Read Carlotta and the Krius Scepter (Carlotta Series Book 1) Online
Authors: John Booth
Well, that was a challenge that was easily met. Scientists were still queued up to leave as I walked over to the box and opened its lid.
“Ta-dah!”
Peleus did not look amused. I couldn’t hear his teeth grinding, but he had a look on his face that suggested they might be.
“Do it properly.”
I lifted the box off the plinth intending to show him that it was indeed empty. As soon as it was in my hands voices began to speak in my mind. I was so startled I nearly dropped the damned thing.
“What just happened?” Peleus demanded suspiciously.
“Nothing, it was heavier than I expected.” Now that was a poor recovery with flaws in my logic.
“You carried the box back to the museum last night.” Men, I swear they are only ever logical when you don’t want them to be.
“I was a vampire, high on adrenaline at the time. I didn’t notice.” ‘
Nice repost’
, I congratulated myself. Hey, if I don’t give me compliments when I deserve them, I don’t end up with many.
“Run your hands along the edges of the box.”
“Your wish is my command, effendi.” The voices in my head spoke in ancient Egyptian and I hadn’t spoken that in quite a while. I recognized two of them. Magicians I’d known from that period, one barely eighteen when Thampthis had cut short her life. It was strange how I could remember the lilt of a voice when the language itself was proving much harder to recover. The voices abruptly stopped, but that wasn’t going to be an issue. I would be able to recall the words at will. With a few repetitions to refresh a few thousand year old memories I knew I’d be able to understand everything they’d said.
I held the box against my tummy and ran my fingers all over it. As I’d anticipated, nothing happened. I’d caught enough from the voices to know it wasn’t going to be that simple. The fact that the box hadn’t identified me last night was also encouraging. If it needed me as me to trigger it, it wasn’t going to be giving out messages to any Tom, Dick or Arthurian Fey that touched it.
“Enough,” Peleus shouted. “Put the box back on its plinth.”
I complied wondering if it was time to attempt to escape. Peleus might well conclude he had no further use for me now that I had failed him.
The woman who had spoken to Peleus earlier spoke to us via an intercom system. “Sir, we have the results of the scans.”
“And?”
“When the subject picked up the box something happened. She got colder and it got much hotter. This lasted for sixty-seven seconds. Energy was detected coming from the box across the entire electromagnetic spectrum to the limits of our detectors.”
Peleus stared at me, waiting for an answer.
“Well, I told you it felt heavier.”
“Take her and put her in the Silver Room.”
That didn’t sound good. Two of the killers that escorted me off the train entered the room with those damned paint guns in their hands.
“You could just co-operate, Cear,” Peleus suggested a little too smugly for my tastes.
Like that was ever going to happen.
I drooped and the killers slightly relaxed. I walked towards them dejectedly. If I’d been a dog my tail would have been hanging limply between my legs. There was a closed laptop on the table in front of me. I needed weapons and it was slim-line enough to be one. No cables were connected to it either, my lucky day.
As I reached the table, I slumped onto it as if it had all got too much for me. The men moved forward, lowering their weapons, one of them reaching out to stop me collapsing onto the floor.
I swung the laptop edgewise into his throat with all my considerable strength. I didn’t just crush his windpipe, I also severed his head. I ripped the paintball gun from his still twitching fingers and rammed it into the other man’s mouth, shattering his teeth on the way. The trigger was set on automatic and I pumped many rounds into his throat, letting go as the proximity to silver began to hurt me.
Peleus reacted as I expected: initial surprise, followed swiftly by a hand reaching into his breast pocket for what was, no doubt, a gun loaded with silver bullets. I had fully taken vampire form as the first bullet ripped harmlessly through my body. Now was my chance to kill him and rid the world of the threat. If I died in the process then no one would ever be able to open that damned box, and the world would probably be a doubly better place.
My elongated fingernails swiped for Peleus’s throat as he fell back. What they hit a millisecond late was impervious fur as the bastard changed into a werewolf.
Vampire versus werewolf isn’t a pretty fight. The wolf is stronger, but much more vulnerable, and in this case he was hampered by the clothes he’d been wearing. It took precious seconds for him to rip them to shreds and I took the opportunity to bite off his one remaining ear. He screamed in agony as I took a chunk from it, licked the blood off and spat out the remains. It seemed only fair that I should balance him out like that. A man’s body should be symmetrical.
A clawed paw, every bit as effective as a vampire’s fingers swung across my chest, cutting into my breasts with the ferocity of a whip strung with titanium nails. I staggered back shrieking as he brought canines longer than mine into the game, snapping repeatedly at my face.
