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The story so far...
Louie Greenthorpe is a vampire. He is living in the Greenthorpe Mansion,
on the outskirts of the town of Greenthorpe. He is the subject of local ghost stories.
Some children decide to explore the mansion, but run for their lives when they catch
a glimpse of Louie. Majo, a wandering jeweller, meets them and goes to investigate
the mansion. She meets Louie and feels like she trusts him, but is horrified when she
learns that he is a vampire. While trying to escape, she trips and hits her head,
losing consciousness. Outside, one of the children's fathers, Theodore Thatcher,
arrives. He learns of Majo, and enters the mansion to make sure she is okay.
Louie is leaning over Majo's body, and Theodore assumes the worst. In the ensuing struggle,
Louie kills Thatcher, and hides the body before Majo regains consciousness. When she does,
she finds herself unharmed and realises she can trust Louie. Louie decides he must leave
Greenthorpe, and the two depart together.
Kaz is a mercenary, and goes on a mission to steal data from a military base.
He is the bait, and flies his ship above the base, dropping bombs while his comrades
carry out the theft. The base's nuclear reactors explode, sending his ship hurtling to
the ground. When he regains consciousness, he sees his comrades are happy. When they realise
he is alive, one of them offers to kill him for a share in his wages. Kaz kills them.
Kaz goes on a vengeful killing spree against the Carrotus military. On one
morning-after-the-night-before, he wakes up to see a bag of money, indicating that he has been
hired.
Jargon Random is technomancer: he combines engineering with sorcery. He lives on
Diamondus, where a war is raging. One morning John Radin, a friend from his Order,
arrives at his door and tells him they must flee. The city is being invaded. Jargon
grabs his autocaster and some food, and leaves with John.
Tony Waterbeck, renowned racing pilot, is practicing one day when he sets off an old
Shellian defence system. Some Shellian fighters respond, and pursue him around the galaxy.
He decides to head for Carrotus in the hope that they will destroy his assailants.
when he gets there he finds he has to maneuvre through the Carrotus asteroid belt.
With his attention thus diverted, a Shellian shot hits his left wing, sending him
plummeting towards Carrotus. He crashes in an empty field just outside Greenthorpe.
He heads for a building he can see in the distance.
Verity works in a Tavern on Diamondus, for a rabbit named Eddie. Secretly, she is also
working for him as a hacker, supporting one side in the Diamondus War. Her town is a dangerous
place. Nobody knows who is on which side, and food is hard to come by. Every day, she thinks
about the poison in her medicine cabinet. She is on the edge of despair.
Tier is an Arcania Zombie. He is effectively invincible, but it takes a while for
missing body parts to grow back. He must feed on the living to prevent himself from rotting.
He prowls around Carrotus, looking for prey.
Thomas Bradhurst, a Greenthorpe councillor, receives a letter from a company wishing
to establish a factory in Greenthorpe. He finds out the land they want is held in a trust,
and sets off for Orleton to talk to the trustees. He is told that the land can only be sold
once the trust has passed to an heir. He leaves for the Carrotus Central Records Office
to find an heir. The trustees, not wanting to lose the profitable Greenthorpe estate, send
some thugs after him. They ambush Tom in a forest. He escapes, but trips, rolls down
a slope, hits his head, and loses consciousness.
Unfortunately, Theodore Thatcher has become a vampire. A TV crew and a group of marines
arrive at the mansion to investigate the rumours, and are devoured. The video makes it onto
the internet, where it is found by Schism. Schism is an organisation that preserves the
Masquerade, the system by which the general public is kept unaware of the existence of
supernatural creatures. Alexander Garand, a Schism agent, is sent to sort out the problem.
On his way to Greenthorpe, he is attacked by werewolves.
Diallo Kalu, a resident of Muckamok, receives an unsettling call from a telemarketer.
He subsequently gets into a fight in which he shoots his opponent in the leg. He calls an
ambulance. Diallo does not appear in the story again.
An unknown female rabbit is staying at an underground "monastery". There is
unpleasantness in her past, including her sister having developed a poison called Jade Dawn.
In small amounts, it dulls the senses. When aged and mixed with water, it causes severe
bodily damage. It is eventually banned, to be replaced by Cherry Blossom (see ch. 2).
When she first arrived at the monastery, she was disturbed by nightmares, and woke up
screaming. Eventually, she forgets who she is.
