Where
there’s a
Vampire
By
Russell Gilt
Logan
Renan lay on his bunk in the dark, thinking. Logan was very good at
thinking, it was essential in his line of work of you didn’t think
when you were a Bane, you were liable to be found strewn over several
counties when the night was out. He was thinking about his work,
being a Bane that is and what it meant to him. For those few who do
not know what a Bane is, allow me to clarify. However, before I
explain them, you must learn of the Nocturnes.
“Nocturnes”, as
they are collectively known by the day-life are the Liken-throats and
the Vampira, or Werewolves and Vampires to give them their common
name. Human fables and tall-tales from across the world involve the
Nocturnes, but for a while, nobody aside from lunatics and the few
who knew the truth, believed that these creatures truly existed. They
had their own world, the Regnum Nocturnus, and were for the most part
content to stay there save for the occasional restless Moon-child or
Blood-born. But then, a few years ago the Nocturnes’ supply of food
in their world began to run low and more and more of them began
entering our dimension to feed. And so the Banes were formed; an
organization of genetically-enhanced soldiers, capable of protecting
the humans from the Nocturnes.
Logan lifted his
right arm into the air and stared at the tattoo, barely visible in
the darkness of the dorm that stood out black against his skin, a
gothic cross upheld by a battling wolf and bat. Below the insignia
was a curling scroll with the words U.S.
Bane
inscribed in black ink on the skin. The tattoo was both symbolic and
practical for a Bane. It marked them as one of the Corps, but it was
also extremely useful when battling the Bloodborn as the cross would
sear their flesh upon contact. The tattoo also covered the small scar
that marked the place where the syringe had entered Logan’s arm and
injected the serum into his bloodstream, the serum that was the only
thing that gave the Banes a fighting chance against the Nocturnes,
the serum that made them three times stronger faster and more
resilient to injury than the average man.
Logan lowered his
arm and thought about his team. There was Finn, their sharpshooter,
able to hit anything from polar bear to a peanut at incredible
distances. He was fifteen and small for his age, a wiry boy with a
dark complexion who had originally come from Russia. He was not one
for long-winded speeches preferring instead to cut straight to the
heart of the matter or indeed shoot the heart of the matter as he
often did.
Then there was
Aaron, their communicator. He was not the incredible computer wizard
that you hear about in stories who can do anything with computers. He
was just as good at computers as any other communicator on the base,
which meant very good but still only as good as was mentally
possible. He was sixteen and was built like a bamboo tree, tall and
lanky, looking like he would fall over at any moment.
After him was
Vanessa, their explosives technician. She had blue eyes and red hair,
a somewhat startling combination. There was almost no structure in
the world that she couldn’t blow sky high if she wanted to. She was
only fourteen.
Then of course there
was Logan, the leader and strategist. His hair was of a reddish-brown
and his eyes were plain brown. He was fifteen years old and almost as
tall as Aaron. He could use explosives, computers and firearms to a
certain degree, but I was nowhere near as good with them as the other
three were. Still, he was a vital part of the team. All of the teams
required a leader, someone to rally behind. It was a rank to be proud
of.
The base was never
still. There was always a call for help with the Nocturnes and so the
teams were constantly being sent out to deal with them.
They slept when we
could between calls to be ready for our next assignment. Logan had
been asleep for a short while but had been woken by thoughts of his
occupation as he often was. There was no feeling of guilt when he
killed a Vampire; they were undead and their very existence was crime
against nature. Werewolves were more of a problem to the conscience.
They were still people most of the time, only becoming beasts once a
month. Mainly they tried to cage Werewolves and get them back to the
base where they could be kept away from people. But there were the
times when there was no choice. When the Werewolf had to be killed
before it killed you or worse yet, some of the human population.
Logan did not relish these instances.
Logan shook these
thoughts from his head, rolled over, and fell asleep.
Logan
awoke to the buzzing of his alarm. He reached up and switched off the
earpiece then sat up in his bunk and indulged in a swift stretch. He
slept on the upper bunk above Aaron. Across from their bunk was Finn
who slept on the lower bunk of an identical bunk bed. The barracks
were full of such beds, all black with tuff mattresses and green
blankets.