Slipping on the life blood of the man whose head I’d removed, I fell to the floor, accidently saving myself from another killer swing from Peleus’ paw. I have to say he seemed angrier than me. Perhaps it was from losing most of his other ear? Well, when I say losing, most of it was still dangling down from his head like a pirate’s earring. Okay, I admit that’s pretty disgusting, but when you’ve lived as long as I have, nothing much shocks you.
I was going to lose this fight. He was stronger than I was and better motivated. I skittered back across the floor on all fours while staying face up. I knew if I looked away for a second he’d strike and I’d be dead. He sniffed at my exposed crotch and then grinned down at me.
Even when he was a dog I could read his face and knew he intended to destroy my womb before he took my life. He knew that would hurt me more than death itself. I prepared to kick up as he dived down, though I knew it would be futile because his strength was so much greater than mine. I slipped and slid back away from him though to no great effect. We both knew he had won.
Peleus lifted his head in triumph and howled. There were no other werewolves to hear, but the instincts of those we shift into tend to overwhelm us if the emotion is strong enough. My hand touched the lifeless hand of the second man I’d killed and also what it held.
He made his move and I made mine. In that dead hand I’d found the second paintball gun; silver didn’t affect me as a vampire but it would sure as hell hurt Peleus as a werewolf. I gave him three shots in the mouth before aiming at the eyes.
Peleus screamed. Silver is as deadly to a werewolf as it is to a Fey. Werewolf and Fey share a common ancestry. They were a failed offshoot of our breed, limited in power and feral in nature, werewolves were children of the Fey who didn’t inherit all our genes. Horrible mistakes.
He cringed away from me and I got to my feet. The gun was set on single shot and I drove the howling creature back with shot after shot aimed at his head. I knew he’d remember to change back if I gave him the chance. I was surprised it hadn’t already occurred to him.
That meant I had to run now and kill him another time, if I could get to the door, and if the enemy beyond the door were stupid. I’ve not lived as long as I have without finding out how humans react when facing an unexpected threat. I reckoned my chances were about even.
Just as I reached the door Peleus began to change. I threw the gun at his head and jumped through the door, still open despite the humans outside having had at least a minute to close it. I pushed the close button as I dived into the people milling in the space beyond. A swift glance confirmed that only two people were acting with hostility. They were Peleus’ professional killers. I dived at them with vampire speed and agility, slitting both their throats with well judged swings of my arms. Women screamed in terror along with some of the men.
The vampire wanted to drink the blood of the men at my feet, but I knew I didn’t have the time. Peleus would be free in moments, and though he’d be lost in lust and might use a couple of the females in the corridor, I was certain he’d be after me in minutes. I needed to escape and there was only one way out I knew. I had to get back to the train and the railway tunnel.
A vampire runs like a gorilla with its knuckles almost touching the floor. It suits their extended frame while their heads can lift higher up than a human’s or Fey, so they are at no disadvantage the way a Fey would be. I ran down the corridor the way I’d been brought. One great advantage to total recall is that I don’t make false turnings in any place I’ve been.
Anyone who got in my way I casually slaughtered. Vampires aren’t built to be gentle with their prey and I just didn’t have the time to deal with them in any other manner. I always regret the taking of innocent lives and I have had many, many regrets in my life. A few more were not going to make a significant difference.
I reached the train, which appeared to be going nowhere and made a decision to flee back towards the city. Within a couple of minutes I had travelled the length of the train and was running down the tunnel beyond. I stayed in vampire form, knowing what would happen to me when I changed back.
Rejoining the main railway tunnel, I turned unerringly east and ran as fast as my legs would take me. Nowhere is pitch black to a vampire and I could see well enough to run. Whether I would be able to dodge a train coming the other way was debatable, but nothing was in sight.
Then there was daylight ahead. I couldn’t go into that as a vampire so I shifted back to my own form, the ache between my legs almost overwhelming me with desperate lust. The degree of desire is always related to the emotional energy expended in shifted form and I’d used more than my fair share just then.
There were figures on the line ahead. I couldn’t make them out from the glare for a few seconds as my brain was still partly vampire and vampires hate sunlight. Then I saw them clearly and sighed with relief.
I ignored the three hoods, both their open mouths and their pointed machine guns. Grabbing Brian by the hand I led him towards a convenient set of bushes a few yards beyond the tracks.
I called back to
The Don
and his men as we reached the bushes.
“Watch out for Regis and his men. Brian and I will be busy for a few minutes. Don’t you dare try to interrupt.”
