Death Deceives: Book Three (Mortis Vampire Series) (25 page)

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” the imp said incredulously.

“Me either,” I murmured. Relieved that my plan had worked so far, I stepped over to the door. “Can either of you unlock this door?” Both men shook their heads, still staring at my eye. “Come over here,” I said to the soldier that Righty was clinging to. He obeyed me with stiff, jerky steps. The soldier stopped right in front of the window and Righty nimbly leaped through the gap. I caught it and replaced first my eye then my hand.

Whole again after twin flashes of pain, I addressed soldier number one. “How can this door be opened?” The door across the hallway didn’t have a lock so I assumed mine didn’t either.

“It can only be opened in the control room on the third floor,” he responded in a drugged yet happy voice. “You are so gorgeous,” he informed me.

“That’s
funny, a minute ago you didn’t seem to think so. You were calling me an ‘it’,” I replied sarcastically. He was too deep under my spell to be embarrassed.

“I was afraid of you
then but now I can see how perfect you are.” His smile was wide and he swayed on his feet.

“That’s just the hypnotism talking. Once it wears off, you’ll go back to thinking of me as a monster
again.” I felt a bit sad about that but didn’t have the time to worry about it. Most humans would think of me that way after seeing me in action on their TVs. “Enough with the small talk. Can either of you sneak up to the third floor and unlock this door?”

He was shaking his head even before I finished asking the question. “There are five other soldiers in there. They’ll stop us before we could set you free.”

“Then how am I going to get out of here?” I was frustrated enough to kick the door. Rust flaked to the ground but it had no effect in helping me to escape.

“
We could try using explosives,” the second soldier said.

“Step aside, number one,” I ordered and the first soldier shuffled aside. “Get over here, number two.” The second soldier obeyed until he was standing beside his partner. “Can you get your hands on these explosives?” He nodded in the affirmative. “Off you go then.” As he turned away, I gave him another command. “Act natural but hurry back. Bring enough
explosives back to blow two doors open.” He nodded again then jogged out of sight.

“I should report in to the Colonel,” number one said.
“He’s expecting regular updates.”

“Ok but the same goes to you; act natural.”
I wasn’t about to order either of them to return to their normal jobs. I’d learned that lesson and wasn’t about to repeat the mistake again.

Nodding and smiling
happily, the soldier took out his radio and reported in. As far as I could tell, he didn’t tip off Sanderson that anything strange was going on. His voice was brisk and professional as he lied through his teeth that all was well.

Several minutes later,
soldier number two returned. He immediately moved to the door and started fixing something to it. “I need you to blow the door to the other vampire’s cell at the same time as you blow mine,” I said to him through the busted window. Breaking out was going to be noisy and I wanted to move fast. Without a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bundle and handed it to his partner.

Number one disappeared down the hallway and started tinkering with his bomb. Number two finished up then turned to watch his partner. “Ready?” he asked after a fe
w agonizingly slow minutes had passed.

“Ready,” came from down the
hallway.

“
You should step back from the door, ma’am.” With that suggestion, number two moved out of my sight. I backed away until I hit the wall. Turning my back to the blast area, I covered my ears in anticipation of a horrendous noise. The imp stayed where it was in the middle of the room. Being ghostlike, it didn’t need to worry about flying debris.

Seconds later, the bombs went off
simultaneously. I was surprised when there were only four loud pops instead of the massive roar I’d expected. The door shuddered but wasn’t blasted open. Waving away smoke, dust, rust and paint, I gave the door a shove. Tottering, it fell against the opposite door then slid to the ground with a resounding clang.

Further
down the hall, soldier number one was vainly tugging at the door to the insensate vampire’s room. I jogged down the corridor, brushed him aside then lifted the door out of its frame. The hinges had been blasted apart, which was a simple and effective way to free myself and my kinsman. “Good job, guys.” Both men beamed at the compliment.

Inside the cell, my fellow vampire was literally dead to the world. He lay on his back on the floor, not deigning to use the cot. From the black suit and blood red cummerbund he wore, I surmised
that he was one of the French courtiers. He must have been separated from the Court somehow before being nabbed by the soldiers.

Like
most of the courtiers, he was probably attractive while animated. While unanimated, he was nothing more than a slack jawed, pale, unmoving corpse. His shadow was also dead to the world. It appeared to be normal even to my eyes instead of the large, misshapen creatures I was used to seeing. Once it woke, maybe then it would turn back into a hulking mass again.

That slack jawed corpse is my
only ticket to the cavern of doom now,
I thought
.
It was a pity my plan to join forces with the soldiers hadn’t worked out. Now I’d have follow the vamp to the First’s lair, battle thousands of imps solo and try to fight my way through to the First then kill him singlehandedly.
I’m sure it will be a piece of cake.
I tried to make the thought cheerful but it sounded sarcastic even inside my head.

Catching the thought, the imp beside me snorted in agreement.
“Don’t get your hopes too high,” it warned me. “Once you stand before him, you will not be able to resist the First’s power. He will not fail to turn you into one of us.” I heard the satisfaction in its tone and could have cheerfully used my holy marks to explode its head.

According to both my watch and my internal clock, I had about an hour left before the sun went down. If I wanted to set the possessed vamp free, I had to move quickly.

Bending down, I used the insensate courtier’s jacket to wipe most of the powdered milk off Righty. It was already filthy so I doubted he’d mind.
With my preternatural strength, it was easy to scoop him up and toss him over my shoulder. Being a lot taller than me, his arms hung almost to the ground and his head rested against my butt. If he woke up, one of us was going to be very embarrassed and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be him.

