Dread Nemesis of Mine (27 page)

Fausta yelled, "Frag out!" Tossed two
metallic spheres at the vampires' position, and turned her face
away. Blinding light flashed through the room. Spots danced in my
eyes. I fell to my knees, gagging and heaving while my stomach
groaned. I wondered if I'd eaten something spoiled, though this
sensation felt much different from spicy Indian food surprise.
Half-blinded, I pushed to my feet and saw Elyssa and Fausta pumping
vampires full of the silvery lancer darts as the fallen
bloodsuckers moaned and wallowed on the floor, severely weakened by
the flash grenades.

Adam strode into the fray and found Amanda.
He stood over her, feet planted to either side of her body, and
pulled her partially upright by her pink T-shirt. "Where's
Felicia?"

Amanda let out a weak snarl. "Go to hell,
Arcane."

He punched her in the face, wincing as he
did. Dropped his staff and jerked her shirt with two hands. "Tell
me, you bitch."

She spat blood in his face.

Adam roared and slammed her head against the
floor. His fists pummeled her face as an animalistic cry ripped
free from his lungs. Elyssa and Fausta grabbed him by either arm
and pulled him, kicking and flailing, off the bloodied vampire.

"Adam!" Shock filled Meghan's face. "What's
wrong with you?"

Tears streamed down stricken man's face. He
slumped in the grasp of the two Templars holding him. Elyssa gave
Fausta a sad look and nodded. They let him go as Meghan rushed to
his side.

"I failed her," Adam said, wiping at his
face, hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. He stood, breathing
heavily, obviously fighting the pain.

My heart almost broke looking at the man. I
knew
how he felt. I understood what he was going through.
Felicia had died saving me. I walked toward Adam, my throat
constricted with guilt. I remembered Maximus's text to me. Had he
been lying, and already killed Felicia? Or might she still be alive
somewhere? Maybe Amanda was just trying to push our buttons and had
lied.

I didn't know if I should tell him and give
him hope, or let him grieve. What would be worse, I wondered—having
hope and finding her dead, or never knowing? I knew what my choice
would be. I'd want to know. For me to keep this from him would be
wrong, so very wrong. I'd been an idiot to keep it from him
earlier.

"Adam, I—"

He turned on me. "You could have saved her,"
he said, voice quiet and broken.

His words stabbed my heart. I knew if he was
angry now, he'd be even angrier when I showed him Maximus's texts.
Pulling out my arcphone, I retrieved the messages and held it out
to him. "I'm sorry. I should have showed this to you earlier.
Amanda might be lying. Maybe Maximus locked her up somewhere and
she's okay."

"Why the hell would you keep this from me?"
Adam stared with disbelief at the phone before flinging it back at
me.

I caught it before it bounced off my chest.
"I was afraid you'd go over the edge, man. I didn't know whether it
would matter or not."

He turned away, taking deep deliberate
breaths. "We have to find her then." His voice broke. "Or find her
body. I can't leave her here. I have to take her home."

"Wait a minute," Fausta said. "Maximus is
gone?"

"Through the arch there." I pointed to the
obsidian structure. "But when I freed the leyworm Dash had hooked
up for its energy, it took the power with it."

"Where did he go?"

"Atlanta, I think."

Fausta cursed. She pulled out her phone and
walked away, speaking in urgent tones.

Elyssa squeezed my shoulder. Kissed me on
the cheek. "Are you okay?"

I nodded.

"This place is a mess," Bella said, leaning
against her staff as she emerged from the tunnel. "And I'm
pooped."

Healer Delgado knelt beside her, running a
wand over her. "You've overextended yourself." She shook her head.
"You'd better rest or you might burn out."

Bella nodded with a resigned sigh. "I
know."

Michael appeared in the large hole which had
been the original entrance before Amanda blasted it wide open.

"Where have you been?" Fausta said.

He took in the destruction without so much
as batting an eyelash. "We've got another problem."

"Another one? Haven't the others subdued the
remaining OPFORs?"

Michael nodded. "Some escaped into the
tunnels beneath us. I saw them breaking the lock on a metal door.
They got it open before I could stop them."

Fausta bit her lip. "And what's on the other
side?"

"Let's just say this place is about to be
overrun. By vamplings."