Twenty minutes in and I was delirious with ecstasy. The boy seemed to have picked up more than a few of the pointers I gave him the previous night and his stamina was improving by leaps and bounds. I was hoping he would last another thirty seconds or more despite writhing with pleasure. He was taking me from behind with considerable vigor, acting more like a pneumatic drill than a Fey, not that I was complaining. I was on my knees with my breasts pressed against the ground and his thrusts were giving them a good workout as my body moved.
Then at the point where I thought I couldn’t last any longer, an explosion thrust him deep into my body and he collapsed on top of me. When I say
explosion
I mean a real physical explosion. My ear rang from the blast and rubble flew over our heads. Brian put his lips close to my ear.
“Did the Earth move for you like it did for me?”
I would have hit him if the angle had been better and I wasn’t busy laughing. This one was a ‘keeper’ though I knew I never kept anyone for long.
“What the effing eff was that?” Again, I find myself sparing you words that would make an Irish navvy blush. Not that I have ever been a lady.
“
The Don
blowing up the tunnel.”
I pushed Brian off me and stared at him in astonishment. “Why would
The Don
blow up the tunnel?”
Brian grinned. “Not just this end, he’s got some of his men to take out the entrance at the other end.”
“But why?”
“We were fighting about it when we saw you coming down the tunnel. I’d told him I was going in for you and he should leave the tunnel alone until I got you out.”
The boy was not paying attention to my question. I decided to slow it down and split it into two.
“What are you doing here, and why is
The Don
here with you?”
Brian shrugged. “Mike dumped me outside our apartment this morning. They’d got most of the paint off me, but some had got on my skin and it hurt. Mom was real pleased to see me and didn’t seem surprised when I told her Dad was a Fey. She just sighed.”
I nodded in an irritated fashion hoping that Brian would take the hint and get on with it.
“Mom scrubbed the paint off me and I went to sit out in the morning sun. I soon felt great.”
Obviously I was going to have to be a little less subtle. It seemed unfair to give the boy a hard squeeze after what he’d just done for me… He saw my hand move and swung his groin out of range. Fortunately for him, he also got my message.
“I decided to go and rescue you so I borrowed some money from Mom for the cab fare and went over to
The Don’s
place.”
That was so sweet it made me smile. It was also incredibly stupid. What had the idiot thought he was going to achieve?
“They let me in to see
The Don
and it turned out you and this Regis guy had just left.
The Don
told me you’d told him some stuff that made him regret his deal with Regis and he was going to teach the guy a lesson. Next thing you know we’re out here and another group is at the other end of the tunnel.
The Don
knows some people who know some guys who told him all about the hidden station inside the mountain.”
I shook my head in astonishment. You just couldn’t make this stuff up. I sighed and got to my feet, offering my hand out to Brian to help him to his feet. We grabbed our clothes and made ourselves look reasonably respectable. We’d have to stay downwind though.
“Let’s go and see what The Three Stooges have done to the tunnel,” I suggested.
“The Three Stooges?” Brian asked. I sometimes think the American education system has hit rock bottom and has to start improving soon. There was a time when The Three Stooges were gods.
I waved his question away, but resolved to buy the appropriate films for him later. A man should know his own culture. I’d get him some Pez and Oreos as well, just in case.
When we cleared the bushes the sight that greeted us could certainly be labeled as awesome. The tunnel entrance had vanished under a frozen sea of stone. Boulders piled up against the end of the track, which now led nowhere. It was a miracle the two of us hadn’t been killed by the blast.
The Don
, Vinnie and Mike gathered at the end of the tracks and stared at their handiwork. They had their backs to us, but I bet myself their mouths were hanging slack as they looked upon their mighty works.
Brian sent a stone clattering and Mike turned.
“You made it then?”
“Despite you trying to drop a mountain on us,” I pointed out.
The Don
seemed to find that funny. He turned to face us and I saw he had a cigar lit and stuck in his mouth; the man was a walking cancer factory.
“If there was a fight between you and a mountain I’d put my money on you’se. What do you think of the remodeling?” He waved at the rubble behind him.
“Very good and totally pointless.”
Vinnie had turned while his father was talking, eye still bandaged up. He sneered as he replied. “He ain’t gonna get out of there in a hurry.”
I put my hands on my hips. I rarely lecture, well hardly ever, but now seemed like an appropriate moment.
“Regis is not stupid enough to build himself an underground headquarters with only one way out. I doubt you’ve done more than annoy him.”
“And where exactly is this other entrance likely to be?” Mike asked in an amused voice.
“Give me ten minutes with a decent map and I’ll show you.”
