Death Deceives Read online

  A tiny bell above the door tinkled when Igor entered. We trooped in after him, hiding our weapons in our luggage. I wrinkled my nose at the musty, unclean smell. Exposed beams gave the inn an even more rustic atmosphere. The threadbare carpet was decades old and had turned almost black beneath layers of dust. Deer heads had been mounted on the walls and stared at us with glassy, blind inattention.

  Slumped over a battered desk with his face lying on a girly magazine, the clerk was snoring hard enough to make the pages flutter. Geordie eyed the large breasted girl on the cover with interest. Igor gave the kid a flat stare, thankfully preventing him from making any inappropriate comments.

  Gregor cleared his throat loudly but the clerk didn’t even twitch. Geordie giggled and I sniggered along with him. Igor took matters into his own hands and stumped forward to thump his fist on the desk.

  The clerk woke with a small scream and sat up in fright. Seeing five customers waiting to be served, his face turned scarlet at being caught sleeping on the job. Mustering a smile, he fumbled beneath the desk and pulled out an ancient book. “Welcome to my inn!” His smile widened, revealing crooked yellow teeth. “How many rooms would you like?”

  I had no idea what language he was speaking but Gregor answered him easily enough. “Four, if there are enough available.” Even he and Igor must need a break from Geordie at times. The three of them usually shared a room. Judging from the lack of noise coming from upstairs, the inn was totally empty.

  “Of course. I have plenty of rooms available.” Eyes bugging at his good fortune, the clerk swivelled the book around so we could register. He hunted through a drawer for some keys as Gregor picked up the pen.

  We each used a fake name on the register then took the keys and headed upstairs. The room Luc entered was even mustier than it was downstairs. I picked up a pillow, smacked it hard and watched generations of dust fall to the floor. “What a crap hole,” I muttered sulkily.

  “Would you prefer to sleep in the trunk of our car?” Luc asked me.

  “It would probably be cleaner than this place,” was my snide response.

  We took a shower together and the hot water cut off before my dark companion could get any ideas about jumping me. From the tortured groaning of the pipes, the plumbing was even more ancient than the carpet.

  It was Luc’s turn to stay awake again. Once the sun made its appearance and we were sure our friends were asleep, we used the opportunity to engage in a bout of sexual gymnastics. Keeping the human in mind, I tried not to make too much noise.

  Muffling a groan of pain as I snapped his spine, Luc rolled off me onto the dusty carpet. The bed would have collapsed if we’d tried to utilize it for this purpose. “Sorry,” I said as his bones began to repair themselves.

  Sending me a wry smile, Luc levered himself to his feet and held his hand out to help me up. “You should never apologize for giving me such pleasure, Natalie.”

  “I just can’t seem to stop myself from hurting you.” While I loved having sex with Luc, I hated causing him pain.

  Guilt and sadness crossed his face fleetingly. “It is no more than I deserve after what I did to you.”

  We both knew he was talking about the time he’d cut my head off. “That wasn’t your fault, Luc. The praying mantis is to blame for that and, believe me, she is going to pay.” I’d never been all that devoted to keeping my promises before but this was one I wasn’t going to shirk.

  Amused by my nickname for his maker, Luc kissed me on the temple and handed me my shirt. “You should try to get some rest.”

  I shivered at a cold draught of air that crept in through a crack in the wall. Sparks flared in the fireplace when the breeze reached it. Despite the flames, the room was still too chilly for me. Putting the t-shirt back on, I flicked as much dust off the covers as was possible and turned the pillow over. It was far cleaner on the other side. Since I didn’t need to breathe, the dust couldn’t get up my nose and make me sneeze. As I fell asleep, I realized I actually missed some of my former bodily functions. I hadn’t sneezed once since the night I’d died and had been reborn as the undead.

  Waking the next night, I sent out my senses and was disturbed to find that one of the small packs of vampires heading for the cavern of doom had almost caught up to us. I advised the others of this as we left the inn and headed to our cars.

