Blood and Stone (13 page)

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR

With the sun set, the complex at Chichen Itza was bustling with activity. The vampiric followers of Tezcahtlip were headed out, to round up more sacrifices for their master. Human followers, many now wearing army uniforms and carrying weapons, were greeting worshipers filtering in. Tents and even portable toilets were placed around the complex, threatening to make it look less like a god’s city and more like a refugee camp.

Darting in and out from the perimeter of the camp, a lone figure moved quickly, hovering just above the ground. The figure was nearly invisible to the naked eye, but still hovered behind concealing crates, tents and even the structures themselves. She carefully watched the camp and made count of the many followers of Kukulcan, noting which had weapons and which did not.

The observer was saddened by the line of worshipers entering the site, having walked for miles and miles to come worship the false god. Most were poor, with tattered clothes and emaciated bodies. They had not left much behind when they decided to head for Chichen Itza.

The observer heard a hiss to her right. She turned and saw a vampire staring at her. The creature could see the observer clearly, despite her ethereal nature. She inwardly cursed herself for her sloppiness and quickly flashed away, flying around a building in the blink of an eye.

Once again lost from sight, the observer briefly considered leaving, but something at the northwest end of the complex had caught her attention. She once more moved stealthily along, from cover to cover.

Sure enough, her senses had been right. A military humvee was parked with its tailgate down and two soldiers were unloading Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. This was not good. Soldiers abandoning their posts to join the shapeshifter was something the Colonel would need to know immediately.

The ghost walker named Daisy turned to leave the compound, orienting herself toward distant Miami. In a microsecond, her astrally-projected body would snap back to her physical form and she could report in.

“What have we here?” Tezcahtlip asked, suddenly standing in front of the ghost walker. He was accompanied by a half-dozen vampires, who fanned out slowly to surround Daisy.

The ghost walker considered briefly, but decided her only recourse was to launch herself straight up. Far from the ground she would have a hard time orienting herself, but she should be able to return to her body once she finally got her bearings.

Before she could so, Tezcahtlip had sprung forward and grabbed her by the neck.

Impossibly, the giant’s six-fingered hand grasped Daisy’s astral throat as though it were solid. She could feel pressure against the throat and briefly worried her own flesh body could feel it too.

“Very interesting,” Tezcahtlip said, examining the nearly-transparent figure he held before him. Like a ghost, the form had only the rarest hint of an outline, but it was enough for him to see his prey was a woman. Truly the humans of this age had discovered wondrous things.

“I wonder where your body is?” the giant said. “I would love to have a heart like yours.”

Daisy suddenly realized that being touched meant she could touch. She clawed at the face of the giant, who was leaning in close to examine her. Her transparent fingers gouged the giant’s eyes, causing him to scream in pain and surprise.

Tezcahtlip quickly extended his arm away from him and squeezed his hand tightly on the throat he held, then quickly reformed his damaged eyes. He could feel the astral form squirming in his grasp, but she could not break free.

His vision restored, the shapeshifter grabbed the throat of the astral intruder with both hands and squeezed as hard as he could.

Daisy struggled against the crushing pressure. It didn’t cause her pain, but she knew it was wreaking havoc with her mortal body back in Miami. She tried to fly free from the giant’s grasp, but he held her with an iron grip.

Slowly, her vision began to darken. It was as though a dimmer switch was being used on the light in a room. The world became darker and darker. Her hearing too began to fade.

Suddenly, the squirming form in the giant’s hand vanished, evaporated away in an instant, bursting like balloon. No trace of the woman remained.

Tezcahtlip breathed in relief. The energy it had taken him to maintain the hold had been incredible. He looked at the vampire closest to him.

The creature, a small, hispanic man in his mid twenties, with gangly limbs and a shaved head, lifted from the ground and flew over to the giant, pulled by telekinetic grip. The giant grabbed the vampire’s head and leaned in close.