One restless night, she goes to the waters from which they all drink. She throws
herself in, and an undercurrent carries her to a seperate cavern, where Jade Dawn is being
poured into the water by three of her siblings. The Jade Dawn is eating away at her,
and they pour a substance over her to neutralise it. She escapes and tries to warn the other
siblings, but they do not believe her. She escapes into a lift to the surface, but a
Jade bomb is thrown after her. She reaches the surface mutilated and blind.
Icarus and Naomi were once lovers. Icarus was accused of killing his family.
Though he was found innocent, Naomi's father forbade her ever to see Icarus again.
Icarus and Naomi meet again on Carrotus. Icarus has been smuggling refugees away
from Diamondus. Naomi agrees to help him with one more trip, before he is to settle down with
her on Carrotus.
Jesse Aimon witnesses his house burning to the ground, his family inside. He refuses
help from his neighbour, Miss Savon, whom he knows to be a spy. Presumably, she started the
fire. Dawn comes, and Jesse leaves.
ShaH-li Felenzo Orbonzen is hired by Andrew Ricarden asa bodyguard. He is attempting
to exploit dreempipes fuel. Neither character appears in the story again.
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The story so far...
Louie and Majo learn of the severity of the Diamondus war and the impending arrival of refugees on
Carrotus.
King Jazz announces that Carrotus will not become involved in the war. He also announces that refugees
will be able to go to Medieval, Carrotus' first moon, and that camps will be set up in the Peddleburg woods,
to the north of New Carrotus, and to the north of Oakloma.
Louie decides that his mansion should be used to house refugees. He learns that Greenthorpe's council
has voted to tear down the mansion. He and Majo return to Greenthorpe to visit Thomas Bradhurst. They arrive
to find that Tom has left, but are attended to by Gary Parker, candidate for the governorship of Peddleburg.
Louie and Majo are apprehended by two of Gary's thugs. There is a violent struggle, in front of a hall full
of people. Louie gains the upper hand and learns who sent them. He and Majo steal two horses and head to
Orleton. On the way, they find and rescue Tom. They set off for Prestbury.
Normal transport between Diamondus and Carrotus ceases. Refugee ships are all that will be making the
journey from now on.
Kaz enters the employ of a battle-scarred individual, probably a rabbit. He is sent on a mission
with a turtle who he nicknames "burnt". His left arm is mummified, the other is burnt. They plan to divide
an alliance of gangs by framing one side for a Jade Dawn attack on the other. They go to Crystallis to get
the Jade Dawn, and end up leaving with the mutialated rabbit from chapter 10. They arrive at a city on
Carrotus where they abandon her before staging the attack.
Jargon Random and John Radin get into fight at the spaceport, then steal a private shuttle and escape
Diamondus.
Tony Waterbeck briefly explores the Greenthorpe mansion before heading into town. In a tavern called
"The Crooked Carrot", he asks if there are any spaceports nearby. He is directed to Oakloma. He leaves, and on
the way comes across Louie, Majo and Tom (Continuity issue: He finds them in the place they have just left).
Verity's lover Raphael comes to her tavern. He brings with him two blue lizards and a grimy rabbit, all
armed with fusion lasers. They kill Eddie. The rabbit tries to kill Verity, but Raphael intervenes. He is
killed.
A month later, Verity locks up her apartment and heads for a spaceport. In exchange for fixing their
computers, she hitches a ride with Icarus and Naomi. They are not sure whether or not to trust her.
Michelle, whose brother was killed a few days previously by a vampire in Greenthorpe, comes across
Tier. When she finds out that he can kill vampires, she gets him to accompany her. She persuades him to
infect her, so that she too becomes an Arcania Zombie. They attend her brother's funeral before trying to find
his killer.
Susan Bradhurst is ushered to a Greenthorpe Council meeting where they discuss the deaths of the TV crew
and the marines, and the appearance of Louie at the town hall. They agree that the Greenthorpe mansion is in
urgent need of demolition.
Tom wakes to find himself in a hotel room with Louie, Majo and Tony. He finds out that Louie is a vampire,
and is forced to accept that vampires exist. He is told of Louie's desired use of the Greenthorpe mansion,
and agrees to help. They return to Greenthorpe.