  Gregor had an answer for how they had managed to close the distance between us. “They must have a human slave to transport them during the day.” It seemed obvious after he pointed that out.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Geordie said timidly. We all turned to look at him and he hunched his thin shoulders at our stares. Apart from me, he was the youngest in vampire years and usually had little input into our strategy or discussions. Given his mischievous nature, none of us tended to take him very seriously.

  “What have you been thinking?” Gregor asked with a touch of indulgence in his tone.

  Unaccustomedly serious, Geordie was expecting ridicule but took a chance and voiced his opinion anyway. “What if not all of our kin in these small groups are possessed? What if they’re just being forced to join the First?”

  “What difference does it make?” Igor said in response. “As soon as they reach the First, they will be lost and will become our enemies anyway.”

  Nodding excitedly, Geordie was almost dancing on the spot. “That is my point exactly! Shouldn’t we try to help the unpossessed ones escape before they are turned into grey monsters?”

  Gregor and Luc shared a frown. Geordie had raised a point that all of us had done our best to avoid contemplating. Now that it had been proposed out loud, I felt obligated to at least attempt to help our kin who were unwittingly being led to their hideous transformation into imps.

  It seemed I wasn’t the only one to feel the guilt. “Cutting down the numbers of our kin being turned into imps would be an intelligent move,” Gregor said almost reluctantly. It would also eat into the time we should be spending hunting down the First.

  Luc nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps we should intercept the group that is nearing our location and see how many have not yet been possessed.”

  Igor didn’t look happy about the decision but he wasn’t about to argue with a lord. Not even if the lord was his good friend. “How close are they, Natalie?”

  Closing my eyes, I sent out my senses and felt the small group of vampires only a few kilometres away. “They’re almost on top of us.”

  Gregor had already formed a plan. “They will most likely be taking the highway. I propose that we drive very quickly and find somewhere to set up a roadblock to stop them.”

  We couldn’t formulate a more detailed plan until we had stopped the group. Once we saw how many possessed we were dealing with then we could decide how to proceed. For Geordie’s sake, I hoped at least a few members of the group were mere victims of their shadow-possessed masters. The teen had his undead heart set on freeing helpless vamps.

  Chapter Nine

  Igor quickly overtook us and made his way back to the highway. Luc kept up easily, dodging around the slower cars and keeping on the black car’s tail. To avoid anyone from calling the police, we only drove at reckless speeds when the road was clear of other traffic.

  Eventually, the highway narrowed down until it was only two lanes wide. Igor parked on the side of the road and we pulled in behind him. It was after midnight and there were far fewer cars on the highway now.

  Gathering in a circle, we quickly discussed strategy. Igor was the one with a plan this time. “Natalie, when you sense them closing in to within several kilometres of our location, Luc and I will block the road. If our luck holds, no other cars will approach while we deal with the group.”

  “We three can hide in the gully,” Gregor pointed to a deep ditch running alongside the road. “Once our kin exit from their vehicle, Natalie can determine which of them have been possessed by their shadows. We will target them first.”

  I glanced up at the cloudy sky. As I’
d predicted, it had rained while we’d been sleeping. The cloud cover meant there was no moonlight to cast shadows. I wasn’t sure how I was going to tell who was possessed.

  Luc had the same thought and offered a solution. “Igor and I will angle our cars so that the headlights illuminate the road.”

  “Good thinking,” I said with a smile and Geordie automatically scowled. I felt like smacking him upside the head like the others frequently felt compelled to do but restrained myself. Now wasn’t the time for childishness from either of us.

  We’d sped quite a distance away from the small group and had to wait for nearly an hour until I finally sensed them closing in. At my nod, Igor and Luc climbed into their cars. There were no other vehicles in sight so they pulled across the highway, blocking it almost completely. As planned, they angled the cars so that their headlights shone across the road.

  Moments later, light bloomed. Gregor, Geordie and I had already scrambled out of sight into the ditch. We kept low as a van approached. If we were spotted, our ruse would be blown. The vehicle slowed down several hundred feet away from the blockade and came to a stop. Igor and Luc were almost invisible behind the bright lights of their cars. They kept their weapons out of sight.

