H.E.R.O. - Horde (18 page)

Tiriffa said, “This is intriguing.  Qarath is your opposite, then.  He has a constantly active mental blocking shield from telepathy.”

Silverlash wondered if I picked up on what she’d been thinking, but that made her think about it again, if only momentarily.  I covered my mouth to keep from grinning at her.

Her eyes focused on mine again and she said, “You don’t just see what we see, do you?”

“No, I see what you think.  Most of the time that’s what you are looking at.”

“Okay then.”

She picked up the bunny next to her and petted it a few times to give her something else to look at.  I felt the sudden wave of feel-good comfort from her.

She asked, “Wow, what is this?”

“It’s a living bunny from Rayna.”

“It’s alive?”

“I think so … kind of.”

Diva said, “Kind of?”

“She created it.  I know it can move around on its own, and it makes the person petting it feel really good.”

“Does it eat?”

“Not that I know of.”

The buzzer went off in the kitchen, so I hopped up to check on the food.  In my small house, the kitchen was open to the living room, with only a counter between the two.

Silverlash said from the couch, “She makes these?  My gosh, these would be unreal to give to needy kids in the hospital.  Check this out.”

She leaned forward and held Binky out to Diva.  Diva took it and pet it a couple of times, smiled dreamily and held the Binky against her.  Chrome looked doubtful when Diva handed it to her, but she too smiled as she pet it.

The warm and fuzzy feeling left over from the bunny flowed through each of them to me.  I could have lay down and just curled into a happy ball right about then.

The other three girls were watching Tiriffa when Chrome handed Binky to her.  She took it and studied it for a moment before petting it.  When she did begin petting it her long pointy ears drooped to each side and her large eyes nearly closed.  There was no doubt that she enjoyed petting the bunny.

Silverlash said, “I
definitely
need to talk to Rayna.  I never knew she did this.  It would be a great charity item to be able to give someone constantly in pain, you know?”

I replied, “I don’t know how long it takes her to make one, but yeah, I agree.”

“How did you get her to give it to you?”

“I was at her place and Binky crawled onto my lap.  When I started petting it she made me take it home.”

Tiriffa said, “Rayna is the female that had the floating spheroid creatures, correct?”

“Yep.  She made those too.”

Diva wrinkled her nose, “You mean those floating balls with a bunch of eyes?  Did you see how big the mouths were on those things?”

Tiriffa said, “They were quite interesting.”

“Not as interesting as the guys in costume.”

“Do you speak in terms of their coloration, or what was interesting about these males?”

“Their buns and abs, mostly.”

“Ah, you enjoyed the tight clothing on them?”

“Yeah, it worked pretty good.”

I saw what she meant from her memory, I’d been nearly either unconscious or nearly so for most of the time at the military base and barely even remembered a bunch of male heroes being there.

Silverlash said, “Who was there?”

“Black Tiger, Spartan, Impact, the guy in green – ah, Rampart, Captain McCain, Gatecrasher, the two super soldiers, but they weren’t wearing costumes – but they still looked really good.  Hmm, and then your three scientists, right Tiriffa?”

“The dark skinned male with wings – Razorwing.  He was there as well.”

Silverlash asked, “Who’s that?”

Tiriffa said, “He and Rayna attacked my group immediately when they entered the building with many dead humans.  I know little more of him.”

Diva said, “Yeah, he was there.  I only met him at Fargene too, just before going to the military base.  Do you know him, Psystar?”

I said, “Not much.  He stopped me from crashing into a rooftop, and he’s got a lot of money - I know that.  He’s not in H.E.R.O. though.”

Silverlash said, “I wonder why not?”

Diva said, “Well, the guys without wings were more interesting.”

From there the evening devolved into talking about the male heroes in Metrocity….

Chapter 15 – Night Out

Greg Paffen’s Viewpoint

I met Aimee around 8:30 P.M. at her place.  She was on a vampire kick these days, and wanted to visit one of the clubs downtown where you dressed up in dark clothes and got into the role.  When enough people did it, apparently it was quite a sight to behold.

