Vampires Don't Sparkle: Deathless Book 3 (7 page)

The disk began to hum, a sound just beyond the edge of hearing. It was unmistakable, and Trevor knew what came next.

“We have to stop them now,” Jordan roared, blurring into the room. His pistol was already in his hands, and it coughed several rounds in Steve’s direction.
 

The time between deafening gunshots lengthened as Trevor began a blur of his own. There was a sort of doppler effect as his entire body accelerated. He leapt through the doorway, circling wide to the left as he watched events unfold. Irakesh had also begun a blur, carefully positioning himself between Steve and the rounds Jordan had fired. The bullets corkscrewed through the air, moving unerringly towards Steve’s face and chest. Each left a visible wake in the air, crawling towards their target as if in no particular hurry.

Irakesh plucked them from the air one by one, then flung each one back at Jordan, but Jordan easily evaded them. He dropped his pistol, leaping into the air above Steve. It was a smart tactical move for several reasons. Steve was the one initiating the light walk, so if they could stop him then they could also stop Irakesh. If they failed, their opponents would escape. It also forced Irakesh to stay engaged in the fight. If they went after him he could simply vanish—or, worse, create an illusion to distract them.

Trevor briefly considered drawing his own pistol, but decided against it. Firing it would give away his location, and he wanted to maintain the element of surprise. He glanced behind him, seeing Blair enter the room. Blair had a hand extended towards Steve, but whatever shaping he was doing was invisible. Trevor shifted his attention back to Jordan, who was descending towards Steve’s still human form. Then a bolt of green energy shot from Irakesh’s hand, catching Jordan in the chest and knocking him away from Steve.

Now, my host
, his risen crooned. He didn’t need the encouragement; he was already in motion.
 

Trevor intensified his blur, planting a foot against Irakesh’s face and launching himself at Steve. The move caught the deathless off guard, and he knocked Irakesh to the edge of the platform as he sailed into Steve. Trevor’s flying tackle knocked Steve prone on the disk. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have broken his concentration. The deep thrumming intensified, and the room was bathed in familiar white light. A moment later they were elsewhere.

Trevor gave it a once over, knowing he only had moments before combat resumed. The room, wherever they were, was dimly lit by the familiar diamond-shaped lights he’d grown used to back in the Ark of the Redwood. Fluted columns lined a pathway leading from the room, just like they had in the Nexus. The disk they’d landed on also mirrored the Nexus, which meant they were in another Ark. The Ark of the Cradle, if the hologram had been telling the truth. Trevor gathered that meant somewhere in Africa, where Irakesh’s mother ruled. Lovely.

“Fuck,” Jordan roared, flipping to his feet and blurring towards Irakesh. His meaty werewolf fist sailed harmlessly through the illusion of Irakesh’s face.

“Dammit,” Trevor muttered, leaping off Steve and back into the shadows. They’d failed to stop Steve from initiating the light walk, and it looked like Blair had been left behind in the Nexus. That meant the fight was two on two, more or less even. Except that Irakesh was older and more powerful than he and Jordan put together.

Another bolt of toxic green energy lanced from the darkness at the edge of the room, briefly illuminating it. The bolt sailed into Jordan, picking him up again and hurling him into the wall with a sickening crunch.

Trevor unleashed an eldritch bolt of his own, catching Steve in the face. The bolt knocked Steve from the platform, sending him slamming into the black stone wall where he collapsed. Right at Jordan’s feet.
 

Jordan leapt on Steve, tearing and biting as the two males snapped at each other. Jordan had the twin advantages of size and experience, so Trevor turned back to combat.

“Clever, my apprentice,” Irakesh’s voice whispered from the shadows. Trevor darted right, then left. He rolled behind a pillar. His evasive moments were probably unnecessary, but the last thing he needed was Irakesh getting the drop on him. The deathless had far better control of his powers, and centuries more experience. Trevor doubted he could take Irakesh on his own, but hopefully he could delay him long enough for Jordan to deal with Steve. “What will you do now, Trevor? We’ve arrived at the cradle, and without Blair you can’t escape. Even if you beat us, you’ll still have my mother and her attendants to deal with. Surrender, and she may show mercy.”

