The vampire spat blood into his face, “Turn it off!” he yelled, “And I’ll tell you.”
“Tell me and I’ll turn it off!” Ranjit yelled back.
“No one is allowed inside. There is a code for it. Please,” tears of blood flowed down from his eyes, “Just turn the damn noise off.”
Ranjit signaled the order, and a reluctant looking Evan pressed the same button. The noise stopped immediately.
“Now tell us. Where can we find the database?”
The vampire, his long hair matted with blood, breathed heavily and paused, “We cannot tell you. It is forbidden.”
“Don’t fool with me!” Ranjit yelled, pushing his sword towards the vampire’s throat.
The pain burned through his skin and he let out a squeal. “Don’t kill me!” he tried to push away Ranjit’s hand, “I’ll tell you.” The other vampires stared at him and prepared to strike. The humans created a circle around the vampire and Ranjit.
“You will help me,” Ranjit said softly. “Lead me to the library database. If you are useful, we might spare your life.”
“Alright, follow me.” He got on his feet and gestured for the humans to follow.
General Singh said in a loud voice, “If anyone is to follow us or try to attack, you know what will happen.”
The vampires glared and hissed at them.
John ran towards the entrance and a large tentacle smacked him hard on the back. The tentacle left some kind of powerful irritant on his skin causing him to cry out. He cursed wildly under his breath and in his anger sliced off the tentacle and hacked away at the remains.
The squid’s large tubular head protruded out of the water. One of its eyes bled and the other glared at John as if it was hungry for human flesh. He didn’t fancy sticking around to fight, but realized he had no other choice. He decided to call for a fighter.
*****
“I should have known you would do something like this,” Erik said, biding his time.
Nikolas smirked. “Now you see your flaw, don’t you? Do you really think I would join a man who would kill his own son... a man so hungry for power that he would think of sacrificing his own grandson?”
Liam and Dante stood near them. The guards in the chamber were reduced to ash and there seemed to be no more on the way. Daniel remained on the floor and bled profusely. He watched Nikolas and Erik with one eye open. No way was he going to leave anyone alive, especially that brat cousin of his.
Erik suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Nikolas, but Liam spotted him and shoved him aside.
“No,” Nikolas said, “Leave him to me. I want to enjoy killing him with my own hands.” He threw a fairly small but powerful green energy ball towards him that blasted him through the steel wall. As the smoke drifted away, they saw Erik still standing, his clothes shredded by the impact. Erik threw his sword like a boomerang at Nikolas. It missed its target by two inches and returned to its owner. “Don’t pull your tricks on me, vizier!” Nikolas flew straight for him, smashing him into the wall and creating cracks around the room.
Daniel stood up with blood still flowing from him. “You cannot escape,” he croaked. “I won’t let you.”
“Back down, Gareng. It is too late,” Dante took his sword and pointed it at him.
Daniel screamed and let out a destructive burst of energy, “I won’t let you!”
Nikolas landed on the floor. “Son, give it up,” he said. “Either let us go, or join us.”
“How could you?” said Daniel, tears of blood flowing from his eyes.
“I had to,” Nikolas said.
Erik collapsed with a fractured skull and slipped into unconsciousness, blood flowing out the back of his head.
The battle in Morocco was over. Hopkinson and the two hundred and thirty soldiers that were left rested themselves on the floor, exhausted. Some drank alcoholic remedies to ease the pain of their wounds. Others helped the wounded. George sat there with a cigarette in his mouth and observed the blood soaked sand that stretched for miles around.
The vampire base had been totally destroyed by the fighters. They had all been killed before they could call for backup. Ted and his squadron members, landed on the ash-stained bloody plain. “Well,” he said to George as he took a cigarette from him, “What’s the latest from the others?”
“Nothing yet,” George replied, “What about Kurt? What does he say?”
“No word.”
John’s voice came through all their communicators. “All units to the Atlantic. I repeat all units to the Atlantic. Stop whatever you’re doing and come here now! We need major backup and now’s the time to destroy this base!”
“Copy that,” everyone said in unison.
George sighed. No rest for the weary.
Romsky and his men reached the base and the aerial fighters gunned down whatever was left of it. His men surrounded the remaining vampires, “It’s over,” the general said.
“No!” The vampiric general spat. He was seven feet tall, weighed four hundred pounds, and wore no armor. His dark, maroon hair flowed in the icy wind and he bared his fangs as he smirked viciously. “In the next five minutes, fresh soldiers will arrive and you’ll be dead.”
“I doubt it. My fighters have probably already killed them en route.”
As he said this he looked up to see twenty fighters circling in the sky. “So I suggest you surrender and tell all ground and air fighters to stop. Tell them you’ve won.”
“No. I will not bow down to such scum!”
John’s voice came through the communicators, sending out a message to Romsky and his men. “Copy that,” Romsky whispered and then said to the vampire, “I guess you’ll have it your way then,” he turned around and went to the back of the army, “Kill them,” he said softly to his units through the communicator, “leave none alive.”
“Ranjit,” John said, “What’s the situation?” His voice was coarse from screaming. Ranjit could hear massive thuds and whipping sounds.
“We’re reaching the database. We’ve got one hostage and he’s going to take us in. When the files have been transferred and we’re out of there, I’ll let you know.”
“Alright, over and out.” The frequency switched off.
“Now,” Ranjit said, “wear these.” He handed the vampire two ear-pieces.
“What’s this?”
“Just wear them; they will block out the sound.”
The vampire laughed in disbelief.
“Wear them, damn it! They have been specially modified to block out the frequency but still allow you to hear us. Now just wear them!”
The vampire did as he was told and Evan flipped the switch. “That should stop any distraction,” he said.
They walked into a vast hall with shelves crammed to the ceiling with dusty old tomes. There were honeycomb shaped compartments stuffed with codices and scrolls older than any civilization on the Earth. The General and his men felt disheartened to know they would be destroying such a precious place. But they also knew they would be preserving all the important information digitally.
At the end of the hall was a metal door that required a coded entry with vampiric blood and a retinal scan. No ordinary vampire was allowed entry, unless he had prior permission. In this case, there was no one to give that permission and so the abandoned area was free to them. “Here,” the vampire said.
“Give the passwords and whatever’s necessary.”
“Nothing is required.”
“You take me to be a fool?” Ranjit said harshly, slapping him across the face. “Now do as I say and open the damn door!” The vampire said nothing and did nothing. “I said OPEN IT!”