Screams echoed from far down the tunnel. My
blood went cold, and the hairs on my neck bristled. Elyssa's
porcelain skin went a shade whiter. She took a step back, hands
grasping the hilts of her sai swords in a manic grip.

I put a hand on her wrist. "Are you
okay?"

Her pupils were wide and dilated. "I—I'm
sorry. The memories. Almost dying…"

I enclosed her in my arms. "I'll save you
again if I have to."

She managed a weak smile. "You'd like that,
wouldn't you? Another gold star for your fridge?"

I replied with a long deep kiss. "I don't
need gold stars, just the touch of your lips."

"I really must write that down for the
romance novel I'm writing," Bella said.

Embarrassment flushed my face and I pulled
away, having forgotten the world didn't really stop when I kissed
Elyssa. "We'd better move out."

"We need to contain these things ourselves,"
Michael said, face grim. "The space is too narrow to bring down a
large force of Templars." His eyes locked onto the cages at the
back of the room and the vampling there. In a few quick steps, he
closed the distance, and impaled the zombified vampire's head. The
vampling hissed and flailed, despite the sword jutting from its
skull. Michael slid his sword free and stared at the creature.
"They don't die easily."

"Da nah!" screamed the cherub, its nubby
arms grasping at Michael's legs.

He ran it through with his sword.

A shrill scream tore from the creature's
mouth. A tortured face appeared beneath the smooth oily surface on
its head where the nose and eyes should have been. Smoky black
wings, insubstantial apparitions unfolded from its back. Despite
the scream, it didn't die.

Michael slid his sword from the cherub's
flesh with a sick, wet sound. His eyes met mine. For a moment, I
almost sensed understanding in his gaze. Respect. And then the
moment was gone.

I looked around for my lost gun, but settled
for an assault rifle left by a fallen vampire. If I could avoid
shooting myself or my companions, it might come in handy. Elyssa
adjusted the straps on my scabbard, tilting the sword so I could
reach it.

"Thanks."

She kissed me on the cheek. "Michael and I
will take point. You help guard the rear."

Fausta raised an eyebrow. "Unless I'm
mistaken, I'm the one in charge here, Borathen."

Elyssa rolled her eyes. "Fine. Orders,
sir?"

"Michael and
I
will take point.
Bella, you and the Healers will barricade yourselves in here and
keep an eye on the prisoners. Borathen, you and incubus boy guard
our flank. I've ordered squads to block all the exits so the
vamplings can't escape and infect the populace."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Elyssa said, tossing in a
sarcastic salute.

"You really don't make a good soldier," I
said in a low voice. "You're too used to bossing everyone
around."

A confident smile spread her lips. "Because
I'm usually right."

"Move out," Fausta said.

"I'm coming, too," Adam said, anger burning
in his eyes. "I've got plenty of juice left."

Fausta nodded. "Let's do it."

We headed for the door, leaving Meghan and
Bella behind. Then my stomach heaved and cold sweat broke out on my
face. I staggered, taking deep breaths to keep from upchucking all
over the place.

"What's wrong?" Elyssa said, gripping my arm
to keep me upright.

Meghan came to my side, and ran her wand
along my body. "Magic poisoning." She took my chin and turned my
gaze into her blue eyes. "Did you do any spells recently?"

"Yeah." I told her about the camouflaged
hole.

"I think he saved me from that explosion
earlier too," Adam said. "Because my shield wouldn't have done a
thing to protect me from a blast like that."

Meghan's eyes grew wide. "A complete novice
containing an explosion? Impossible."

"The boy has potential," Bella said.

"Can you make me feel better until we get
through this?" I asked, though the nausea seemed to be fading
again.

Meghan sighed and pulled a piece of
bubblegum from a pouch on her side. "Chew this. I give it to
first-timers to help with the sickness. But they usually don't have
it this bad." She pulled out another piece. "On second thought,
have two."

I tossed them in my mouth and chewed.
"Minty."

"Is he okay to fight?" Fausta asked, eyes
narrowed.

"The gum will help." Meghan pursed her lips.
"And he has more spirit than most, anyway. Considering what he's
been through, I wouldn't hesitate to trust him with my life."

I felt my face flush. "Uh, wow. Thanks,
Meghan."

