Judgement (The Twelve) (47 page)

Coughing he offered his thanks, “I think the rule books just gone out the bloody window.”

‘
Boom Boom’
handed him a spare magazine
ask
ing
the officer to do him a favour and if he could get through on his radio. To warn
Police C
ommand
C
ontrol
that
Starlight Security has men on scene. He pointed to a yellow ar
m band he wore on his right arm, t
elling the officer that
they wore
this armband as identification, “Tell your boss we have weapons that can counteract this threat.”

The officer nodded and reached for his radio, “Will do but I’m buggered if I know what to call this threat!”

‘
Boom Boom’
grimaced, “Bloody Armageddon mate!”

Jennings had already phoned New Scotland Yard. The police Commissioner
and the Home Secretary
knew
and used
Starlight security
, together
with other Government security agencies. Obviously word hadn’t gotten out as yet.

‘Boom Boom’
gave orders for his men to fan out and guard the main entrance
, “How many inside?”
Another two teams where arriving at other entrances.

The officer knew who he was talking about, “About one hundred MP’s, the deputy PM and the Home secretary, all shitting themselves I wouldn’t wonder. Five of those monsters came up inside the basement, managed to kill eight MP’s and three aids, before we brought them down.  Took about fifty round a piece to blow them up.”

‘Boom’ simply jerked his hand towards the main entrance.

McGuire nodded, “
You four follow me, weapons hot. “ He held up his hand, “Not you Sally can’t have you burn down the bloody houses of parliament now can we.”

The officer
looked at his Glock, “Apart from being a different make. Why did this blow that thing away, when mine couldn’t?”

Sally tapped her holstered pistol, “Bullets are filled with holy water from a church font.”

The officer
shook his head, “Holy water! What the hell are we talking about here, Bloody vampires?”

’Boom Boom’
ignored him
. “Set up the fifty cal over there by the guard hut.”

One of his men suddenly shouted a warning before being
thr
own clear over the top of the van, his body in rags. Two teenagers with wild red hair, fangs and elongated claws
stood in the street, crouched over like bi
g
cats, ready to pounce.

“Oh shit!”
’Boom Boom’
shouted
.
He r
ecognised there description given to him by the man called Anvil.
Two of The Dark, Panther and Cougar.

McGuire entered the main hall leading to the
H
ouse of Commons. People cowered in corners, a few MP’s he recognised were crying. One had even wet himself.
A member of the Black Watch with pike in hand ran up panting for breath, “Five more in the House!”

McGuire charged in through polished mahogany double doors. He stopped for a moment taking in the fact he was standing right next to the table that should hold the ceremonial Mace that divided the House in two. But right now the deputy Prime Minister was using it to brain one creature whilst two other MP’s punched and kicked a third. McGuire saw that they were loosing. The creature gripped one by the arm pulling him in close and bit out his throat.

“Security get down!”

The deputy Prime Minister thought the request through clearly and responded accordingly, “Fuck that. Help me kill the bastards!” and crowned the monster again which this time fell to its knees. McGuire ran up and put three rounds into its head, with a ‘poof’ it exploded into a spreading cloud of ash.

Coughing the Deputy Prime Minister threw down the Mace, “Got a spare one for me?”

The other members of his team made quick work of the remaining Shades. They couldn’t help the fallen MP.

McGuire asked, “
Where’s the rest of you?”

An elderly MP walked up waving the ash aside, “Most are back there in chambers
, h
eavy doors with good locks, hard to break in.”

McGuire spoke into his throat mike ordering up as many police vans as possible. The deputy Prime Minster stopped him, “If you expect us to leave the house to the mercy of these things, think again.” He showed McGuire a ripped sleeve on his three hundred pound suit, “For once we’re going to earn our expenses. Now give me bloody gun.”

At that moment,
Anvil stood in front of Nelsons column. His hammer raised for another blow.
A
giant Shade
that was over thirty feet tall
had
absorbed one blow and was coming back for more. Anvil brought the hammer up and around, smashing
his weapon
into its chest. Part of it burst into a flame edged hole. The creature staggered back a step,
feebly
swung a blow that whistled over Anvils head and took a chunk out of the column
.
Anvil reversed his swing and brought the hammer up between its legs. Another flame edged hole appeared. It fell to one knee and Anvil finished it off with a downwards blow to the head. The cloud of exploding dust made Anvil break out in a coughing fit.
He’d released eighteen trapped souls from within its body.