The walls, floor and
ceiling were white and there was but one door leading out into the
rest of the base. There were windows along one wall as there were in
every part of the base in case of a Vampire attack. Morning sunlight
streamed through them, illuminating the groggy faces of boys of all
ages waking up.
Logan pulled on his
grey team leader’s uniform, emblazoned with a red duplicate of the
tattoo on his fore-arm, dropped from his bunk, and stood at
attention.
“Team 17, fall in!”
he bellowed at his teammates who had been awoken by their own alarms.
They leapt into positions behind Logan.
All over the room,
other teams were falling into formation. The girls’ barracks were
right beside ours so Logan’s team was not complete yet. They would
have to pick Vanessa up from the other barracks on their way to the
mess hall.
Once all of the
teams were formed up, they marched out into the hallway in order by
number. The girls were coming out into the hallway when they got
there, and Vanessa quickly joined Logan’s team, completing the
group.
Soon all of the
teams were complete and formed up into ranks at which point they all
set off marching down the hallway to the mess. The hall was blank
white with a few doors leading off to various rooms and lit by
electric strip-lights on the ceiling. The sound of four-dozen pairs
of boots marching along the hallway echoed off the walls, but no
recruit made a sound aside from that.
They arrived at the
doors to the mess hall only minutes later. They were large,
stainless-steel doors that swung open as we got closer to them,
revealing the mess hall. It was an expansive white room with high
ceilings, electric lighting and bullet-proof glass doors leading out
into the outdoor training arena. The doors were glass for the same
reason that every room in the building had a window: the Banes
organization could not risk a group of Vampires getting into the
place and moving through the rooms unhindered by sunlight. There were
hardly any underground rooms in the facility and the few that were
had mirrored tunnels reaching down to them to bring sunlight in. at
night time, the base relied on its mechanized anti-Nocturne security
which was some of the best in the world.
Stainless-steel
tables lined the center of the mess hall and along one walk ran the
serving area where food would be dished out to the hungry recruits as
they passed by.
The ranks of teams
marched into the mess hall and began filing along one wall towards
the serving area, picking up steel platters, cups and silverware from
a long table as they went. The silverware was laced with real silver,
expensive but necessary in case of a Werewolf attack.
At
the serving area carrots, beans and a serving of meat of some sort
were dished out onto all of the recruits’ platters. None of the
food was exactly restaurant quality, but it was not meant to be
enjoyed so much as to be eaten, kind of like zucchini.
Once their cups were
filled with coffee, the teams split off from the line and moved off
to the tables. Aaron, Finn, Vanessa and Logan sat down at a table
with a dozen other recruits. No tables were private in the mess hall;
there were just too many teams for that.
The mess soon filled
with chatter as the teams talked about what the coming day might
hold. Teams were never called out to take care of either Vampires or
Werewolves during the daylight hours as neither of the breeds could
act anytime other than night. No, they would be called out tonight to
take care of threats. Last night had been a rest for the section of
the bas where Logan and his team slept.
There were four
sections, each with a girls’ and boys’ barracks. Eradication
duties were done in rotation giving the duties to the teams in two of
the sections for one night so as to give the other two teams time to
rest before their night of duty. Today Logan’s team would be
resting mostly with the occasional wakeup call for training or meals.
Logan took a swig of
coffee and began to eat. He only had a certain amount of time to
finish his breakfast before he and his team had to leave for
training.
“Logan!” Finn
called, raising his voice to be heard over the background noise of
the mess hall, “do you know where we’ll be going tonight?”
Logan shook his head
calling back to him, “the office hasn’t told me yet, we’ll have
to wait till tonight to find out.”
Sometimes the
management of the base would give the team leader information as to
where they would be sending him that night before hand, but not
always.
Soon Logan’s
earpiece buzzed, informing him that breakfast was over.
“Mealtime is over
you three!” he called to Finn, Aaron and Vanessa, rising from his
seat as he did.
All over the hall,
people rose from their seats. Most were finished with their food, but
there were a few unfortunates who had to leave half of their meal
uneaten.
The teams formed up
into ranks again and marched towards the glass doors that led out
into the arena. As they passed through the doors, they stacked their
trays on a small table off to the side. They would be collected later
on by the cooks and cleaned for the afternoon’s meal.
