MisStaked (36 page)

"Don't worry, little lady. I'm not about to let a fine piece of womanhood such as yourself get hurt. No sir, this good ol’ boy knows how to take care of things,” he boasted. Then added silently to himself, “Man, she's eating this up."

Oh, I feel ever so much better.

"You should, baby,” he smirked.

Don't think me forward, but I think you deserve a reward for being such a selfless warrior, to brave this blistering cold to protect little ol’ me.
Her fingers tweaked the top of her shift, letting it drift slowly to the ground.
Come, my love, let me show you how appreciative I truly am.

Chuck sputtered at the sight and followed the twinkling figure, as it receded into the stygian tomb. As the darkness swept over him, he suddenly came to his senses. By then it was too late. His muffled screams fell on dead air.

Breathred's head flew from his pillow. His hand fell to the crucifix. In the near dark of the tent, the cross throbbed a deep crimson beneath his sleep-shirt. He instantly drew back his blistered fingers. It was only then he noticed the burning sensation running across his chest where the crucifix sat. In spite of the pain, he left the icon where it lay. Something told him removing it wasn't a good idea.

Swinging his legs from the bed, he felt the wrongness in the air. His thoughts went out to the tomb. It was emanating from there. Breathred was sure of it. The Mother must have come awake. It was the only explanation that made any sense. Breathred hastily shoved his boots over his thermal underwear, not even bothering to pull on his pants. Grabbing his jacket from the edge of the cot, he rushed out of the closed tent-flap.

Exiting the tent he saw Stud stirring on his cot. Breathred guessed his footsteps pounding through the tent flap must have shaken Stud from his sleep. As sorry as he felt for waking his friend, he welcomed the company of not being the only one awake. Something bad was going on and he needed all the help he could get.

Breathred looked back to see Luna joining Stud in his mad dash to catch up with him. Apparently whatever was going on, was affecting more than just him. He crested the rise that dropped into the dig, searching for some sign his gut was lying to him. Only darkness greeted him and he knew what they said about what hid in the dark. Breathred waited long enough for Stud and Luna to catch up before taking off again. He wasn't afraid of the dark or anything, but they might be, so he was just being courteous of their feelings and not a scaredy cat.

Leopold smiled in the darkness. He, too, felt the stirrings in the air, as the Mother moved once again in the world. It was only her astral self, but she was awake. The Mother was weak and not fully aware, but could feel her moving about the world. Her true awaking would not come until the ceremony took place. This was but a flexing of her powers, a way to attain sustenance after her long slumber. He was close enough to draw strength from her, but far enough away that her presence was but a mere tickle in the back of his mind.

He was glad Lewis wasn't here to share this moment. The experience was something to be savored in solitude. All too soon, he would be forced to share her with the world. Leopold would take this time to relish the glow of success. Lewis would return with the truck, and the moment would pass. Tomorrow they would make the journey to meet their maker. Until then, he would enjoy the gentle touch of the oblivion to come.

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Boffrend's in no way endorses the use of second-rate materials in the performance of vampire slaying. To that end a catalogue at the back of this handbook offers a full line of slaying essentials at low, low prices.

Breathred met Brogan as he reached the tomb. No one was there other than the two of them. He'd lost his friends after topping the rise overlooking the tomb. The two guards were gone, and the tomb sat empty. Brogan pointed to the snow, to a line of footprints that led into the tomb. Breathred took a step toward the tomb, only to have Brogan throw his arm in front of him.

"No way, Kid. Until we find out what's going on, nobody sets foot near that damn hole."

"What if the guards are in there? We have to help them."

"Then, they'll damn well stay there until morning. Even if they need help, they're beyond any help we can give them,” the man answered flatly.

"We can't just leave them in there!"

"That's exactly what we're going to do,” Brogan snapped. “I won't risk another member of this team because those two can't follow orders."

They were about to go at it again when Stud and Luna sprinted up. They were closely followed by Roberts, hiking up his pants. Their arrival broke up Breathred's and Brogan's argument. The sight of Roberts gave them both a new focal point for their anger.

"Where in the hell, have you been?” Brogan demanded, jumping in the boy's face.