Susan and Tony investigate the site of the proposed Peddleburg refugee camp, and discover signs warning
of radioactivity. Tom finds a loophole allowing Louie to claim ownership of his mansion. Louie goes to the
mansion to deal with Theodore, and a struggle ensues.
The mutilated rabbit from chapters 10 and 15 is found by Erditine, who agrees to take her to Pneum
Arlik. Erditine names her Neoma and takes her to the Mills of the Giants. There, Neoma feels a stone gateway
and remembers that she knows this place. There had been magic creatures there. Erditine is killed by
a creature Neoma is unable see. The creature says it will kill her, but first cures her blindness.
Verity has now fixed the computers and they are on their way. Icarus is sloshed. Their ship comes under
attack.
Jesse is arrested under a false (but still weak) charge. The police are evidently corrupt, and when Jesse
tries to leave there is a scuffle. A fire starts and Jesse escapes. The building is consumed by flames, and
Jesse leaves.
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Chapter 24: Embracing death.
The Earian marketplace was filled with life during the festival of the moon.
Louie Greenthorpe and his good friend Wallace Parker were dancing ecstatically in the midst of the enormous crowd.
Wallace's father was a good friend of mister Greenthorpe and thanks to him Louie was allowed to leave Greenthorpe for several days.
Rabbits from all over the planet had gathered in Earian to celebrate the festival of the moon, which was the start of a new year.
Street artists were playing joyful music as the sun slowly sank behind the horizon, shining the last few rays of sunlight of this year over their faces.
They had met with several people in a bar a few hours before the countdown to the night began and ran down the streets trying to soak up as much of the atmosphere as possible. Every little street was filled with rabbits from different parts of the world, all of them dressed in the garments of their own culture, different kinds of music fed theyre souls building up the inner excitement.
The sun had gone down a little while later and fireworks were lighted over the docks, colouring the dark sky.
"I think you have an admirer." Wallace said with a smile as he nodded to a girl standing behind them.
Louie turned around and looked into the face of the most gorgeous, young rabbit he had ever seen.
She must have been close to his age and her eyes had the sparkle of a diamond to them. They seemed to grab him and lure him closer towards her.
He set a few steps in her direction and she walked towards him, Wallace's eyes were fixated on her beautiful face. A faint and warm glow seemed to surround her as she gracefully moved her feet over the cold, marble pavement.
Louie took her small hand in his and placed a soft kiss on the palm of it, not breaking away from her breathtaking eyes.
"My name is Louie Greenthorpe, miss." He spoke softly.
"I am Estella Bane, it is a pleasure to meet you, Louie Greenthorpe." She replied.
He asked her for a dance and but a moment later they were dancing on the shiny marble, she had her arms wrapped around his neck.
Louie was usually a very shy person that did not know his way around women, because he had never really met too many.
The only ones he had spoken to were the stiff upper lip girls that he had seen on one of his fathers parties. This girl was so much more different then them.
So much more alive, friendly, beautiful. "Would you like to go for a short walk?" She suggested when the musicians started to play a more cheerful tune.
They walked along the shoreline, the water softly rippled as they entered it with they're bare feet.
The beach was calm and almost empty, save from a few youngsters that were sleeping in the soft sand. Drunk and fulfilled.
"Look at them, hollow caskets, death could come and claim those mortal fools whenever it's ready for them. And yet they think the life they lead is so beautiful and perfect." She said with a macabre tone to her voice that made Louie's body shiver.
"Surely you must see the beauty in life my dear." He whispered into her ear.
"I have, Ive seen you. But until you see everything in the same way that I have seen it, you do not know what true beauty is." She said as she slowly licked his cheek.
"Youre such a pretty boy." She said followed by a soft sigh. "And Im the lucky girl that gets to keep you for all eternity."
Louie looked down in the water at his reflection and a shock went trough his body. He could only see his.
Estella had no reflection, he looked up and his eyes met hers, they were blood red.
His head filled with irrational thoughts, voices screaming at him that he should leave. A perfect pandemonium.
Her smile was wide and her canines had grown several inches. The last thing he could hear was the crackle of fireworks high up in the sky above him.
Before she sank her teeth into his neck, sucking him dry of life. He imagined the pain would be horrible. But all he felt was a unification of two souls.
A perfect bright light filled him up on the inside. And then there was nothing as his body sank into the salty water of the sea.