Slash was just finishing off another in one of the fountains.
He’d used twelve throwing knives and
one of
his favourite slashing knife with a wicked looking twelve inch long blade to destroy it.
He was bleeding from a broken nose but ignored it for now.
A blur passed him
and a Shade which had been about to join battle with Priest suddenly was minus its head. It staggered a step and explo
ded. The blur continued onwards,
finally stopping with a splash in a cloud of super heated ste
am in the fountain next to Slash.

Speed sunk to his knees, enjoying the cooling effect of the water. Slash wiped
his knife
blade on the sleeve of his missing arm. “Don’t run so fast
. You’ll burn up. HEY PATCH BEHIND YOU!”

Far across the Square,
Patch was fighting five Shades. She was using every bit of her skill as well as her fathers sword. She had removed it from its velvet cloth prior to going into battle. Kissing the blade she had sheathed it through a silk sash around her leather clad waist. One shade was cut in two, another sliced from neck to hip, then a reverse thrust through the fourths stomach, whilst number five was about to grab her head from behind.

But Chris was there, Slash couldn’t hear him but he was sure he’d mouthed ‘
be judged’
The Shade faltered
,
stopped, tried to amble away and exploded inside a
b
all of white light
t
hat seemed to
fly
from Chris hands.

“Slash
,
stop day dreaming!” Anvil warned
.

Slash turned to see what the fuss was about and was struck a blow that sent him flying through the fountain to splash down under water. Try get
ting
to
your
feet
,
when you’ve only got one hand is hard enough, even harder when that hands holding a knife. He saw the Ghouls legs striding through the water towards him, bits and pieces of rotting flesh were left behind in its wake.
‘
G
ross! Don’t swallow any of this stuff’

Rotting hand
s
reached down into the water towards his face
. Suddenly the arms, hands and legs lifted clear out of the water as id self propelled or launched. Slash found his footing, burst clear only to see Rage standing there with the ghoul held by the neck. Slash heard a loud crunch followed by a pop and the ghoul stopped writhing. Rage tossed the body over his shoulder. “You finished bathing yet?”

O
n the
first floor
hallway
in
the Old Bailey courts, Huntress stood perched upon the top of a table
,
her bow drawn to full extend. Witnesses, suspects, police officers and court officials all cowered on the ground. A Giant Shade
was jammed in the doorway,
a ghoul
creeping in under its legs. The Shade had a body in one hand and with a casual bite, bit off the head and started chewing with its
yellow fanged
mouth.

A woman on the floor screamed and started to get up, “Stay down!” Huntress ordered. The woman fell back to the floor just as Huntress released her arrow. It flew straight and true, the barbed heavy point whistled as it cut its way through the air, to impact with a thud in the
Shades
right eye. Part of its head started to melt and catch fire, turning to dust. It threw away the body and with a roar, burst into the hallway. Like a runaway bull elephant it charged down the hall towards Huntress.
Without even noticing
,
It crushed one unfortunate underfoot. Huntress drew and fired, drew and fired. The first hit it in the chest, a big flame rimmed hole appeared and yet still it came on. The second struck the beast in
the
throat. The roar was cut off in mid
yell.
With a titanic
explosion that shook the room the Shade covered everyone in burning ash. But the ghoul managed to slide along the floor under the arrows path. Now it grabbed a woman by the ankle and bit down hard.

“Oy buggerlugs!” Hot Cross called from
over by the entrance to court number one. The creature jerked its head around to stare stupidly at him.

“Here grab hold of this, “Hot Cross had
a long
cable striped from a floor polisher in his heads. He threw one end to the creature. Instinctively it clutched the cable and with a snarl bit down hard, like some wild pit bull.

“Thought you’d do that.”
Hot Cross grinned as he sent a massive electrical current down the cable into the creatures mouth. It started to vibrate and shake; bouncing across the polished floor like it was having a fit. Smoke started to pour out of its mouth, its nose and finally from its ears before catching fire. Hot Cross dropped the cable and watched the thing flop down on its back with its head on fire.