The Don
grinned. “We got a pad with a fast internet link in the car. That do ya?”
“Lead the way,” I suggested as I grinned back. I love technology.
“Who exactly is this Regis guy and what does he want the Thampthis Box for?” Brian asked as we climbed the cutting to where the hoods had left their car.
“He’s King Arthur,” I said simply. Brian slapped me on the shoulder as though I’d lied to him.
“No, seriously?”
“I am serious. He was the legendary King Arthur back in the day. I thought I’d killed him until he turned up here. He wants the Krius Scepter.”
Mike joined in the conversation. “And this scepter thing is in the box?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” There were some things it was best not to disclose, just in case they later repeated it back to the wrong person.
“What’s the Krius Scepter?” Brian asked.
Well, they deserved to know that much and it might motivate them. I let my mind slip back to Atlantis so many years ago and narrated what I saw.
Hankle was the wisest and most foolish man I have ever known. Atlantis was humanity’s first city, not built to protect a growing population or a consequence of people learning to farm, Atlantis was built to house the magicians no longer needed to travel with the tribes. They were there to study nature and magic, to resolve why magic was slipping away from humans with each new generation.
Hankle was my lover and coincidently the leader of the magicians. Not yet thirty years old, he was the undoubted genius of the city. He was the one who found the way to build its impossibly high crystal buildings, the floors sufficiently opaque to allow a degree of privacy for its inhabitants. He was the one who tapped the streams of water from somewhere
beyond
that cascaded down channels cut for them from the highest room of every tower. Fresh water to drink and water to wash away our wastes, a double channel system, one of them enclosed in its path except for openings in appropriate rooms.
“I’ve got you something,” he said that special evening. He threw a metal stick at me, which I caught without any trouble. It buzzed in my hand and I dropped it in surprise. Sticks did not buzz in your hand in that time and place.
He picked it up while laughing at me and held it out for my inspection. It was about eight inches long and about an inch thick, though we didn’t use such measurements in those times. It had been surprisingly heavy and reminded me of the sword they’d made me. Of course, we didn’t call it a sword in those days; it had been the first of its kind. Hankle was always making me things. It seemed to give him enormous pleasure.
“It is made of the essence of a rock we have found that melts at a very high temperature. We call these essences metals and there are many of them. Gold is a metal and you know that one well.”
“And silver,” I said shivering. The recently discovered metal had made the life of the Fey hell.
Hankle frowned. He had argued that silver should not affect the Fey and had even accused me of faking my reactions. After hiding slivers of the metal about our dwelling he had finally accepted that my reactions were real. He resumed telling me about the stick in his hand.
“We created this just to see if we could. We call it the Krius and it is very special. In your hands… well, you could rule the world with this stick in your hand.”
“I have no wish to rule the world,” I replied tartly. “You should destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands.”
Hankle laughed. “We can’t, nothing can, now that it is made. I made it for you and it will be yours whether you like it or not.”
I took the stick from his hands and went to the balcony that looked down on the sacred waters hundreds of feet below. I threw it into them.
Hankle took my hand and took my clothes from me. I never wore much more that a sheet that could easily fall. We made love on the warm crystal floor.
“Aren’t you angry with me for throwing away your toy?” I asked when we were both satiated.
“It will return in time,” he said without any trace of rancor. “It was foreseen that you would throw it into the waters.”
We reached
The Don
’s car and Mike threw the tablet on the back seat at me.
“How does the Thampthis Box come into it?” Brian asked as I started to bring up maps and zoomed in and out of them. It took less than a minute to find the railways tunnel. I’d been right about the distance we’d travelled.
“Thampthis felt the box would prevent others getting at the Krius. I had courted him for twenty years after I heard a whisper his uncle had found an Atlantean object. His uncle was Pharaoh at the time and I couldn’t get near him, so Thampthis it was.”
I found what I was looking for on the map. A mining company had drilled many shafts into this mountain before eventually going bust. I searched through company records to find out who had bought the mine. It turned out to be a computer company about thirty years ago.
“I’m surprised it took you twenty years to make your man Pharaoh,” Brian said with a broad grin on his face.
“It didn’t, though his uncle was a wily old fox. Nobody stayed Pharaoh of Egypt long in those days if they weren’t suspicious of everything. But it took years after Thampthis reached the throne before we found where he’d hid it. I didn’t know it was the Krius until I saw it.”
I turned the pad so the others could see. “This mine is being used as a storage facility for important data files. It was bought by a company owned by Arthur Regis twenty five years ago and its main entrance is about fifteen miles away from the tunnel as the crow flies. It’s over a hundred miles using the roads.”