Death Deceives: Book Three (Mortis Vampire Series) (23 page)

Looking up cautiously, the Colonel took a peek at my face. “
Where are you from? You don’t sound Russian,” he said in confusion.

“I’m Australian. My name is Natalie.” I didn’t offer him my hand
to shake and he didn’t seem inclined to offer his own.

He stood shakily, brushing off his pants and absently checking his gun was still in place.
“What is it you want to talk about?” His attention wandered from me to the imps then to the four shadows overlapping each other then back to me again. I appreciated the fact that he had a lot to take in but I had a job to do. The more time we wasted talking, the more humans would end up either dead or converted.

The group of soldiers I’d
enthralled had followed us and stood in a silent, goofily smiling mob. “Before we talk, what do you want me to do with this lot?” I asked, pointing behind him.

Looking over his shoulder, the Colonel shook his head in weary bemusement. “Just tell them to go about their usual duties,” he suggested.

“All of you,” I addressed the crowd, “return to your normal jobs.” While they didn’t snap completely out of their dazed states, they were far more alert after a few seconds. What I didn’t anticipate was that they took me literally. One by one, they all pulled their guns on me.

Seizing the opportunity to do away with me, Sanderson shouted an order.
“Shoot her!”

Almost a
s one, his men opened fire. My head disintegrated under the barrage of bullets and my lights went out.

Waking up from a horrible nightmare where my head had been blown off, I snuggled into my cold, concrete mattress.
Hang on, my mattress isn’t usually cold or made of concrete!
The thought was eerily familiar, as if I’d had this dream before or one very much like it.

Opening my eyes, I
found myself lying on the floor of a tiny cell. One of the imps was hunkered down next to me. It gave me a look that I couldn’t read because of its blank black face but I sensed that it was frightened. After a quick glance around, I knew why. Apart from my other four ‘normal’ shadows, it was now all alone.

“I don’t suppose you saw what happened this time?” I asked it with little hope of a positive answer.

Shaking its head in the negative, it stood when I did. “I only noticed that he was gone after the soldiers threw you into the cell.”

My new quarters weren’t very welcoming.
White paint on the floor, walls and ceiling gave it an almost clinical atmosphere. Apart from a small cot, basin and a toilet, the cell was bare. The walls were made of thick concrete and the door was made of metal equally dense. A window set at head height in the door was made of several layers of either glass or tough plastic. Through it, I saw a cell directly opposite mine.

By pressing my face up against the window, I
could see more cells down both sides of a hallway. The hallway was also painted a shiny white. From the cracks in the concrete and slight rust in the doors, this place looked to be several decades old.
Maybe it’s an old war shelter.
My subconscious responded to my thought with its usual sarcasm.
War shelters don’t usually come equipped with prison cells.
I wasn’t sure how the deepest part of my mind could know something that I didn’t. Maybe it paid more attention than I did.

Taking a seat
on the cot, my scrambled memory finally put itself to rights. My meeting with Colonel Sanderson had gone even worse than I’d expected and now I was his prisoner.
It would be nice if, just for once, the people I wanted to ally myself with didn’t try to kill me as soon as we met.
I was used to making a terrible impression but I just wished I could figure out how to counteract my natural ability to alienate people.

Sending out my senses, I
came up empty. I had no idea where I was but I could tell I was somewhere beneath the earth. It was cool and the smell of soil lurked behind the walls.

“I took a look around while your head was growing back,” the last remaining imp said.
“There are a dozen cells just like this one down here.”

“You mean you can move outside the cell?
How?”

Holding up a clawed hand in demonstration,
it made the appendages stretch out for several feet. They grew thinner and thinner until they touched the ceiling.

“Did you see anything useful?”
I asked it.

Shrinking the hand back to its normal size, the imp shadow shrugged. “There is an ascended vampire at the far end of the hallway. I spoke to his master for some time. He is anxious to resume his journey to meet our Father
and is angry that he is being detained. He plans to rip apart any humans that he comes into contact with once he escapes.”

Since
the vamp hadn’t escaped yet, I thought the humans were probably safe enough. It was a relief to know that I’d been jailed along with the very possessed vampire I’d come to retrieve. Now I wouldn’t have to waste time searching for him. It was also good to know the vamp was still intact. The scientists would want to study their find and perform all kinds of experiments on him. They’d also want to perform the same experiments on me. I didn’t think we were still in the police station. I believed we had been moved to another, even more secure location. “Did the soldiers move me far from the police headquarters?”

“You mean
from the small white building?” I nodded and the silhouette pondered. “You were put into a truck and driven for several blocks.”

“Did the soldiers try to kill you?” Knowing humans, I
’d bet they hadn’t been able to resist the attempt despite my warning to the Colonel that it would be useless.

Chuckling, the imp nodded. “They used guns, knives and even fire.”

From the untouched state of my coat and leather suit, they hadn’t tried any of the above on me. Checking my watch, I saw I’d been out of it long enough for the sun to have risen some time ago. I wasn’t surprised that it had taken me so long to regenerate. Blood, bone and brains would have been splattered everywhere when the soldiers had opened fire on me. My head hadn’t just been severed, it had been completely shattered. I’d had to regrow myself from the neck up. Just like when the sun had boiled me down to a skeleton, full renewal of my cells took time. At least my memory had also come back. I hated waking up to rediscover that I wasn’t human anymore and automatically assuming I was some kind of zombie.

Since
I detected no sound or movement coming from my possessed kin, I guessed he must be less than three hundred years old. Not even his ascended shadow could keep him awake while the sun was up. I wondered if the soldiers would be surprised when they discovered that I was awake.
If you think they aren’t spying on you right now, then you’re even dumber than you look,
my snide subconscious told me.