Red energy leapt from the vampire’s mouth, sucked into Tezcahtlip’s. The undead creature fought frantically, kicking its arms and legs. But even without his telekinesis, the giant’s strength was incredible. He calmly held the vampire and continued to draw energy from it until its thrashing limbs slowed, then stopped.

Tezcahtlip dropped the spent body on the ground at his feet and addressed his followers who were backing away from him slowly. “Bring me fresh sacrifices.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

The news of Daisy’s death had hit Josie hard. The elderly ghost walker had been one of her best friends at Argon Tower. They had talked many times over the past two very hectic months of Josie’s life and introduction into the supernatural world.

Josie bit her lip to remind herself this wasn’t the time for sorrow. Daisy had provided valuable information to her telepathic handler before she had died from a crushed larynx. Her death wouldn’t be in vain.

Josie steeled herself then stepped out of the SUV she had been riding in, into the cold, dark night air. The passengers from the other two SUVs that had transported the team to Homestead Air Force Base were already out and getting their gear together. Nearby, a long, sleek airplane waited outside a hangar, ground crew busy around it preparing for flight.

“A little ostentatious, isn’t it?” Dr. Olson asked as she looked over the large bomber. Like Josie, the vampire was wearing a standard Air Force flight suit and boots.

Colonel Kenslir ignored the remark and carried his gear bag over to the B-1 bomber where the flight crew was waiting.

Beside Olson, Agent Keegan was similarly dressed in an Air Force flight suit and carried a large bear bag and a flight helmet. “There enough room for all of us on that plane?”

“Sir,” Major Christina Karr saluted. She was several heads shorter than the Colonel but clearly was the leader of the crew of four, who all also saluted.

Kenslir returned the salute and handed over a small packet. “Once we’re in the air, you may enter these coordinates. We’re headed west after take off.”

“Yes, sir,” Karr said, tucking the packet into a pocket on her flight suit. She turned and headed for a ladder on the nose gear of the supersonic bomber. The mysterious circumstances of the mission were perfectly normal to the small pilot. She’d flown countless missions like this.

“Uh, isn’t this a bomber?” Jimmy asked, looking at the plane as he walked toward it.

He had seen B-1 bombers in news articles before. The sweep-wing, supersonic aircraft was used to rain down unbelievable amounts of explosives over targets in both Gulf Wars and Afghanistan. Normally, though, they were painted in some kind of camouflage pattern. This B-1 was a deep, flat black, save for a life-sized, eight-legged horse painted behind the crew windows on the side of the fuselage.

“It used to be,” Phillips said beside Jimmy. “Now it’s an MB-1C, multi-role, supersonic, special operations aircraft.”

“MB-1R,” Kenslir corrected. “Upgraded engines from the last flight you took.”

Captain Smith was under the bomber, leading Victor toward the forward bomb bay that had both doors open. He walked toward the end of the bay, toward the middle of the plane, just ahead of the four underslung engines.

“Follow Atlas,” Kenslir said to Jimmy.

“Nice horse,” Laura Olson said, smiling at Kenslir.

Kenslir gestured to the drivers of the three SUVs and the vehicles drove away, then he walked over to the vampire, who was waiting for him. The remainder of the team were walking under the plane with Atlas and Victor.

“It’s named for Sleipnir, Odin’s horse,” Kenslir said.

“Odin? As in the Norse God?” Laura said, smiling. “That doesn’t sound very Christian of you.”

“Take it up with Major Karr—it’s her plane.”

Underneath the bomber, Josie could now see up into the bomb bay—or what had formerly been a bomb bay. Over thirty feet long, and around eight feet wide, the bay now held some kind of large module, roughly the size of a school bus, with a ramp that lowered down to the tarmac. Josie followed Victor and Atlas up the ramp.

Inside the module was tight quarters—narrow, like a minivan, but with only one row of large, leather seats down the left-hand side of the plane. On the right, cargo nets almost three feet high hung like pockets across from the seats, holding various equipment cases in place.