“Fuck you,” Trevor said, turning his attention back to Steve and Jordan.

Steve was on the bottom, clearly getting the worst of the exchange. Jordan hadn’t come away unscathed though. His fur was matted with blood, and one of his eyes scrunched shut in obvious pain. The two were apparently more evenly matched than Trevor had expected. He could do something about that, though. Trevor blurred forward, planting a hand against Steve’s shoulder. He reached into his reserves, flooding Steve’s body with the same awful radiation he’d just used at range. The move caught Steve off guard, and he began flopping about like a fish.

Jordan instantly seized the opportunity, ripping out Steve’s throat with his fangs. Then Jordan leapt to his feet, planting one furry foot against Steve’s chest as he seized Steve’s right arm with both hands. Jordan ripped with all his strength, tearing off Steve’s arm in a shower of hot, coppery blood. Trevor found himself licking his lips where some of the blood had splattered. A tide of hunger rose within him, but he forced it down as he dropped back into the shadows. Just in time. A bolt of green fire shot past him, catching Jordan in the shoulder. It knocked the Commander back from Steve, though Steve didn’t seem in any shape to capitalize on it.

Steve scrambled away from Jordan, finally pulling himself to his feet at the base of one of the columns lining the room. He clutched his severed stump with his remaining hand, but Trevor knew it would only be a minute or two before the limb regrew. They had the advantage, but only for a few moments. He had to find a way to capitalize on it, but what the hell could he do?

Be wary, my host. A new danger approaches.

Trevor rolled into a crouch next to a column, studying the darkness. There was no sign of Irakesh, and both Jordan and Steve were recovering in different corners of the room. He sensed nothing, so what had caused his risen to speak?
 

The head of a massive scythe erupted from Jordan’s chest. The haft shone gold, very much like the sunsteel sword Liz wielded. The two-foot-long curved blade at the end was also gold, but had an enormous ruby set into the center. It gleamed cruelly for a moment, then it wrenched loose from Jordan’s chest. Jordan’s furry form collapsed to the ground, eyes glazed. He was totally unresponsive, possibly unconscious. What the hell had done that?

Trevor kept perfectly still, waiting to see if the attacker revealed himself again. If he did, his likely target would be Steve, as he was the only visible person in the room. So Trevor watched him, waiting to see what would happen. A few moments later, the same golden scythe burst from Steve’s throat. He reached up to free himself; the axe jerked. The motion slammed Steve’s body into the column next to him with so much force all three remaining limbs shattered. His broken body tumbled to the ground, unmoving.

It was a damn good thing Trevor neither breathed nor had a heartbeat. Either would have given him away. He stood there next to the pillar, waiting. Long moments passed, then a rolling wave of green energy burst from the center of the room. It came from the strangest figure Trevor had ever seen, much like a werewolf but with the head of a jackal. It wore golden armor, but he didn’t have time to see more before the energy burned his eyes from his face.

He fell to the ground screaming, praying for the pain to end.

Chapter 11- Stabilizing the Nexus

Blair stared dumbly at the light bridge as the white light faded. All four figures had been whisked to wherever the bridge had taken them. If his theories about the glyph over the door matched the hologram’s claims, then that meant all four had just light walked to Africa. They were now in the stronghold of the enemy, locked in a fight for their lives.
 

Take caution, Ka-Dun
, his beast rumbled.
You seek to protect your pack, but if you follow blindly you may share their fate. That would deliver not one, but two access keys into the hands of your enemies.

The beast wasn’t wrong, but Blair still took a step towards the light bridge. Either he acted decisively and followed, or he accepted the fact that Trevor and Jordan were lost. They’d need an Ark Lord to guide them back to the Nexus, and there was no way they could coerce Steve to do that.
 

“I have to go after them,” he decided, hurrying towards the light bridge.
 

“That is inadvisable,” buzzed a cheery voice. Blair spun to find the hologram hovering not far from the doorway. Oddly, there were no gems projecting the light that formed the strange green figure. Somehow it had manifested on its own.

“Inadvisable why?” he asked, stepping onto the light bridge.