"I had to take a dump. Chuck was supposed to call it in,” Chris said. “Why what's going on? Where's Chuck? He'll tell you."

"That's what we want to know,” Brogan snapped.

"Roberts, how long were you gone?” Breathred asked, hoping to divert some of Brogan's anger.

"I don't know,” Chris said, scratching his head. “Maybe, twenty, twenty-five minutes. The cold kind of froze up the plumbing, if you know what I mean. Took a few minutes to flush the system out."

"Well ... er ... that's more info than I needed,” Breathred stammered.

"More than any of us needed,” Stud snarked. “Now, would somebody mind telling us what the snot is going on?"

"It looks like Sharbano took a look-see in the tomb while Roberts here was playing Commander Turdsaway,” Brogan snarled.

"Hey, it's not like you can bottle that stuff up,” Roberts yelped.

"Whatever the case, Sharbano is missing,” Breathred said.

"No he's not. Look!” Luna exclaimed, pointing toward the open tomb.

The twenty-two year old student was staggering out of the darkness. His face was drawn and haggard. His hair hadn't turned white, but it was sticking out at odd angles. What remained of his clothes hung in a tattered mess. Chuck's mouth worked feverishly to make words but all that came out was a muffled gasp. His blank gaze poured over the huddled crowd, haunting them with the deadness it contained.

Luna was the first to run over to him. Her hand on his shoulder sent shrill screams from his gaping mouth. He pushed away. His hands clawed at the air between them, as if warding off an unseen attack. Brogan and Roberts rushed over to restrain the man. Luna staggered back to Breathred's arms in shock.

Breathred wrapped his arms around her. “What's wrong with him?” she asked.

"I don't know, but if I had to guess I'd say something in the tomb got to him,” Breathred whispered in her ear, hoping Brogan couldn't hear him.

"You think the vampire mother is awake?"

"All I know is I felt something just before we got here and whatever it was woke me from a dead sleep."

"Me too,” she said, fearfully. “Breathred, I'm scared. This isn't a game is it?"

"No.” Was all Breathred could say.

Sharbano's screams became muffled sobs, as they looked on. They were so entranced by the tableaux neither noticed a shadow had detached itself from the darkened tomb and slipped across the ground to become lost in the blending black of the night.

Luna let the steam from her coffee flow across her face before taking a sip from the cup. She looked up to see she wasn't the only one. Even Stud was nursing a cup, and he usually didn't touch coffee unless it had a donut attached to it. No one was talking about what had happened. They were all waiting for Dr. Grayson to join them. As soon as they got Sharbano settled in his tent, Brogan had sent Roberts to wake her.

They still weren't sure what to do about him. Physically, the boy was fine. Mentally, he was out there. Hopefully, Dr. Grayson would have some ideas. Luna looked over to the brooding Brogan. She could tell by the set of his jaw he had definite ideas of what to do and knew just what those ideas involved—tanking the whole dig and calling in the Marines, or whatever the Canadian equivalent happened to be. Luna just hoped Dr. Grayson could talk him out of it. As if on cue, the professor walked through the tent flap.

"So, is there a good reason for me being torn from a perfectly delightful dream?” she grumbled, taking the empty chair beside Brogan.

"We have a situation,” Brogan said.

"I figured that much out. Is anyone going to tell me what it is or do I have to guess?"

"Sharbano was attacked by something while he was on watch. We think whatever attacked him, may have come from inside the tomb,” Breathred explained.

"How sure are you of this?” the professor gasped.

"We could ask Sharbano—if he could still talk,” Brogan offered.

Grayson turned to Breathred. “He's dead?"

"No, but he isn't exactly in his right mind, either. He appears to be suffering from shock,” Luna answered before the professor had a heart attack.

"Dear God!” Dr. Grayson exclaimed.

"Look, Doc. This little meeting is just a formality. I told you I'd let you know before I called my bosses, and this is it. As of now, this is in the hands of the Canadian government,” Brogan informed them.

"You can't do that!” Luna shouted.

"Watch me,” Brogan stated.