Atlas stowed his bag across from the seat closest to the cargo ramp, then sat down and swiveled the seat around so that it faced the rear of the aircraft. Victor sat down in the next seat up, behind Atlas, but left his seat facing the front of the aircraft.

“All the way to the front,” Atlas said as Josie looked around, wondering where she should sit.

Phillips and Jimmy were next up the ramp and took their positions ahead of Victor. Josie sat in front of Jimmy, with Keegan next. The petite FBI agent swiveled her chair around to face Josie.

“I wonder what the in-flight movie will be,” Keegan said, buckling herself in.

Olson and Kenslir boarded last, with Kenslir waving for the vampire to go forward. He worked a lever in the back of the module, which activated motors and slowly raised the short ramp. Once the ramp was in position there was a hiss of pressurized air. After a brief delay, hydraulics could be heard and the bomb bay doors beneath the module began cycling shut.

“Uh, can we be ejected?” Jimmy asked as he buckled in. He didn’t like the sound of the doors closing beneath him. He could feel the vibrations through his feet.

“No,” Kenslir said, moving forward and checking everyone’s harnesses.

Smith swiveled his chair back around to face forward once the Colonel had moved past him. “Only a crew can install or remove this module.”

Once he was sure everyone was buckled in, Kenslir sat up front, in one of two seats that faced to the rear, against the forward bulkhead. Laura moved her legs out as he buckled in, rubbing one leg against the Colonel’s.

“Cozy.”

Kenslir frowned then pulled his tactical targeting visor down from his forehead. “Flight deck, we are ready for take off.”

In minutes, the plane’s crew started the engines and the aircraft began to move. All the passengers in the transport module watched the progress through their own tactical visors, the augmented reality of the visors displaying buildings on the base in 3D form.

The bomber moved away from the hangar and down a taxiway, then turned onto Homestead’s main runway. It sat for only a few moments, then the engines roared to life and the plane began to roll.

Afterburners kicked in and the plane streaked down the runway, finally climbing suddenly upwards. The sound of the landing gear retracting was barely audible over the roar of the four engines.

“Is this normally how we deploy?” Jimmy asked over his shoulder to Phillips.

“It was in my day.”

The converted bomber banked to the right as it continued to climb, circling out over the Atlantic, away from Miami. It leveled off at five thousand feet, the afterburners turned off. The various navigational lights on the plane then winked off and it was swallowed in the dark sky.

On the flight deck, Major Karr tore open her mission packet, handing a data cartridge from the plastic pouch to her co-pilot. He plugged it into the onboard systems while she began to unfold a small flight map.

Karr was surprised at the path—this was going to be a very short flight. They were headed for Mexico—heading out over the Gulf, west, then angling south to cross the Yucatan. As always, Colonel Kenslir had marked the map with his own color coded symbols, indicating altitude and speeds for the flight. No in-flight refueling symbols were marked.

“I wish just once these Army guys would brief us right,” Captain Adam Field said from the co-pilot’s seat. He had just finished reading the mission parameters and flight path on his multi-display monitors.

“Better we not know specifics,” Karr said. She folded her map and tucked it under a strap on her right leg, then put her hand on the throttles for the bomber. “Looks like we’re going low this time.”

“Do we even get to do anything this mission?” Lieutenant Dean asked from the countermeasures station aft of Karr.

“Don’t you watch the news, Dean?” Field asked over the intercom. Mexico’s under siege. I’d say we’re flying into a hot zone.”

Karr sent the plane into a shallow dive, toward the ocean. Kenslir’s instructions called for a one hundred foot, on the deck, supersonic run. Something the B-1 had been designed for.

“Can the conjecture guys,” Karr said into the speaker. “You know the drill. And get that jammer on, Dean.”

“Right, Right,” Dean answered. He activated the plane’s very special jammers, not standard on other bombers. These were designed to block out any telepathic interference from the ground, rendering the crew’s thoughts and mission goals safe.