He woke up several months later, veiled in darkness. It seemed like he was unable to escape from his dark grave until his lust for hunger got the better of him.
His two hands smashed trough the wooden lid of his coffin and after several more punches it gave away.
Louie tried to crawl out of his coffin and fell down to the ground. He had a hard time standing up. His legs didn't want to hold the weight on top of them and he fell down to the floor a few more times, crawling towards the exit of his crypt.
He had not used his strength in months and his body was asking more from him then he could give. He stopped to take a breath, but his lungs had died along with him.
He managed to grab the door handle and the door slowly opened with a creak, the sun blinded him and he pushed his head into to sand, trying to scream, but no sound escaped from his rotting mouth.
He managed to reach the pond and slowly let himself sank into it, he couldn't breath. He didn't have to but he felt the urge to inhale.
What was happening to him? He took a few sips from the water in the pond but it hurt as it found its way trough his body and he threw up, salty and burning tears in his eyes.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the bright and fresh world around him and he saw Estella sitting on the porch with the body of a young girl near her feet.
"Hello baby. You must be starving."
His mind he had lost, but his unstill stomach ached for a drink of the young virgin. And he gave in...
* * *
Theodores fangs caught Louie completely off-guard and the monstrosity that was once an innocent man left his mark in Louies cold cheek. The sight of blood made Theodore lose the last bit of sanity he had left.
You shall not leave this place alive, master. He heard the man speak.
His sinister voice would make any normal man tremble in fear. This spectacle was not one witnessed by a normal man. This house was filled with beasts. And the beast in Louie was awakened by the mere sight of pure evil in front of him. He reached for his scythes and unleashed his fury upon the walking corpse that was standing but a few metres away from him. The scythes cut trough the air, releasing a soft gasp of air with every strike they made. Theodore let himself sink back into the chair, missing the scythes by an inch.
He kicked Louie against the forearms, making him drop the scythes. The fiend reached for a scythes but Louie grabbed him by his upper arm and slashed his neck open with one of the scythes.
Within a breath, Louie stood behind Theodore and cut open his back, gutting him like a fish. But the strong man did not give up the easily, he kicked Louie into the chair who let go of the scythe he was holding. Making it fall into his own stomach. Theodore grabbed the other scythe off of the floor and made a 180 degree spin. Barely missing Louie, who had sank down into the chair.
That was close Louie thought to himself. He wanted to strike again, but Theodore jumped back and hit the Grande piano that had collected quiet a bit of dust over the ages. .
Stay still so I can kill you, you spineless worm. Louie shouted. It seemed that the bloodlust had gotten the better of him, and his calm nature made place for the anger.
Theodore cackled and raised his scythe, preparing for his final strike. The two men faced each other, a moment that seemed frozen in history. Until Louie jumped forward, shoving the scythe deep into the intestines of Theodore who slowly sank down to the ground.
Louie grabbed him by the throat and placed his neck on the edge of the piano, before slamming the lid shut with all of his power. Theodores decapitated body fell down with a dull thud.
Louie turned around and leaned against the piano, taking a breath
so to speak.
Tom sat on the front porch of their house, whipping his glasses clean as he gazed into the streets of the slumbering village. His mind was deep in thought when Tony Waterback walked out onto the porch.
They both looked at each other for a moment and then Tony looked at the sky, trying to find his home planet. He spotted his little, bright planet to the left of the constellation Thesus.
Have a seat. Said Thomas. Tony sat down. Thats my home planet, over there.
Thomas looked, without responding. Sometimes, silence was enough to comfort a person he thought to himself. There will be a busy time ahead for us. Thomas finally said. Breaking the silence and trying to get Tonys thoughts off of his home planet. It seemed to work.
You are right, the refugees will be arriving shortly, and we have to get the mansion ready for them.
Thomas nodded. After we get Louie to claim the mansion.
Yes, exactly, after we get
What? Tony said in surprise.
Well, we need him to record a message on video, telling the council that he is still alive. We will need to hurry though. Remember me telling you about the death verification
Oh yes, lets not go there again. Tony said. Wed better hurry up and find him instead of sitting around on the porch. Thomas nodded Well get a good night sleep first. We will go look for him first thing in the morning.