"If you're the best of your kind, there is
still hope for the world." She smiled. "Good luck."

Adam pecked her on the lips. "I'll be
back."

Her smiled vanished, replaced by a worried
frown. "Keep your mind, Adam."

I wasn't sure what she meant by that, and
didn't have time to ponder as Fausta stomped her foot and waved us
on. We ran down the tunnel. Screams and shouts echoed from ahead.
Once we reached myriad hallways, grunts, shouts, and shrieks seem
to come from all sides. We came to the bottom of the stairs leading
into the courtyard. A groups of Templars in black Nightingale armor
stood, swords ready, at the top. Fausta saluted them, and we moved
on.

We found the first bodies a couple-hundred
feet in. I recognized the care-free kids who'd been smoking weed
from earlier. Their throats were torn open, their mouths open with
horror in the final moments of life. Four vamplings with mouths
fastened to the dead, sucked the blood from their veins with greedy
slurping sounds. One of the vamplings, formerly a female, as
evidenced by the filthy tattered skirt and blouse she wore, slurped
at a pool of blood on the floor.

None of the undead creatures looked as bad
or smelled as ripe as the ones Elyssa and I had faced when saving
my father from Maximus. These couldn't have been turned for long.
Michael's sword blurred, taking the head of the nearest creature.
Fausta flashed the other way, dropping two as Elyssa's brother
finished off the last one. The headless bodies thrashed wildly,
arms groping. The head of the female vampling landed in the pool of
blood. Her tongue continued to lick at it, as though nothing had
changed.

"Templars are still immune to the vampling
virus right?" I asked Elyssa as Michael and Fausta beheaded the
people murdered by the vamplings, and then dismembered the undead,
even as their body parts continued to struggle.

She nodded. "Far as I can tell, once the
Divinity—Daelissa—granted us our abilities, she couldn't just take
them away, or I think we'd have noticed."

A shuffling noise sounded behind us. We
turned and saw two more of the walking dead shambling our way.
Elyssa grunted twice, her sword a silver blur, and both vamplings
dropped headless to the floor, their fanged mouths snarling as they
bounced off the stone. The bodies squirmed, hands grasping blindly
while gouts of thick rancid smelling blood drained from the necks.
I'd hoped they would go still and just die. Instead, we had to
butcher them as Fausta and Michael had done the others.

My heart pounded like mad and sweat broke
out on my forehead. These things were relentless. Why wouldn't they
just die? A flashback from the fight in the catacombs beneath
Maximus's Atlanta lair gripped me with claustrophobia. The stench.
The press of fetid bodies. The pure rot. The grunting and hissing
and biting. They just kept coming and coming and coming and they
never ever stopped.

"Justin, are you okay?"

I jerked back into focus on the present and
Elyssa's concerned face. I nodded. "Yeah. Sorry. Guess it freaked
me out more than I thought it would."

A nod. "Me too." She touched my hand. "I
hate these things."

Even Fausta's look of grim determination
couldn't hide her shaking hands as she and Michael walked past the
still-twitching bodies on the floor. Adam put a hand over his mouth
and looked away from the slaughter. Looking away did nothing to
help me. I still smelled the coppery scent of death, the blood of
the newly fallen, and the stagnant blood of the vamplings.

Our progress turned into a slog. Fausta
called in other squads of Templars to clear any side halls, making
sure to clear every room and passage of the foul creatures as we
made slow progress down flights of stairs and toward the room the
things had originated. I remembered the red metal door from my
escape with Katie. Now, at least, I knew why Maximus had kept it
shut.

I wondered if he could really be so power
hungry as to unleash a vampling plague on the world. Remembering
our little talk and his grand sense of ego, I realized how stupid a
question that was. Of course he would. If he couldn't win, nobody
would.

The hallway ended at the now warped and
broken red door. The hinges and lock had been blasted off. Groans,
shuffling feet, and most of all, the stench gave away the occupants
of the room beyond. Several feet behind me on the left, a familiar
spiral staircase led down to the room where Maximus had imprisoned
me, now dark.

"We'll contain them at this chokepoint,"
Fausta said, nodding toward the broken door. "No sense going in
that hellhole." She pulled out her phone. "I'll call for the
Custodians to come down and clean up the mess with some
flamethrowers."