“Get me out of here
quickly and without being seen, if possible,” I ordered my slaves. “If we run into anyone, shoot to incapacitate, not to kill.” They nodded in unison then jogged towards the elevator. The vamp over my shoulder jiggled as I jogged. His head repeatedly bounced off my backside, making me feel like a drum and I started giggling. The imp running beside me cut me a look and I laughed harder.

My
laughter cut off when the elevator door opened on the first floor and we were faced with twenty soldiers pointing their guns at us. I belatedly realized that we would have been seen breaking the insensate vampire free. Every cell would have cameras installed, not just mine.

Moving in tandem, my slaves raised their guns and prepared to fire.
As I’d ordered, they were aiming to maim rather than to kill. “Stop!” I ordered them before they could pull their triggers. There was no point in getting them, or any of the other soldiers killed.

Colonel Sanderson pushed his way
to the front of the crowd and studied me. “Exactly where do you think you’re going with our prisoner?”

“Well, I
was
going to use him to find the First’s lair,” I replied. “But I’m guessing that plan just went out the window.” Scanning the faces before me, not one of them met my eyes. All were either looking at my chest or just over my head.

Resigned to being
riddled with bullets again, I gestured to the corpse lying over my shoulder. “Before you disintegrate my head again, you might want to put the rabid vampire back in a cage. The sun will be down soon and he won’t be friendly when he wakes up.” According to what the imp had told me, I was pretty sure he’d start pulling off limbs and use them as clubs if he woke to find himself surrounded by meat sacks. The imp chuckled at my mental usage of its words.

Without meeting my eyes, the Colonel examined me closely, thinking over my words. “Are you telling me you believe this creature will be able to lead
you to where the unknown entities are hiding?”

“
I don’t just believe he will, I
know
he will.”

Sanderson
thought some more then turned to one of his men. “Grab a camera and tracking device.” The soldier ran off and the Colonel gestured to me. “Would you kindly put the creature on the floor?”

I didn’t bother to place the vamp down gently but merely flipped him off
my shoulder. He landed on his back with a thud, mouth open and fangs showing. Several soldiers gave disturbed murmurs and shuffled back a bit. Several more checked their watches, seeing how close sunset was now. Even without my swords, I wasn’t worried about my personal safety. After all, I had my holy marks to protect me. I could never really be unarmed when it came to vampires and imps. Unless my hands were removed, then I might be in trouble.

After a short wait, the soldier returned and knelt beside the prone courtier. H
e efficiently attached a tiny camera to the lapel of the vamp’s black suit then slipped a small black device into his pocket.

I snuck a look at my watch and nearly had my head blown off for the second time. “Easy, men,” soothed their boss. “
Biggs and Rogers,” he gestured to two of his men. “Take the creature outside and make sure no one tries to shoot it when it wakes up.”

“
I’d be careful about where you put him,” I advised. “He’ll burst into flames if you take him out into the sun.” A moist pile of sludge wouldn’t be much help to us in locating the cavern of doom.

“Sir,”
Biggs addressed Sanderson. “One of the exits leads to an alley in the back. It should be heavily shaded at this time of the day.”

Nodding in agreement, the Colonel waved
them into action. Moving with alacrity, the pair grabbed the vamp underneath his arms and dragged him down the hall. His feet bumped along behind him with the soles screeching lightly in protest.

“Now,” the American soldier said when the pair was gone. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Well, it would be nice if you wouldn’t order your men to shoot me again.” Someone sniggered at my semi-sarcastic reply. The Colonel whipped his head around to see who the culprit was but was faced with blank, controlled expressions.

“You have been quite an inconvenience for me and my men
,” he said when he turned back to me. “I have a total of eleven soldiers currently unfit for duty.” He pointed at the two most recent additions to my cadre of slaves. The pair watched me with dopy smiles on their faces.

I grimaced and shrugged. “Sorry about that. It’ll wear off soon.”

“I am curious why you haven’t killed any of my soldiers.” He seemed puzzled and he also forgot what I was and met my eyes. I didn’t want his men to think I was trying to bamboozle their boss so focussed on his forehead.

“You’re going to need every man and woman you can muster to face the First and his
minions. I don’t see any sense in killing any of them unnecessarily.” My tone was grim and utterly believable. Maybe I was getting better at convincing people because he held off on ordering his men to open fire on me.

Sanderson’s radio came to life as one of his men reported in.
Pulling the radio free from his belt, the Colonel acknowledged the man. “Go ahead, soldier.”

“Sir,
” Biggs responded, “the creature has woken and is on the move.”

“Roger that.
Return to the war room. Out.” Colonel Sanderson flicked a glance at me, remembering to lower his eyes this time. “Why do you think your friend will lead us to this leader you speak about?”

“
That’s a long story. The short version is that the vamp has been called by his master. He is being controlled by his shadow and doesn’t have any choice but to head directly for the cavern of doom.”

Giving
the imp shadow standing beside me a long, hard look, Sanderson reached a decision. I believe it was desperation more than anything that helped him to reach it. “You mentioned that you wanted to become my ally. I’m willing to discuss this possibility with you now.” I tried to hide my utter amazement but didn’t quite pull it off. The Colonel had one more thing to say before he gestured for me to follow him. “I am not a coward…ma’am.”

At least I’ve progressed up
from being an ‘it’.
Who knew my offhand taunt would have had such an impact on him? It just went to show how fragile men’s egos really were. I bit my lips to keep in the laugh that wanted to escape. I recognized the urge to laugh to be relief related rather than from actual amusement. Maybe Kokoro’s prophecy was correct and I wouldn’t have to do this alone after all. I had been promised an army and the Colonel and his men were my only option.