I’d read online that these places were where the real mutants hung out, but that sounded like a web rumor.  I dressed in all black - Aimee mocked me on the fact that a real vampire would have more style, and wouldn’t just wear one color.  I’d shrugged and said that my teeth were dulling as fast as my mind, so I forgot these things.

We parked at a nearby ramp and walked to the club, but we were early enough not to deal with much of a line at the front entrance.  The name of the club, Blacklight, was in cursive on a neon green sign.

I paid the cover charge and we entered the dark place.  Lighting was kept dim, with a lot of neon and black lights.  I wasn’t so certain that neon fit into a medieval vampire theme, but Aimee told me that this club was more modern.  One of the other clubs wouldn’t even allow a person to enter if they didn’t dress in a medieval Goth theme.

The club was split into smaller rooms, rather than one huge room with a single band.  I bought us drinks and we wandered through them. 

In one, a professional storyteller sat in a corner talking about some haunted story.  Another had a pair of musicians.  The largest room was just off the side exit and had a band.  The band was going through their sound check as we sat down and ordered food.

Aimee kept looking at everyone in the room and asking me if I thought that individual could be a real vampire.  I played the game with her.  Granted, a few of them really looked unusual with the various contacts making their eyes appear slit or oddly colored.  Some did a fantastic job with their teeth – I saw the common theme of having just the canines long and sharp, but others had every tooth appear sharp.

A few people even mocked up horns for some reason.  Aimee said those would be demons called succubi for the females, or incubi for the males.  A few of them had black talon attachments over their fingertips.

One guy had to be an actual mutant.  He was a good 6’5” tall, dark skinned, had huge hands with fingers about double the normal length due to the long, super sharp claws on every finger.  He had a huge jaw as well, with long fangs.  His hair was in a wide mohawk, long and spiky.  He wore a tight black t-shirt, and I could see the muscles ripple under it as he moved on occasion.  He stood closer to the band, near the corner as the room turned to the other part of an L shape.

I pointed him out to Aimee.

“He’s got to be a mutant.”

She replied, “Yeah, he’s not a vampire, or if he is I don’t know what type.”

I was fairly certain that numerous individuals as far as twenty feet away turned and looked at me when I’d mentioned mutant.  Come to think of it, all of them had unusual eyes….

We ordered more drinks a few times as we enjoyed the band and continued to watch the crowd.  Aimee was having a grand time hoping that someone there might actually
be
a vampire; I brought up a few more times that her most likely candidates were probably mutants, not vampires.

She tended to toss her hair when I did that, until I saw her staring off behind and above me when I was ribbing her for the fourth or fifth time about it.

I looked back and saw black clothing, looked upward and saw the huge person with the super long finger claws.  He leaned on the table next to me - his muscles were corded, and the hands even larger than they appeared at a distance.  I forced my eyes to look up at his cat eyes.

I said, "Uhh, hi."

He said, "Ya know, if you go into a place with a few blacks, do you shout over and over - 'hey, there's a black guy!' or what?"

I shook my head, "Um, no, no I wouldn't."

"Then why are you doing the equivalent here?"

"I haven't shouted anything."

"So you spout on and on about it in a normal voice, which stands out like a coin drop on a cement floor in a dead silent room to most mutants.  Any mutant within ten paces can hear you just fine.  It's annoying, knock it the hell off."

"I ... really?  They can hear us even with the music?"

"I could just fine from the moment you sat down."

"Wow ... err ... I'm sorry."

"Now you know.  By the way, I love the outfit, little lady, and your enthusiasm for vampires."

Aimee's face had gone pale at the close up look at this guy's face and claws.

She gulped and squeaked out, "Thanks?"

"Would you care to meet two of the closest things to a noble vampire in town?"

Aimee's eyes got really big, "Really?!"

"Really.  Follow me, human."

She froze for a second as that one word registered, but then scrambled to her feet as the monster man turned away from the table.

She stammered, "Um, what about...."

Without turning the dark man said, "He can follow."

