Where to start?
One
"My Master wants to hire you."
I sat in stunned silence for several moments. For so long that she leaned forward and said: "Did you hear me?"
"Yes," I replied softly. "Who is your Master?"
"Benson Rabbet" she said.
Again the thin, piercing wail tore through my heart, shredding my soul. The child was dying in agony, wordlessly begging for mercy, for life. But I could do nothing.
Still I ran, desperately searching for the child in the maze of dark and quiet streets, praying that I could stop the torture. I rounded a corner and there she was, across the road, her arms stretched out to me while malevolent darkness swirled around her.
A child of nine, perhaps ten years. Long, blond hair in tight bunches, fair skin dirtied by tears falling from brilliant green eyes.
I stepped forward and the road became a chasm and I fell into darkness forever.
Vampire War
The monsters of myth came out of the cupboard
One
The Vampire War had been going for about three years.
It was messy and dangerous and made worse by idiotic decisions from the Government but then no one expected parliament to make much sense. None of them had ever been on the front lines, none of them had raided a nest slaughtering vampires and watching your comrades get ripped apart.
So I wasn't too surprised when I was pulled off combat duty and sent to the barracks at what used to be Horse Guards Parade and told to wait for orders.
At least I had a comfortable bed in an empty barrack room.
I had just gone to sleep, Gizmo laying on the floor beside me when the first warning came.
Gizmo let out a very low growl.
"Danger!"
The room was totally dark. I couldn't see or hear anything but Gizmo obviously could so I connected with his senses.
When I connect with my dog it's not like "seeing" or "hearing" in the normal sense. Gizmo's senses of sight, sound and most importantly smell are merged together and I get something like a three-D radar screen.
What was, to me, a quiet, dark room changed instantly. The soldiers creeping through the barrack might as well have had neon signs pointing out where they were. Five men, all in full battle gear and night vision goggles crept slowly forward. Just as slowly I reached under my bunk, grabbed the hilt of my sword and silently withdrew it from its scabbard.
Gizmo stood up, fur bristling up from neck to tail, lips pulled back from his teeth. I tensed up, ready to leap off the bunk the moment Gizmo attacked.
The closest soldier stopped and held up his fist to signal the others to stop. He laid his rifle on the ground and crept forward again with his hands in the air.
"Devine" he whispered. "This is not an attack. We need you to come with us. Special orders direct from Her Majesty. Get your kit and meet us outside. Code alpha dog Gizmo. It's Dum Dum".
I knew Dum Dum or Sean Strathearn, we had worked together several times. His nickname came from the original hollow point bullets, designed for maximum damage.
Slipping quietly out of bed I collected my rifle, handgun, sword, boots and battle kit. Outside two full squads of SAS were waiting for me plus two more dog teams.
Vampires are faster, stronger and heal much more quickly than humans, making them a very difficult enemy to fight. The SAS had intensive training and a cocktail of drugs to make them nearly as fast and nearly as strong but the drugs made them very twitchy and sometimes trigger happy. It was not a good idea to sneak up on them.
"Hello lads" I called in a loud whisper.
As one, twenty guns and twenty swords pointed in my direction. There was a brief and terrifying pause before Dum Dum spoke up.
"Okay lads, it's Devine."
Yes, I know. SAS using swords?
Vampires are very hard to kill, even with the latest mini rail guns and flechette rounds because you have to be so accurate. A shot to the head or heart will kill them, anywhere else they hardly seem to notice. With a sword however you can hack off limbs and slow them down enough to put a bullet through their heads.
"Hi Jason," Dum Dum spoke quietly. "We're doing a raid on a large number of Vampires. We don't know exactly how many but we do know that they're mixed in with some humans."
I was puzzled. If there was a Vampire nest nearby I was pretty sure I'd know about it.
"Where?" I asked.
"The House of Commons" he replied and shrugged his shoulders.
I was too stunned to speak for a moment.
"You're mad," I finally said. "We can't attack the House of Commons!. That's treason, a military coup. The military hasn't attacked the government in this country for centuries. Besides they're guarded by soldiers and armed police, it'll turn into a civil war."
"Actually," a feminine voice spoke from the group of soldiers. It was too dark to make out anything more than outlines but as she stepped forward I could see that she was wearing a dress and carrying a sword. "Treason isn't a crime against the government, it's a crime against me."
It took me a few moments to process what was being said and then the penny dropped. Even though I could still see only shadows I knew who it was. Queen Charlotte!
"So you're the man who's killed more vampires than anyone else. How come?" Queen Charlotte spoke quietly but with an underlying assumption of authority.
I'm not tall, slightly below average probably but the Queen was tiny. Slim, petite yet radiating power.
"I don't know your Majesty," I mumbled, which was true. To a point.
"Let's go then," she turned and walked away, not even looking over her shoulder, knowing everyone would follow her. "We'll see if you're as good as everyone says."
Two
In theory the Queen was not allowed into the Houses of Commons but ceremony and tradition had clearly been abandoned.
Two of the SAS pushed the doors open and the rest, including me and Gizmo rushed in behind Queen Charlotte who raised her sword and screamed "Demons must die!".
There was a moment of stunned silence then a vampire leapt out of the benches, I think it was the MP for Reigate and Banstead who bared his fangs and rushed for the Queen. He didn't make it.
Gizmo had knocked him down and ripped his throat out before anyone else could move.
Then all hell broke loose.
The SAS started shooting, vampires seemed to come from everywhere, Queen Charlotte swung her sabre, she had obviously taken some of the soldier's "speed" so actually managed to hit a couple of attackers and I found myself standing beside her hacking vampires into pieces. I had time to notice that under her dress she wore battle armour.
When the battle had finished ten SAS were dead, a hundred and fifty vampires had been slaughtered plus a number of human MPs. All of us, including the Queen, were dripping with blood.
In a move patently rehearsed for the many cameras in the House of Commons, Queen Charlotte held her head high and thrust her sword into the air.
"Today we have taken the fight to our enemy," she looked at the terrified faces of the remaining MPs and without shouting her voice carried all through the House, helped by the mini microphone at her neck. "Today we have taken our country back. Today we have shown these monsters that they cannot win. Wherever they hide we will find them and eradicate them."
I found myself cheering with the rest of the soldiers but moments later we were all struck dumb as the Queen spoke again.
"I declare this Parliament dissolved. There will not be another Parliament until this war has been won."
She looked around the House again, the steel in her eyes defying anyone to challenge her.
No one did.
A couple of years after the defeat of the Vampires elections were held but no one was left in any doubt as to who held the power. MPs and ministers ran the day to day affairs of the nation but Queen Charlotte retained absolute control.