  “Get out and see what the problem is,” a guttural voice ordered from within the van. It hadn’t spoken in our father’s alien language but I’d bet anything the speaker was a sentient shadow using its vampire host as a puppet.

  I poked my head up in time to see the driver’s door open and a human male climb out. He walked with the jerky movements I associated with someone who was deeply under hypnosis. It was a wonder he could drive while in that condition.

  Rustling and twitching came from the back of the black van. Without windows, I could only guess at how many vampires were crammed inside. From the size of the vehicle, I estimated there would be no more than six or seven of our kin in there.

  As ordered, the human approached our blockade and stopped a few feet away. His shadow stretched out behind him, thin black legs incredibly long. “Why are you blocking the road?” he asked in drugged sounding French. He lifted a hand to shade his eyes from the glare.

  “We are police officers,” Luc lied smoothly. “There is a problem ahead and we were ordered to set up a road block here.”

  Unable to think his way through the problem, the slave half turned back to the van for further instructions. A forced sigh came from the passenger side of the black vehicle then the door creaked open. “Stay out of sight,” the voice commanded the unseen passengers. The speaker’s shadow was unsurprisingly revealed to be a gigantic, slump shouldered horror upon exiting the van.

  Geordie was quivering in fright beside me, clutching his knife to his thin chest. Gregor was tense but outwardly calm. My swords were in my hands and I didn’t even remember drawing them.

  Reaching its human slave, the sentient shadow rose up, momentarily leaving its host behind. Stretching out until it resembled melted toffee, it slipped between the cars and studied Luc and Igor. It hissed in recognition when it realized they were vampires and I was on my feet as it sped backwards. Using its host as a puppet, it opened its mouth to scream for help. One of my swords burst out through the vampire’s chest and the other sent his head flying into the darkness. Wailing in anguish, the shadow immediately began to shrink. Tearing at its hair, it gnashed black teeth at me and then dissipated as its host’s body melted into slush.

  Frightened murmurs came from the back of the van as Igor and Luc left the blockade to join us. The road was still clear of traffic as we surrounded the vehicle. Gregor and Igor covered the front while Luc, Geordie and I stationed ourselves at the back.

  “We have you surrounded,” Luc said without raising his voice. He sounded eerily like a human cop. “Exit the van immediately or we will set it on fire.” The threat of fire was a sure way to quickly gain their cooperation.

  Furiously whispered conversation was exchanged. “How do we know you won’t just kill us when we come out?” called a shaky female voice.

  “You don’t,” Luc responded. “You have five seconds.” He didn’t give them time to consider the offer and started counting immediately. “One. Two. Three.” The rear door opened before he could count down any further.

  Holding their hands up to show they were unarmed, six vampires disembarked from the van. Shaking and terrified, they huddled together, standing shoulder to shoulder for comfort. Luc gestured for them to move around to the front of the vehicle.

  Proving he really was Igor’s apprentice, Geordie was given the task of clearing the road. He moved the van to the side of the road but left the headlights on. Igor and Luc’s cars were shifted next. With six of our number holding their hands in the air, we made a suspicious sight and I hoped no other cars would interrupt our meeting.

  “What do you want from us?” the female who had called out from inside the van asked. Although she spoke in French, none of the group looked like courtiers to me. Their clothes were too shabby and they were far less attractive than any other courtiers I’d ever seen. The female spokesperson had very short auburn hair, teeth that overlapped in the front and a prominent nose. The other five were even less appealing than she was.

  “What is your name?” Gregor asked her.

  “Marie,” she said and swivelled to face him.

  “Do you know where your master was taking you, Marie?” Gregor asked.

  Marie shook her head. “Something strange happened to Antony a few nights ago. When he came back from a hunt, he was a different man. He’d also captured a slave.” She nodded towards the human. He stood by the side of the road, staring vacantly at nothing. The death of his hypnotizer hadn’t snapped him out of his daze. I figured it would wear off in its own good time.