“Inadvisable, because as previously mentioned the Nexus is doomed unless you forge a conduit to the Ark of the Redwood,” the alien said—Blair couldn’t think of it as anything else, since it very much resembled the little green men that had so bedeviled Fox Mulder. “If you leave, the ocean will destroy this place. This act will isolate all seven great Arks. They will no longer have a shared connection, and light walking between them will be impossible.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure I’m willing to buy what you’re selling,” Blair replied, taking several cautious steps toward the hologram. “It seems awfully convenient that this place is suddenly in trouble, right at this precise moment. Why now? Hasn’t it stood for millions of years?” The anthropologist in him was intensely curious. He’d always dreamed of discovering a lost culture, but an entirely lost species that had, in many ways, exceeded their own? That was beyond incredible. Yet he wasn’t willing to let his enthusiasm override his caution. This thing had its own agenda.

“Indeed,” the hologram said, giving a jerky little nod. Its tone remained unfailingly cheerful. “The Nexus was created after the fifth Ark, four point eight million years ago. It has stood the entire time, though its location has moved several times since its creation.”

“So why is it suddenly in trouble now?”

“The problem began nine millennia ago when the conduit to the First Ark was severed,” It explained, cocking its head to the side. “Until that time the Nexus was always sustained by a steady flow of energy, which kept it safe during the intervals when the sun produced less energy. Once the conduit was severed, the Nexus began losing power, and this process has continued until the present day. This process has greatly accelerated over the last few years, because several groups have used the light bridge to enter and leave. Doing so costs enormous power, and has taxed the Nexus to its final limits.”

Blair closed his eyes, considering. “So this place ran off its own battery, and the First Ark recharged that battery. Since that connection is severed you need a new one. Basically I have to jump start the Nexus using the Ark of the Redwood. Is that about right?”

“Precisely,” It said. Blair opened his eyes, staring down at the cheerful little alien. “Your arrival is quiet fortunate. So far as I know the Ark of the Redwood is the only one with reserves large enough to sustain the Nexus.”

“How much power will that take from the Ark?” Blair asked.

“Approximately 63% of the Ark’s current power capacity will be required to sustain the Nexus. This percentage will drop as other Arks come on line and establish their own conduits,” It explained, blinking once.
 

“You said the connection to the First Ark was severed. Who severed it?” Blair asked, changing gears. He wasn’t sure whether to cooperate with this thing yet, but at the very least he could learn as much as possible. Assuming it was telling the truth.

“I do not know,” the hologram said, somehow managing to look troubled. “At first I suspected the progeny of the Builders, but they are unable to access the Arks or the Nexus.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Blair said, running his fingers through his hair as he considered the hologram’s words. “If the Builders created this place, why wouldn’t they or their progeny be able to use it?”

“They lost access through my own intervention,” the hologram said, giving what sounded like a sigh. “I helped shape the helixes of the progenitors of what you know as the Deathless, as well as those of your own sub-species. Your Ka, the entity you address as the Beast, is a shard of my existence. A copy, if you will. That is the reason for the name, as I am called Ka.”

Blair was silent for a long moment, the revelation shocking. Ka was the Egyptian word for spirit, and he already knew that ancient Egypt possessed many markers that had to hail from an earlier civilization. It all made sense. Ka had been created by whoever or whatever the Builders were. Isis, the Mother, had somehow met Ka. Possibly right after the brief memory she’d shared with him. He’d witnessed her discovery of the First Ark, and it was quite possible that she’d met Ka inside.

He didn’t let that derail him, though. As momentous as this new information was, he still needed to know who had intentionally cut this place off, and why. “So you helped Isis create the deathless. Why did that block the Builders and their progeny from using the Arks?”

“Isis used the Primary Access Key to modify each of the Arks as they were discovered,” Ka explained. “She created secondary access keys like the one you possess. Prior to the creation of these keys anyone could use an Ark. Once the keys were created they became the only method to control the Arks. Since the keys are bonded to your DNA only a hominid with the mutagen Isis and I engineered can control an Ark. This prohibits the Builders or the progeny from seizing control.”