, Voltan?’

Slowly, Voltan turned to face Karick. ‘I am here to serve
…’

‘
…That is not what I asked.’

Voltan hesitated. ‘
I...I understand the logic of the argument put forward by Drameer and his insistence that we must change to survive but…’

‘...But sometimes it does not fit with the vampire way?’
Karick stated quietly.

Voltan dropped to one knee, his response barely audible, ‘No, my Lord.’

Karick stood then and crossed the room to where Voltan still knelt placing a hand on his friends shoulder. ‘Sometimes I think that maybe our nature is too strong for us to change,’ he paused, ‘…and if that is true and it ultimately means the end of us all…then so be it.’

In the abandoned churchyard in Brooklyn, Megan sat alone with her thoughts. Confused about how she felt when suddenly her head rocketed round as a low call went up. Across from her on top of a building a watchman was signalling. In one fluid motion she was up, clambering over the debris and walls
, she scrambled into the derelict building and charged up the remains of the concrete stairwell bursting out onto the shattered roof to join the watchman. Grabbing the binoculars that he offered her she saw in the distance the remnants of the resistance, as they trudged towards the encampment. She scanned them all, her heart in her mouth. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she picked out Jake, but her heart froze as she continued to scan the remaining faces and couldn’t find her Father.

Outside the United Nations Building
the vampire guard looked up. Something was coming down the flag lined avenue. In the distance he could see a horse, its rider desperately trying to hold on, as he inexpertly tried to aim the beast in roughly the right direction. As the rider neared, the guard could see it was Mayor Cooper, puce in the face and breathing heavily. As he grew nearer still Mayor Cooper attempted to stop the horse as the guard stepped in front of it. Spooked, the horse reared, dumping the Mayor unceremoniously on the ground with a heavy thud. In one swift motion the vampire guard grabbed the reigns bringing the horse to its knees. Blood seeped through Cooper’s jacket, covering his shoulder.

‘I...I need to speak with Karick immediately.’
The Mayor moaned.

A face swam into Cooper’s vision and the Mayor’s eyes widened

‘Overlord Karick,’ the vampire growled as he sniffed at the scent of the blood absently.

Shortly after, the doors to Karick’s office swung majestically open as Cooper was dragged through. Karick sat in the centre of the room with Voltan.

‘Overlord Karick I
…’ stuttered the Mayor

‘Kneel
,’ roared Karick, his voice reverberating around the room.

‘Wha
…’ began the Mayor, but he never finished the sentence as he was unceremoniously pushed to the ground by the vampire guard.

‘Speak,’ continued Karick with an icy indifference.

Behind the Mayor, the vampire guard licked the blood from his fingers and his eyes glazed once more. Then realising what he was doing and pulling himself together he stepped smartly back. Around the edge of the office, watching from the shadows were a dozen red eyes.

‘What is it Cooper,’ spat Karick and the Mayor knew something was wrong. Karick had always been reasonable, always measured, but there was something different tonight.

‘I said what is it?’ Karick repeated.

I, well... what I mean is…’ cooper’s mouth was dry and the room swam in front of him. He felt weak from the loss of blood and he tried to focus on the vampire sitting before him.

‘I know Tolon is dead. Did you succeed in destroying the resistance?’ asked Karick in the mounting silence

‘No. I...We were ambushed at the old Brooklyn naval yard. Lord Tolon fought bravely, but even with our forces, everyone was killed.’

‘Everyone,’ whispered Karick, a tone of mock confusion in his voice.

Mayor Cooper looked around, suddenly feeling very
, very alone. ‘All but...’

‘All but you,’
Karick finished the sentence for him.

Feeling any sense of hope slipping away, Cooper simply nodded.
In front of him Karick slowly stood and strode to where Cooper was kneeling.

‘
Please…’ began Cooper, but his voice betrayed him. He knew it was futile. He looked up into the eyes of Karick and saw something different, something he didn’t like and something that froze him to his very core. He had often seen Rodan angry, but this was somehow worse, much worse.

‘The Council must be informed
of the Mayor’s failure,’ Karick stated not looking at the cowering figure at his feet, ‘Oh and Voltan?’

‘Yes my Lord.’

‘Clear up this mess.’

‘What mes
…’ Voltan began, slightly confused, when suddenly Karick’s hand closed over the Mayor’s large skull and two hundred and eighty pounds of screaming fat was lifted into the air. Karick growled and bared his teeth. Blood splattered the walls and the vampire guard behind.