  “Your master was leading you to your doom,” Geordie said solemnly.

  “What do you mean?” asked one of the male captives.

  “Have you heard of the legend of the First of our kind?” Gregor asked the group. He received six nods.

  “What do legends have to do with what happened to Antony?” the female asked. She lowered her hands and crossed her arms over her chest. The rest hesitated and dropped their hands as well. Standing in the light of the van, I’d been watching their shadows and none were acting independently so far. Some shadows could keep up the pretence for a while but they always gave themselves away in the end.

  “He isn’t a legend,” Luc said and drew the group’s attention. “The First is very real and he has created an army of grey creatures.”

  Incredulous, the female gaped at Luc. “You are speaking of the monsters attacking Russia? How is this possible?”

  Headlights lit up the road and we paused until the car swished past. “It is a long story,” Gregor said, gaining their attention again. “The short version is; our Father’s blood was tainted and the taint has carried to each and every vampire ever created. Eventually, our blood transforms our shadows into sentient beings. Once this happens, they have the ability to possess us. Your master was possessed and was answering the call the First has sent out. You were being taken to his lair where you would all be turned into what our friend here calls ‘imps’.”

  At Gregor’s nod in my direction, six heads swivelled around to view me. “Who are you?” Marie asked.

  “I am Mortis,” I replied. I expected screaming, panic and attempts to flee and was surprised when the female started giggling.

  “Mortis isn’t real,” she told me when she recovered herself. “She’s just a fairy tale told to fledglings to make them obey the rules.”

  Clearly, a demonstration would be required. Putting my swords back in the sheaths that crisscrossed my back, I held my hands up with the palms facing the small group. This time, the predicted screams issued forth. One of the vamps managed to slip between Geordie and me and tried to run. I let him get fifty feet away before chasing after him.

  Putting on a burst of speed, I leaped into the air. Wind blew my hair back and rushed throug
h my ears then I landed in front of the fleeing lackey and turned to face him. Shocked that I’d managed to get ahead of him, he skidded to a stop and landed on his backside. His feet scrambled for purchase but I didn’t give him the chance to scurry away again.

  Grabbing him by the ankle, I dragged him back to the group and dropped him in their midst.

  “Are you going to kill us?” Marie asked in a small, frightened voice.

  “Only if anyone makes me chase them again,” I said darkly.

  “None of us are going to kill you,” Gregor soothed them while frowning at me. “We were trying to prevent any unpossessed kin from being taken to the First’s lair.”

  “What are you going to do with us?” asked one of the others.

  Gregor looked momentarily dumbfounded. None of us had thought that far ahead. Privately, I’d expected the entire group to have been taken over by their shadows. What the hell do we do with them now? Taking them with us wasn’t an option. Not if we wanted to remain unnoticed. The larger our group became, the more attention we’d attract.

  “Maybe they should head back to the mansion,” Geordie said timidly. “Someone needs to look after the place.”

  “Are you speaking of the Court’s home?” Marie asked. “Our master took us there once, to show us what we could never be a part of.” The group looked sad, as if they had missed out on something wonderful. Once they found the catacombs and saw what kind of conditions they would have been living in, their opinion would swiftly change.

  Gregor gave them a sympathetic look but I knew how crafty he was. He was ten steps ahead of me and had some plan in mind already. “We are at war with both the Council and the First. When the war is over, we will be greatly diminished in numbers. Now is your chance to be a part of a new and far better family.”

  While I liked Gregor’s confidence that we would come out as the victors, I wasn’t sure about his idea that we’d make a big happy clan. In my limited experience, when vampires gathered in numbers, bad things happened to humans. The only exception to this that I’d seen so far was the Japanese vampire nation. They’d managed to coexist with their food for thousands of years. If they could do it, maybe we could pull it off as well. Or maybe you will all die at the hands of the First and the humans will end up as cattle. I heaved a silent sigh at the continued negative thinking of my subconscious.