As always, my subconscious was right. I found the camera high up in a corner of the room and was glad I no longer needed to go to the bathroom.
Knowing people were watching me, I doubted I could have peed even if I’d been busting to go.

One of the watchers almost certainly had to be Colonel Sanderson. I wondered what
he had planned for me. Since I’d been captured on film twice, he knew I was dangerous. Unfortunately, he didn’t know I was only dangerous to the creatures we both hunted.

I hadn’t
had the chance to make my pitch for partnership to him earlier but I might as well make it now. It was the reason I had tracked him down after all. I just hoped the camera was also equipped with a microphone so he could hear me.

Standing, I stared directly up at the miniscule camera. “I would like to speak to Colonel Sanderson. If he’s not there, please
go and get him. I’ll give you five minutes.”

Taking a seat again, I counted down on my watch until the time was up.
Then I stood and addressed the camera again. “As you’ve probably guessed by now, I’m a vampire. So is the person down the hall from me.” I pointed in the direction the imp had indicated the vamp to be in. “Unlike me, he’s been tainted and will soon be turned into one of the ‘unknown entities’ that are killing and kidnapping the humans.” I hoped they were paying attention and wouldn’t just write me off as a lunatic.

“The
‘unknown entities’, or imps as I like to call them, have a leader and my job is to kill him. Once he’s dead, no new imps will be made and humanity will be saved. I can’t do this alone. I need your guns and your help to take them down.” Checking my watch, I gave the silent watchers an ultimatum. “I’ll give you ten minutes to decide whether you want to be sensible and become my ally or if you want to be stupid and become my enemy.”

This time, I didn’t sit down but stood and watched the minute hand creep slowly around until the allotted time was up.
The imp shadow impatiently paced up and down the cell like a restless lion longing for freedom.

T
en minutes rolled around and the Colonel didn’t appear to offer me a partnership. “Fine. Be that way,” I said to the camera and to the American, who I could almost feel watching me. “I’ll take them down by myself you coward.”
There, I hope that stung.

During the ten minutes I’d given the American soldier to think over my offer, I’d come up with a plan on how I might be able to escape from the cell. Digging my way out wasn’t an option. The door and walls were too thick to break through. The only weak spot I’d been able to
identify was the window in the otherwise impenetrable metal door.

I wanted to launch my plan into action immediately but couldn’t until closer to sundown. There would be little point in trying to break both myself and the captured vamp free while the sun was still blazing away. Lying
down on the cot, I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep.

“What are you doing?” the imp asked me.

“Killing time until the sun goes down,” I replied softly, hoping the microphone didn’t pick up my words.

It was a long, boring wait and I eventually dozed off.

Straight away, I knew I was dreaming. Instead of lying down on a cot, I was standing in a clearing in a
jungle. From the not so fresh carcass of a deer lying on the outer edge of the circular space, I figured this was the same clearing I’d previously visited.

Whatever had searched so hungrily for food last time was
now dormant. I sensed no presence this time. Treading quietly, I moved to the centre of the clearing. Night birds burst into flight and few directly overhead. When they reached the centre of the treeless space, they panicked, collided then fell to the ground.

One broke its neck and died instantly. The other
one flapped shattered wings, scrambling in the dirt in a circle as it tried vainly to fly away. Standing directly in the middle of the area, I felt something beneath the ground wake. I sensed eyes opening and peering upwards. The crippling hunger rose up to surround me.

It’s h
eart beating hard and fast enough for me to hear it, the bird gave a final cry then had the avian equivalent of a heart attack. Instead of receding, the hunger swelled until it overwhelmed me.

Dropping to my knees, I snatched up the closest bird and my fangs descended. I
drained the creature dry then reached for the other one. They had far too little blood to quench my thirst and I was hungrier than I’d ever been in my life, both living or undead. Light from my eyes bathed my hands in an orange glow.

Tossing the carcasses aside, I lurched to my fee
t, intent on finding more prey.

Snapping awake, I sat up and the imp shadow sitting beside me on the floor started. I was surprised to see it was still there. With its clones gone, I figured it would also fade. “Did anything happen while I was asleep?” I asked.

“No. It has been very quiet.”

So, the Colonel hadn’t made any attempt to contact me and offer an alliance. It was time to proceed with my plan. A quick look at my watch told me I had better get a move on. The timing was crucial so I stood and readied myself for action.

If I was going to try to escape from the cell, I would need to do it unseen.
Judging the distance to the tiny camera in the corner of the room carefully, I jumped up and punched it. It disintegrated with a crunch and an alarmed squawk from the microphone that had been attached to it. Without the electronic eyes and ears spying on me, I moved to the door. Banging my fist on the window told me it was made of thick plastic instead of glass. It shivered but didn’t crack. My next blow was much harder and shattered most of the bones in my hand. The pain was sharp but fleeting as the bones instantly reknit.

“Go and keep watch,” I ordered the imp. “Let me know if you see any soldiers.” To my surprise, the shadow
obeyed my order. It sank to the floor and oozed out through the tiny crack then slid along the white floor like an oil stain, stretching out towards the elevator.

Knowing soldiers would be coming to see what I was up to, I alternated
my hands, punching the window as hard and fast as I could. My fists were a blur as they cracked through four layers of thick plastic. Blood and bone speckled the door and the chunks of plastic that fell to the cement floor. I knew I couldn’t escape through the window. It was too small for my head to fit through let alone the rest of my body. But it
was
small enough for one or two objects to fit through and I hoped they would be enough to help set me free.