‘At once Sire
,’ responded Voltan with a bow.

Inside the Crypt in Brooklyn,
what remained of the council sat listening to Max as he replayed the battle.

‘There was confusion everywhere. But I knew we had to stand firm. We’d taken the Mayor’s men, that part was easy.’ He looked from one
face to the other. ‘The vampire dogs were unstoppable. I knew there was only one way.’ He paused, soaking up the attention. ‘...kill the vampire.’

‘What about
my father?’ Megan asked, in a hoarse whisper.

Max threw her a brief glance
, hesitated.

‘He didn’t make it.’

Megan squeezed her eyes tightly shut and ran from the room. Behind her an uneasy silence hung in the air, broken by Jake.

‘Nathan was a friend. I promised to look after him.’ Jake spoke quietly, partly to himself
.’

‘
Look, I’m sorry,’ muttered Max, ‘he was a causality of the war, it was survival of the fittest out there.’

Jake’s fist squeezed tight, his nails biting
deep into his palm. Jake shook his head as he stood in silence. Max watched him cross the floor to the heavy door of the crypt.

‘What’s wrong bro?’ shouted Max after him, ‘don’t like the fact that your younger brother saved your life, stood against a vampire...and won?’

‘And at what cost, how many lives?’

‘Like I
said… casualties of war. Look bro, it’s been twenty years since one of those things was killed. Twenty years too long if you ask me.’

Jake stopped in the doorway and spoke without turning, ‘
…and look what happened then.’

Behind him a red flush rose in Max’s cheeks as
anger flooded through him, he went to stand, but Lano, sensing the danger, grabbed his shoulder. Max shrugged Lano’s grip off, but sat back down.

‘Yeah,
just look at what happened then!’ he spat.

Jake paused momentarily
, a dark silence filling the room. Then he continued through the door, to find Megan. As the heavy door swung closed behind him, he could hear Max continue his story.

‘Anyway it came up behind me, I could hear it breathing, could smell its breath. Jake was unconscious, so I spun and BAM
.’ Max’s voice died as Jake slammed the door behind him.

It was sometime after the remains of the Mayor had been cleaned up by the ever attentive Voltan that Karick looked up as the doors to the room banged open. He raised his eyebrows as Rodan entered, shadowed by Kadir, his enormous bodyguard.

‘What is the meaning of this intrusion
, Rodan,’ Karick asked, his voice level, but his eyes narrowing as he stood.

‘Overlord Karick, I have heard some disturbing news,’ Rodan spoke with a sneer.

‘Yes?’ Karick replied carefully with one eyebrow raised, ‘and..?’

‘It appears that the Mayor has failed and one of…’ Rodan suddenly hesitated
, realising for the first time that Karick wasn’t alone and Voltan stood directly behind him. Without missing a beat his tone changed, with some of the criticism dissolving, replaced by mock concern, ‘...our own has been slain.’

‘You say true
…unfortunately,’ conceded Karick.

‘I feel that the council should be called into emergency session
, things have obviously taken a turn for the worse.’

‘I do not think the council need
s to be worried by this matter quite yet.’

Rodan considered this,
glanced briefly towards Voltan before turning back to Karick.

‘I disagree. The Queen has asked that I personally take charge of this mess. I have assembled an attack party
, it leaves within the hour.’

On this he turned, his coat tails kicking out. Voltan began to move but was stopped by a brief shake of Karick’s head.
Instead he stepped back as a smiling Rodan walked passed him and into the hallway, Kadir winked at Voltan as he joined his Master. The door thudded shut behind him.

‘You
should have…’ Voltan hissed, but Karick held up his hand. He stared out of the large window, watching Voltan’s reflection in the smeary glass.

‘No my friend, it appears Drameer was right
after all. It seems we have been truly outmanoeuvred.’

Outside of the room Rodan strutted down the corridor, smiling to himself with Kadir following, then, as Keermit appeared from out the shadows, he paused turning to his vast bodyguard.

‘Kadir, if you wouldn't mind?
’

Kadir frowned, looking between Rodan and Keermit
, a flicker of mistrust crossing his face, then he grunted and nodding once before he turned to leave.

Rodan watched him go
. Once out of earshot he faced Keermit.

‘Are all the arrangements made?’ he whispered
.

‘Yes my Lord,’
she replied with an evil grin, ‘just as you requested.’

‘Then I believe this will be the beginning of the end for
our dear Overlord Karick.’