Viktor explained to us that he had been sent by the contact to make sure we were okay. After tracking us down to Arabia he searched for us and found us just in time. We agreed to split up, Viktor allowing us to use his boat. He said he had a few errands of his own to complete and recommended for us to get kitted up. What for he didn’t specify. He told us to meet at a safe-house in Russia which he gave a map along with the information on how to enter it.
The boat journey was difficult but with help from a few ‘persuaded’ hands we made it relatively safely to Nepal. Once there and out of sight I teleported us both to the cave’s entrance. We descended carefully as not to slip down the icy slope into the mountain but failed as we tumbled down the last couple of feet. We landed in a heap and looked up to see a well dressed man in a suit and tie, examining his nails. He looked up and a brief flash of recognition and wanted vengeance swept through his eyes.
“Ah, Cadan, how good to see you again,” his voice dripping with venom, walking silently over to us. We picked ourselves up and I looked intently at him.
“Sorry, do I know you?” I asked, hesitant about this man and how he had found us.
“Not in this form no,” he said. And then I saw it, as I looked deep into those red pupils as the white pupils faded to black. The vampire, the very same one I’d chopped in half thought to be dead.
“Oh God,” is all I could breathe, watching the fangs form and the claws elongate. He lunged for my throat and I dodged back, Michael searching desperately for something to help me with. The vamp pinned me to the floor, trying its best to rip my throat out, snapping at my neck.
I twisted my head, dodging and rolled it off me. I threw a knife at it but it twisted to the side to dodge. Another three knives followed but it weaved around the first two then jumped and hung on to the ceiling. The suit was now ripped in places where the vampire’s muscles had stretched the material where it wasn’t meant to be stretched.
Then Michael came behind me and shot three bullets into the vampires chest making it collapse. He handed me an M40A5 with ACOG as he went hunting for the fallen vampire who had dropped behind some screens. I followed closely behind, my grip tightening on the barrel of my gun, raising the sight to my eye level. Michael went round the back of the screens slowly, taking extra care to place each foot in front of the other, his hands trembling slightly as he tightened his grip on the semi-automatic shotgun.
He rounded the corner and fired two shots and then stopped. “He’s not here,” he called back to me, his voice echoing in the cave. I tightened the grip as Michael jogged back to me. “Maybe he went-” but his sentence was cut short as the vampire dropped on top of him and sunk his fangs into Michael’s neck. Shocked, I ran to the vampire crouched by Michael and smashed my boot into its face. Its head snapped back and it stumbled to the floor but it quickly scrambled up and charged at me. I got it in my sights and sent a bullet into its chest.
The wound clipped its heart and it recoiled letting out an inhuman wail. I chambered the next round and took aim again and made a bullet hole in the back of its mouth. I chambered the next and let loose the final round and sent a black substance spewing in lumps through the back of its forehead. I scrambled to Michael who clutched his healing wound. But it was slowly sealing in the toxin; the one which I feared could turn Michael into a vampire.
I apologised quickly and punched Michael in the face, knocking him out. I unsheathed my knife and hacked at the bite mark and a little bit over to be safe. The lump of flesh fell to the floor, the meat inside a greeny-black colour, while the bit still attached to his neck was a healthy blood red. Before the contaminated flesh spread all over the floor I picked up the flesh and threw it off the mountain side. I entered to see Michael awake again; his neck now only was missing a centimetre. He rubbed his neck as it repaired and looked at me breathless, his eyes wild and darting to check the darker corners of the cave. He struggled with his words for a while, only managing to gasp a few breaths and confused gasps. Finally he managed to blurt out, “What the fuck was that all about!?”
Viktor Konstantinov arrived not long after the battle, noticing we were late for the meet up.
“Is everything all right?” he said in his thick Russian accent. He was of a similar build to me, lean not muscely and slightly taller than me, although about the same height as Michael.
“Yeah, yeah fine, just had a little battle with this chap here,” I said, nudging the lifeless form at my feet. Although I had only met the man a few hours ago, and only for the briefest of times, I decided I liked him. “Ah,” he said, “Вампир, vampire to you. Tricky bastards. I should know, they birth in Russia.”
“Excuse me? Birth?”
“Yes they are born. Russia is the only country on the Earth to be just cold enough and just hot enough to allow vampire birth. A vampire doesn’t just bite a person and drain their life it consumes them completely. When it gets to Russia the vampire rips open its stomach and the new vampire climbs out. Because of the cold it grows in mere days to the height of the original human. After a while the vampire is then able to shift from vampire to human form but in human form they always have splashes of red in their pupils which glow slightly in total darkness.”
“Well, thanks for the insight, but what exactly are we kitting up for?”
“Ah, yes, some of my comrades are being pinned down by the PNA. They’re hunting down humans that help us, like fugitive harbourers. They are human, good friends that I made on my journeys. There are three of them all battle hardened, but not damage resilient like us. They have to be extracted ASAP. They’re holed up in an old castle, strong but not used to being hit by RPGs and SMAWs and grenade launchers.”
“Right, well we’ll grab our gear,” I said and walked off with Michael. Michael picked up a raffica pistol, an SAS standard issue combat knife and a G36C with an ACOG scope. I picked up my 44.Magnum/Colt Anaconda (they’re one and the same) also with ACOG, my butcher’s knife and the M40A5 I’d used earlier, which had already proved itself as a worthy weapon, also with the ACOG scope. Viktor zipped in behind us and asked if he could use one of our AK-47s. We gave him the go ahead. He picked it up, testing its weight and walked out thanking us, a smile on his face. We teleported to his safe-house, agreeing it would be suicide to pop-up in the middle of a war zone. From there we hopped into Viktor’s Russian jeep. It struck me that Viktor loved his country and would rather die than use a product manufactured anywhere apart from Russia.
Finally we made it to the old place and saw large chunks of wall missing from it as PNA men hammered it from all sides. I spotted the men Viktor mentioned as they fired weapons on their attackers, but to no great effect. Viktor quickly went over the battle plan with us.
“Cadan, I want you to teleport them out of there and bring them down here. Then, me, Dorian and Matkovic will neutralize the men on the East side while, you, Michael and Alexai will flank the men to the West who will no doubt flock to the aid of their comrades to the East after they notice they are being attacked and hat their targets have gone. Can you do that?” I nodded and flicked into the building. “Здравствуйте господа, я - здесь от имени,” which translated as, “Hello gentlemen, I am here on behalf of,” but I was interrupted when one smacked me in the face. I stumbled back clutching my nose and blocked the next two punches, on the second grabbing his wrist and twisting it hard. I glared at him and released him. “Thanks for the welcome arseholes. If you would kindly hold on,” and without waiting I touched the two other men’s necks and head-butted the first man and flicked to the place Viktor and Michael were waiting. The first stumbled back and fell over while the other two barely managed to stomach the sudden movement through space. It happened to humans who it had never happened to before. The first spat blood from his mouth and growled at me. Viktor introduced us, the two twins being Matkovich and Dorian, while the arsehole was Alexai. Viktor quickly went over the plan again.
YOU ARE READING
We Exist
Teen FictionA young teleporter named Cadan searches for his brother, Jarek. But he's not alone in his hunt, both in pursuit of his brother and himself by a shady private miltary force known as the ParaNormal Agency, who are on the hunt for superpowered beings...