"Luna, he's right. If something is in the tomb, Brogan has every right to do what he sees fit to keep the team safe. I won't be party to any more of this team being hurt.” Dr. Grayson's voice was coated with remorse. “He was a bit scatterbrained and on the lazy side, but he didn't deserve to be hurt."

"But that's what you hired Breathred for. Give him a chance to handle it before Grumpy over there, calls in the cavalry,” Luna suggested. Somebody had to stand up for her sweetie. This was his shot to prove himself. They couldn't take the chance away from him.

"Excuse me,” Brogan snapped. “Perhaps somebody would care to explain what she meant by that."

"Needle britches is a vampire slayer. The doc hired him to take the Mother out if she woke up,” Stud butted in.

Brogan jumped to his feet. “You don't expect me to believe this pile of monkey crap, do you? No offense to the chimp, but this is just plain crazy. I can buy into vampires. I can even buy into geek boy knowing a thing or two about this paranormal bullshit, but there is no way in hell he's a vampire slayer and there's an all powerful vamp queen under our feet. What we have here is a random ghosting at the best."

"I am what she says, and this is the tomb of the Mother of all vamps,” Breathred said. “Doctor Grayson found evidence of it on her last dig. She thought it a good idea to have an expert along in case the tablet was authentic."

Brogan slapped his fist down on the table in front of them. “Just great. I've looked over your papers and not once was this mentioned in any of them."

"I thought it would sound crazy, so I left out that teensy little piece of information. We weren't even sure the tablet was speaking of vampires,” Dr. Grayson said. “If I said I was looking for evidence of vampires in ancient history, your superiors would have thought me a loon at best."

"Got me there, Toots. So, do you really think a vampire got the kid?” Brogan asked no one in particular.

"For all we know, he might've just gone stir crazy. It's been known to happen,” Breathred said. “But, for what it's worth, I think it was a vampire."

"Then, I have no choice but to get CAPP SAT involved. This is their ballpark now,” Brogan answered, just loving how this would sound when he called it in. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a phone call to make."

Luna rose to stop him, but before she had the chance the tent flap billowed in, bringing a tornado of snow into the tent. She stepped back as the ice-clad figure of Roberts followed in its wake. Instinctively she pushed past the freezing man and looked through the flap. The campground was covered in piles of snow that seemed to be growing by the minute. Any second now she fully expected the entire landscape to turn into one giant white blob.

"We got trouble,” Roberts chattered excitedly behind her.

"What now?” Brogan snapped.

Luna held back the flap for him to see the whirling landscape. “I think you should come look at this."

"One thing at a time, Sweetheart.” She gave him a dirty look as he turned back to the freezing boy. “Roberts, you first."

"The radio's down. The snow and wind just blew the whole tent away. The radio shorted out before we could get it out of the weather,” Roberts reported, his teeth clanking the whole time.

"What about the cell phones, or the computers?” Brogan demanded.

"The antennas and all the computer equipment were in the same tent as the radio. It was the freakiest thing you ever saw. It was like it wanted to destroy that one tent. Nothing else was damaged."

Luna let the flap fall back into place as the companions went dead silent. No one wanted to say what was on their minds. Luna's mouth hung open like the rest of them. It was too frightening for them to speak aloud. All the what-ifs had come crashing down on them. There were things that went bump in the night and the Queen Bee of all those things was waking up, and man, was she hungry.

Brogan, naturally, was the first to make a move toward the tent's opening. Luna fell back as he brushed the flap back with an urgency they all felt. Even though she knew what awaited them outside, she couldn't bring herself to join him. Instead she went to the others huddling for warmth that wouldn't come. In the darkness of night, the stark white was a curse upon their hearts even a blazing fire couldn't heat.

Breathred followed the Canadian as he walked out into the swirling, icy mist. In the span of an hour, the landscape had been retooled by something other than nature. Snow was piled a good two feet deep in some places.

Breathred could smell the mystical energies flowing around him. The storm was a product of the awakening. He sensed the Mother's power in every snowflake that swept past him and could tell Brogan sensed it too. Maybe not on the level he, himself, did, but something close to it. Fear traced every inch of the man's face.