The teams tramped
out into the dirt-floored training arena. High stone walls surrounded
the place, their tops surmounted with silver-laced razor-wire smeared
with a combination of garlic paste and holy-water. Placed at
strategic points about the walls were sensor triggered crossbows that
fired silver-tipped bolts that would inject a tablespoon of
garlic-paste into anything they penetrated. The sensors were trained
to activate the crossbows when any type of Nocturne broke their beams
which were set on a random pattern that left nothing but the tiniest
opening and could not be predicted.
The walls were lined
with black and white 2D paper targets. There were many different
types, bats, wolves, rats and humans all in varying sizes. Weapon
racks stood all around the arena. Sunlight gleamed on the blades of
various medieval weapons and shone with a dull luster along the black
metal of the firearms.
The training started
off with exercises, limbering up for the more exerting tasks
presented by the arena. Then the teams shot at the targets for a
while before moving on to hand-to-hand combat. Vanessa paired up with
Finn, leaving Logan to spar Aaron.
The two boys circled
each other, preparing for the attack. A few years back, when they had
first entered the corps there might have been some posturing here,
but now there was only silence between the two friends as they
prepared for their opponent’s first strike. Logan knew from
experience to never underestimate Aaron’s capability to thrash him
in a fight. Though he was tall and lanky, he used these attributes to
his advantage, employing a wind-milling fighting style that, while it
seemed at first glance to be erratic and off-balanced, was completely
controlled. Fortunately, Logan was no slouch when it came to
hand-to-hand combat.
He
waited for Aaron to make the first move. He came in with a swinging
right which, while powerful, Logan recognized as a feint. Aaron let
his punch swing him around and then dropped into his real attack,
collapsing into a crouch and coming in low with one long leg lashing
out to sweep Logan’s own from beneath him.
Logan hopped over his
leg and swatted him in the back with a kick of his own, pushing him
over. Aaron rolled into a standing position and turned to face Logan.
They began circling again.
This time around,
Logan made the first move, coming in with a flurry of quick, powerful
punches. Aaron dodged them all and then came back with both arms
swinging, spinning his body. Logan dodged the first of these blows
but the second one caught him below the ear. The force of the blow
would have been sufficient to break a man’s jaw.
An ordinary
man’s jaw, that is.
But Logan was
anything but ordinary.
He was Bane.
The blow hurt, but
Logan had faced pain in numerous forms and knew how to stand it.
“Nice shot,” He
commented to Aaron, rubbing his jaw, “but you’ll have to do
better than that.”
Logan
was awoken from his sleep by the beeping of his earpiece. It was the
sound that meant it was his team’s turn to go out on the hunt.
It
was by now somewhere around 500 hours military time according to his
watch, early enough in the night so that they could get to the place
where a Nocturne had been reported early and be there waiting for the
Vampire to arrive. It would be a Vampire Logan knew because he and
every other recruit on base had studied the lunar phases chart so
much that he all but had it tattooed on the backs of his eyelids and
therefore knew that there would not be a full-moon for a few more
days yet.
Logan had slept in
his uniform so as to save himself the trouble of dressing when he was
woken.
He dropped
soundlessly from his bunk, doing his best not to disturb the other
teams in the dorm. They needed their rest; they would soon be called
out on hunts of their own.
Finn and Aaron were
already awake thanks to their own earpieces and they left the dorm to
meet Vanessa who was waiting in the hallway.
The four companions
then set off along the hallway in single-file, stopping at one of the
doors and entering through it into the armory.
The room was
brightly lit by electric lights just like all the other rooms in the
base. The window in the ceiling that led in sunlight during the
daylight hours was now dark, revealing only a circle of star-spangled
night sky. The electric light shone on the blades, barrels and lenses
of the many weapons hung along the walls of the room.
The
weapons in the room were divided into two categories, depending on
what manner of Nocturne they were designed to destroy. Along one wall
hung the weapons used when fighting a Vampire, steel stakes, garlic
pellets, holy-water, etc.
Along the other wall
were weapons effective only against the Liken-throats. Among these
items were silver-knives, silver loaded firearms and other weapons
both modern and medieval laced with the metal so deadly to the
children of the moon.
“Choose your
weapons fast, people,” Logan said in hushed tones despite their
obvious solitude as he consulted his wrist-watch, “we have to be on
the helipad in two minutes max.”