He led us to the part of the room that had been around the corner.  A group of exotic people stood together in a group.  In the center were two women.  I found it interesting that four of them were standing - only the far left man and the far right woman sat on tall chairs.

One stood a few inches below six feet tall, wore a blood red silk outfit consisting of a thin dress that covered from the hips down between the legs and hung almost like a thin tabard, but didn't cover the legs at all.  The top was similarly made of silk, with a lot of skin showing.  She wore a lot of gold jewelry, had elegantly styled scarlet hair, and had four huge spider legs coming from her sides; each had a black talon at the tip.  Her eyes were exotic, with a four-pointed star shape as an iris.

The tall woman next to her had to be over six foot tall, with long black hair in a style as beautiful as the spider woman's, and eyes that were completely black, with no white or iris visible.  Her skin was pale white, with long red fingernails and lips accenting them.  She wore a form fitting black dress and high boots.  Her jewelry was mostly silver colored and white, although I would bet it was either white gold or platinum.

On either side of them were three men and another woman.  One of the men had to be a bodyguard - he was well built, but even with a very classy suit on he gave the impression of someone there to protect the tall pale woman next to him.

The other two men were in great shape and had unusual eyes, but otherwise didn't catch my attention.  The third woman had pink hair, wore a black and white dress ensemble, and high heels.  Her eyes were bright violet, and she had tall pointy ears.

The man led us up to the two center women, stepped off to the side and gestured at them.

He said, "Young lady, this is Lady Celeste and Lady Nocturne."

Lady Nocturne - the spider woman - raised an eyebrow and studied us.  Lady Celeste smiled - she had fangs just like a vampire ought to have.

Lady Celeste held out her hand to Aimee, who took it and shook her hand.  The lady closed her grip and pulled Aimee closer to her, where she pulled Aimee's arm up high enough for the lady to run her nose along Aimee's wrist.

Lady Celeste then said, "It is a pleasure to meet you.  You've been at other Gothic clubs in the region lately."

Aimee nodded, "Uh huh."

"Are you seeking something?"

Aimee whispered, "Are you a vampire?"

"One doesn't spoil a book by reading the last page first, dear.  You brought someone else for me?"

"I ... yeah ... this is Greg.  He's a really good friend."

"Only a friend?"

"Well, um, yeah."

She held her hand out to me.  I stepped forward and shook her hand.  Her slim figure belied her strength; she was as strong as I was.  While I could have fought her when she pulled me forward, I thought it wiser to play along.

She inhaled much deeper on my wrist.

She asked, "A psychic, you ... project yourself.  Interesting."

"I ... how do you know?"

"I have my gifts as well."

She released my arm and looked back at Aimee before continuing, "So did you come here to allow a vampire to feed on your blood?"

"Um, no.  I just, I thought it would be neat...."

"I appreciate your interest and your patronage, dear.  I wouldn't dream of feeding on you without your consent.  I wish we had another time to do so."

Her words didn’t make sense to me.  I could see the allure, Lady Celeste was so beautiful - yet in a dark way - that I might almost allow her to drink my blood.  Lady Nocturne next to her looked somewhat more foreboding with the touches of spidery looks to her.

Aimee nodded, I hoped that didn't mean she intended to come back and be fed upon.  The way Lady Celeste looked back at the band made it very clear that we were dismissed.  I felt like I'd just met the closest thing to royalty I could find without meeting a king or queen.

I took Aimee's hand and gently pulled her away.  I nodded to the huge guy before walking off with her.  When I glanced back at the group I found Lady Nocturne's star-shaped eyes looking into mine.

We rounded the corner to the other side of the room again and found a table near the exit.  I left her at the table to go get us drinks.  She was starry eyed and staring off into space as I walked off.  I grinned, at least she'd either found what she was looking for - or something close enough to make her remember the night for a long time to come.

I was waving at the bartender when I heard the crash.  I turned to see the door fly inward and bounce off a man just to the right of Aimee.

A mass of red-skinned brutish looking men flooded into the room behind the door.  They wore jeans, t-shirts and other gear befitting a heavy metal concert - the clothes were near bursting at the seams on most of them.