Kim hovered in mid air, keeping her feet well above the rising level of blood; but the others had no such escape. The blood was already up to their ankles and rising fast. The spoiled-carrion stench of the stuff was overpowering. Melody glared at Happy.
“Is this real? Or another illusion?”
“Of course it’s real, it’s already past my ankles! Can’t you smell it? This is extremely real blood; though I hate to think where it’s all coming from.”
“Not just blood,” said Erik. He dipped a fingertip into the rising blood and sucked it thoughtfully. “This is human blood.”
“How can you be so sure?” said Melody.
“Trust me,” said Natasha. “You really don’t want to know.”
“I think you can forget about rescuing any of those poor lost commuters,” said Erik. “I wonder what it’s done with the bones . . .”
“Look, this blood really is rising very quickly,” said Happy. “If we don’t find a way out of here soon, we’re going to be swimming in the stuff. Until it reaches the ceiling . . .”
JC looked at him, then at Natasha. “You’re telepaths. Our enemy has to be behind this, controlling the blood. So, working together, could you disrupt his control?”
“Not a hope in hell,” said Happy. “We have to find a way out of here!”
“Keep calm, man,” said JC. “Panic never solved anything.”
“It’s always worked for me!” said Happy.
JC produced his monkey’s paw and activated the Hand of Glory. The others stared at the thing, fascinated.
“Where the hell did you get that?” said Melody, genuinely shocked.
“Yes, JC,” said Natasha. “Where did a Goody Two-shoes like you get hold of a forbidden artefact like that?”
“Could you get me one, too?” said Erik.
“A Hand of Glory can reveal hidden doors and exits,” said JC, waving the Hand this way and that. “But unfortunately . . . it seems there aren’t any. What you see is what you get; and they’re all full of blood.”
“I need some of my pills,” said Happy.
“Could I have some, too?” said Erik.
Melody lost her footing and fell, slipping under the rising blood. Happy surged forward, blood splashing up against his chest. He thrust an unerring hand beneath the surface, grabbed Melody, and hauled her back up onto her feet again. She clung to him, hacking and coughing, soaked in blood. Happy held her until she got her second wind, then she pushed herself away from him, and he let her go.
“Thanks,” she said roughly.
“Try not to be so sentimental” said Happy. “Oh God, I’m going to smell of this blood for months, I know it.”
“Hold it!” Natasha said abruptly. “Listen . . .” They all stood very still, listening. The roar of the inrushing blood seemed to swamp everything else.
“What is it?” said JC.
“There’s something in here with us,” said Natasha, looking quickly around her. “Can you feel it, Happy?”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “There’s something . . . in the blood. Something hungry.”
They all turned this way and that, but the dark red surface of the blood was all but impenetrable. JC bent forward and stuck his face right next to the surface. And perhaps it was his new eyes, but he thought he saw large dark shapes, moving in the blood . . .
“Get back-to-back!” Erik yelled suddenly. “Don’t let them sneak up on us!”
“What is it?” said Melody. “You think we’re under attack by sharks?”
“No! Vampires! There are vampires swimming in the blood!”
As though in answer to his naming them, several of the creatures leapt out of the blood, showing themselves to their new prey. The vampires of the blood ocean had shape-shifted into a new hunting form, long sleek shapes with all of a shark’s brute power. They had great lashing tails, pale grey scales, and two long arms with clawed hands, to stuff food into the wide mouths that took up most of their blunt heads. They had flat black eyes, without a single human emotion in them, and their mouths held row upon row of cruel, jagged teeth.
One went for JC, and he hit it in the head. It immediately sank back into the blood and disappeared. Melody opened fire with her machine-pistol, and the heavy bullets blew great chunks out of the vampire nearest her; but the wounds healed almost immediately. The vampire sharks drew back a little, considering, as they circled the small knot of people. They swam easily through the blood, as though they’d been born to it, and JC wondered briefly where the Intruder had found such foul creatures. In what bloody alien sea were such things spawned . . . ?
“Before anybody asks, yes, they are quite definitely real!” said Happy. He seemed to be on the edge of hysteria. “I can feel their bloodlust in my head. I’m getting brief flashes of their thoughts, and I do wish I weren’t. They were brought here from Somewhere Else by the Intruder. It’s another sign of how powerful it’s becoming.”
“It’s planning something,” said JC. “And it must see us as a real threat to its purposes if it’s trying this hard to stop us.”
“Really,” said Happy. “How about that? Colour me surprised. Bloody do something!”
A vampire shark reared up out of the blood, its mouth stretched wide, its clawed hands reaching for Melody. It was almost upon her before she brought her pistol to bear and opened fire. Once again, the bullets slammed into its flesh, blowing whole chunks away. But this time the wounds didn’t heal, and the creature fell helplessly back into the blood, thrashing wildly as more bullets tore into it. Others of its kind surged forward to attack the wounded creature and feast on its flesh. The bloody sea churned and frothed. It was past everyone’s waist now, and still rising.
“Wooden bullets,” said Melody, breathlessly. “I changed magazines. I’ve always believed in being prepared, too.”
“How many wooden bullets have you got?” said JC.
“That was most of them,” Melody admitted.
Another vampire shark reared up, exploding into the air and splashing blood right into Natasha’s face. The creature’s clawed hands slammed down onto her shoulders, the mouth opening wide enough to bite off her whole head. JC spun round and punched the thing in the side. Ribs cracked and broke under the blow, and the creature fell back from Natasha. JC hit it again, in the head, and felt as much as heard the vampire’s thick skull collapse under the blow. The vampire fell back, mouth stretched wide in agony, and Happy deftly tossed a handful of pills into its mouth. The vampire’s jaws snapped closed automatically, then the whole long body convulsed, and it thrashed helplessly in the blood, as the other vampires turned on it. Natasha shot JC a grateful smile.
“You saved my life . . .”
“I helped,” said Happy.
“You saved me, JC. I won’t forget that.”
Kim sensed a moment coming on and quickly intervened. “Hello? Still lots of vampires all around you, and the blood is rising! Get away, you. Shoo.”
A vampire snapped at her foot, dangling directly above the blood, and its jaws slammed harmlessly together.
JC glared about him, thinking hard. The vampire sharks were still circling, though at a slightly wider radius, made wary by their failures. Why were they so determined to attack?
“Happy, these vampires are swimming in blood. Any idea why they’re so keen to taste ours?”
“Apparently there’s nothing like the real thing,” said Happy. “The need to hunt and feed from the source is built into them at the genetic level. I really think we need to get out of here, JC.”
“I’m working on it!”
JC’s gaze fell upon the far tunnel-mouth, three-quarters full of blood. No way out that way . . . but it did give him a sudden inspiration.