***

Josie had been nervous the entire time since takeoff—even more so when she used the augmented reality of her tactical visor to watch their flight progress. Traveling at Mach 1.5, a hundred feet above the ocean, at night, scared her to death. She quickly switched back to the visor’s internal memory, playing songs she’d uploaded to the smartphone-like device.

Now, nearly an hour later, Keegan, still turned around to face Josie, was asleep. The large flight helmet she wore would have hidden this if not for the fact the tiny blonde snored loudly. The stone soldiers sat quietly in their seats, checking their weapons and gear. The Colonel sat still in his seat, unmoving, no doubt going over the mission information on his own tactical visor.

Dr. Olson, the vampire, was the only one of the team who was animated at all. The vampire was very nervous-looking, tapping her leg and looking around in boredom. She had even tired of flirting with the Colonel.

>>>DR OLSON?<<< Josie texted through her TTV. >>>CN I ASK U SOMTHING?<<<

Olson pulled the visor off her head and unbuckled from her seat. The Colonel moved for the first time in fifteen minutes, watching her as she got up and walked back toward Josie.

“I can’t use those damn sunglasses,” Olson said as she approached Josie. She sat down on Josie’s bag, stowed to the right in the cargo nets. “Whaddya wanna ask?”

Josie swiveled her seat and pushed her own TTV up onto her forehead. “I was just... curious...”

“About boys? I’m not that kind of Doctor.”

Josie frowned. “No, I mean about your... condition.”

“Being a vampire? Is that what you mean?”

Josie hesitated. “Well, yes, I-“

”What would you like to know?”

Behind Josie, Victor and Jimmy leaned over slightly, trying to hear the conversation.

“How does it work? Drinking blood I mean.”

Laura smiled. “I don’t like it. Tastes horrible. It keeps me alive, and on the toilet. The bloating is something awful. I try to avoid drinking it whenever I can.”

“Where do you get it from?” Jimmy asked. “The blood, I mean.”

Laura grinned, showing her teeth. “Donations, of course. At Alcatraz, I had an agreement with the government for my meals.”

“You drank the prisoners’ blood?” Jimmy asked.

“For the first few years. Until I figured something else out.”

“Like what you did to the Colonel?” Josie asked.

“That’s right.”

“What did you do?” Jimmy asked.

“Vampires need lifeforce to live. We can’t generate our own. Not really sure why not.”

“Lifeforce?” Josie asked. “Like what the shapeshifter gets from hearts?”

“Similar. All living creatures generate a kind of energy.”

“If you can drain it directly from someone,” Victor asked, “Why do some vampires drink blood?”

“Draining lifeforce directly is a skill—it takes lots of practice,” Laura explained. “Blood on the other hand, flows throughout a body, picking up a charge of the lifeforce. Like static electricity.”

“And hearts have blood flowing through them...” Josie finished.

“How did you drain Victor? We don’t have blood flowing through us,” Jimmy asked.

“You’re
living
stone, right?” Laura asked. “Means you still have something in you.”

“How far away can you do it?” Josie asked nervously.

“I have to touch the person,” Laura said. “Get right in their face.”

“How often?” Jimmy asked.

“Depends on how much I get.” Laura pointed a thumb at the Colonel and licked her lips. “Some folks are just full of energy, and keep me very well fed.”

“How do you become a vampire?” Josie asked.

“I’d have to suck you dry, then give you a little something back. And you’d have to want it. I can’t bring you back if you don’t want to come.”

“What about us?” Jimmy asked. “Could we be turned?”

“That is a very interesting question,” Laura said, looking over at Jimmy.

The dim glow of the lights in the cabin suddenly switched off, replaced by a red glow. Colonel Kenslir stood up from his seat.

“Back to your seat, Doctor. We’re coming up on the coast. Fifteen minutes to drop—everyone assume their positions.”

Laura walked back to her seat, leaning in to whisper at the Colonel as she sat down. “Which position would you like me in?”