The team went about
their business in silence, first getting suited up in combat-fatigues
of an opaque material unable to reflect light and then retrieving the
weapons most suited to their own hunting styles.
Finn, being a gunman
first and foremost, chose a shotgun and a sniper rifle, neither of
which would actually kill a Nocturne but would certainly give them
pause to think about the bog hole now showing in their chest. He also
chose two spray-bottles, one loaded with garlic juice, the other with
heated vinegar both of which would cause a vampire extreme pain and
would eventually kill it. What most people didn’t understand was
that while garlic was effective against Vampires, so was vinegar as
it was a substance with a powerful enough taste to remind a Vampire
of the life it had once had.
Aaron chose a steel
cattle-prod/quarter-staff greased with garlic and a crossbow with
holy-water smeared bolts.
Vanessa’s chosen
weapons were a squirt-gun loaded with vinegar, two knives smelling
strongly of garlic and vinegar and a couple of garlic grenades.
Logan picked out two
dart-guns whose projectiles were filled with a mix of garlic juice,
Holy-water and vinegar, as well as a cattle-prod capable of frying a
grown man that would distract a Nocturne long enough to pull the
trigger on one of the handguns.
The team would divide
the explosives Vanessa needed among us so as not to slow her down
with an overload of baggage. They carried no crosses, they did not
need to. Their tattoos would work just as well as any cross on
Vampire.
The
team left the armory and headed through the base to the doors leading
out onto the helipad. When they stepped through the doors the whup
whup whup of the waiting helicopter filled their ears and the wind
whipped their hair about. The helipad was empty aside from the
Blackhawk in front of the team. The rotors where already spinning,
thrashing the air around it.
The door slid open
and Logan, Vanessa, Aaron and Finn clambered inside. The pilot did
not speak as he lifted off, concentrating on the controls of the
aircraft. The team sat, two on each side of the copter, checking
their weapons and mentally preparing themselves for the hunt ahead of
them.
Logan
had been on trips like these hundreds of times in his past years in
the service, but it was always, always
the
same. The thought of willingly coming into contact with such
creatures as Nocturnes seemed madness and the only way he could make
himself do it was by thinking of the people the undead would poison
if not disposed of.
People
will die and become one of these creatures if the Vampires are not
destroyed, Logan
thought to himself, snapping the magazine back into his handgun, I
have an obligation to these people, no matter how afraid I am of it.
“We’re
nearing the drop zone!” the pilot called back to Logan and his
team, “get your parachutes ready!”
Aaron, Finn, Vanessa
and Logan all strapped on their parachutes, and stood waiting. They
had been flying for about twenty minutes now and Logan’s stomach
was filled with fear mixing nauseatingly with the thrill of the hunt.
The pilot had
briefed the team on their mission during the flight. A boy named
Felix Freon living at number 107 on Baker Street had been getting
weak spells for a while now. Two red scars had been found on his neck
upon inspection and the base had sent Logan and his team in to take
care of the Vampire as he would undoubtedly return to drain the boy
further. They would have to wait for the Vampire to arrive and then
finish him off before he got to Felix.
“We’re over the
drop zone now!” the pilot called. Logan moved over to the door and
hauled it open with his team right behind him. The distance to the
ground was dizzying. Logan knew that with Bane endurance the impact
of the fall itself would not kill him, but his heart would explode
long before he hit the ground if he jumped without a chute. Far below
on earth he could see a small town spread out, lights shining in the
darkness.
Without a moment’s
hesitation, Logan leapt from the aircraft. The air whipped past him
as he plummeted downwards and he could feel his heart rate rising. He
waited until he was close enough to earth and then pulled his chute.
He heard the ruffle and snap of the canvass as it unfurled and then
the wrench as it radically slowed his descent.
When he reached the
earth, Logan detached his chute and left it in the grass. He drew
both handguns and swiveled in a slow circle, checking the
surroundings for possible threats as the other three made their own
landings behind him and detached their chutes.
Satisfied that there
was no immediate threat in the area, Logan turned to his team,
already armed and motioned for them to follow him.
Soon
they reached the village and were moving silently through the
streets, skirting the ones where houses had lights on, until they
reached 107 Baker Street. Logan, Vanessa, Finn and Aaron set up a
perimeter around the house and began the wait. The Vampire would not
be able to get into the house without them seeing him.
After
four hours of waiting, when the sun was just a distant memory and the
moon shone in the star-sprinkled sky, the Nocturne finally showed
himself.
A figure, just barely
visible in the moonlight, began moving through the street, up the
sidewalk and towards the house. Logan could tell by the peculiarly
smooth movements and pale skin that shone in the moonlight that this
was their quarry.
Logan waited for it
to get close enough and then acted, giving a high-pitched whistle to
signal the others and bursting from his hiding place as he did.
Logan fired off two
shots at the Vampire. He dodged both and ran. Logan gave chase as did
Aaron, Finn and Vanessa. Logan’s legs pumped beneath him as he sped
after the Nocturne. He led the four Banes towards a church which was
odd Logan thought. Why would a Vampire run to a place which stood for
everything he wasn’t? Then Logan realized as he altered his course
that he was no running to the church itself, but for the graveyard
behind it.
He
leapt the fence and ran off among the gravestones. Logan paused,
contemplating his next move. Graveyards were a Vampire’s home turf;
it would be dangerous to follow him in there. On the other hand, he
was on a mission and had been charged with bringing the Vampire down.
He looked at the other three and they nodded. They leapt upwards and
cleared the fence easily.
Logan motioned for
them to spread out and they did, scanning the graveyard, weapons
raised. Suddenly there was a howl, not of pain but more like a call.
Logan cursed under his breath; the Vampire was calling for help. They
would have to finish him off quick. Logan motioned for the other
three to close in on the area where the call had come from as he did
so himself.
We
moved in slowly, weapons at the ready. Logan saw a flicker of
movement ahead of him in the darkness and fired off three shots. He
heard two impacts and I cry of pain from the darkness.
Logan raced forward,
both guns still raised in case of any tricks from the Nocturne.
He found the Vampire
writhing around in the grass, limbs thrashing and fingers scrabbling
at the dirt. There were two darts protruding from his chest and they
were almost empty of the liquids deadly to the Vampire. He was still
alive though he wouldn’t be for long with the amount of garlic and
Holy water in the darts. He looked about fifteen, with stark white
skin and red lips. Logan felt a flash of sorrow for the boy he had
once been.
When he saw Logan
and his team he smiled, inch-long fangs showing as he did.
“Your hours are
numbered, Nightstalkers,” he assured them, his voice inhumanly
smooth, “You will not survive the night. The others are coming and
they will kill you all.”
“Not likely,
Unholy,” Logan said, and stamped the darts further into his chest.
With a groan, the Vampire ceased to move. He could not die per-se as
he was not alive in the first place.
“We’d better get
out of-” Logan began, but then I saw the figures moving through the
fog.
Nine of them.
Logan cursed again;
this Vampire had had too many friends.
The Nocturnes did
not waste time laughing or telling the team just how dead we were,
but simply charged.
Logan
spoke a prayer under his breath as he began firing off shots at the
figures in the darkness.
Before long, six of
the nine Vampires were down thanks to Finn’s accuracy and Vanessa’s
garlic grenades, but three still stood, fighting like the unholy
creatures they were. One of the Vampires leapt on Logan and slammed
him to the ground. He tagged him with his cattle-prod and saw his
body convulse as the electricity shot through him, but he ripped the
weapon from Logan’s hand and grinned.
“Your soul is
mine, Nightstalker, prepare to become one of the very creatures you
once hunted,” he said, opening his mouth to a humanly impossible
size.
“Yeah right, eat
cross unholy!” Logan said, and jammed his forearm against the
Nocturne’s face. He screamed and let go of Logan as the cross on
his tattoo burned his flesh leaving a smoking mark where it had
touched him.
Logan stood, looking
around him. The other two Vampires were both dead, having been taken
care of by Finn, Aaron and Vanessa.
Logan looked down at
the Vampire writhing at his feet and motioned to Finn who tossed him
a pistol. Logan shot the Vampire three times and he ceased
convulsing.
The sun was rising
now, and the bodies of the Vampires all around them were crumpling
into dust as their age caught up with them in the dawn’s orange
light.
Logan let out a deep
breath. There would be more of them, there always were. But when they
came, he and his team would be there. Their hunt was over…for the
moment.