Alexander Garand pulled the trigger and as in slow motion the bullet spat out of the gun, piercing trough the body of what seemed to be a young and very hungry werewolf. It collapsed on top of the young hunter, who could hear the rest of the werewolfs pack come closer. The stench was unbearable and the heavy wolf on top of him prevented him from moving. He shook his body, trying to get out from underneath the corpse. The werewolfs body did move, but unfortunately landed on top of Alexanders lungs. The hunter cursed for all it was worth and heard that the other wolves had almost reached him. They would not just devour them like they usually would do too their prey. They would want to make him suffer for killing one of them. Alexander would die a thousand deaths tonight.
The shadowy figure of what appeared to be a rabbit came moving towards him. Help. Alexander said silently. Save your breath, on the count of three, you try to push this thing off. We dont have much time. Six of these things will be here in about 30 seconds. The shadowy figure and Alexander combined their strengths and managed to push the werewolf away. Grab my hand, we have to make haste.
The hunter did not resist, this person had just saved his life. This made him a trustworthy person in his book. We are near Greenthorpe. Its our only chance to survive, these werewolves do not leave the woods. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them. They could almost feel the warm and moist breath of the disgusting beasts in their necks, but the wolves stopped as soon as they arrived at the edge of the woods. Allow me to rest for a moment, sir. The hunter said.
The night holds many horrible secrets, it may be best for us to proceed directly to my current habitat.
Sir, what is your name? The young hunter said as they walked on.
My name is Louie Greenthorpe. Louie turned around, the paleness of his skin could be seen trough his fur. And you are
? Alexander pulled out his gun and held it inches away from Louies face.
Very sorry about this.
* * *
In the midst of the night a young woman moved towards the office of Gary Parker.
The dark corridor made her nervous. The moonlight fell over a dark and gloomy portrait of a man that makes his success over the corpses of others.
Please, step into my office miss. A voice said over the creaky intercom.
The young rabbit almost fell down straight on her face. The high heels she was wearing were not at all comfortable and her shivering legs made it even harder to keep her balance.
But working in the office of the wealthy young man who was sure to become governor was the dream of every young secretary.
She opened the door slowly and walked in. The curtains were drawn shut and the room was lit by a few candles. Gary Parker leaned against his desk and smiled as she walked in.
Miss Jones, its a pleasure too see you here after all. Im sorry that this interview had too take place at such a late time. But we want our people to be prepared for everything. He told her with a tone to his voice that made her shiver even more. His voice changed immediately when he asked her to take a seat.
Lets get down to business, shall we? Gary opened a drawer in his desk and took out a small letter opener. He walked over to the young woman and stabbed the dull end of the opener trough her throat.
He pulled the blood red object out of the soft flesh and licked it off before he placed it back into his drawer.
Gary Parkers monstrosity was only topped by his grace. He cleaned a few droplets of blood from his shirt and enjoyed this moment. His prey had been so easy to do away with.
A knock on the door brought him back to reality. Ah, my dinner guests have arrived.
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Alexander Garand sat there for a moment. This man, or beast had saved his life and in return. He would be taking his. It didnt seem like the right thing to do. No matter what this man had done to those people.
Had he changed so much in the time he had spent behind his desk?
Can we get this over with, please? Louie whispered.
Alexander felt the little droplets of sweat roll down his face. He moved the gun away from Louies face and pulled the trigger several times. Releasing a series of wooden bullets into a thick tree.
Louie got up. I dont have the time for this. And he hit him across the face. Knocking him unconscious.
Better stay out of the woods the next time, soldier.
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Chapter 25: Hey, since when was he evil?
"Sir, we have another refugee ship requesting landing clearance."
The Director sighs. He is not in a good mood- the Oakloma space port had been a mess all morning, with refugees from the turmoil in Diamondous landing everywhere. "Just send them to pad eight."
"Alright, sir." The aide presses a button and starts to speak into her microphone. "Shuttle, you have clearance to land in pad eight. I repeat, pad eight."
A few moments pass as they listen to the sound of the shuttle landing and opening up. The Director starts to look annoyed. 'Why did ANOTHER ship have to land? I thought the last of them had landed only half an hour ago. It was getting quiet and I was about to get out my lunch, but now I have to go through a lot of complex docking procedures and by then someone else will be wanting to land and then...' However, the Director is drawn out of his thoughts.
"Sir, the shuttle they are in appears to be stolen!"
"Yes, yes, and then someone would start bugging me about the... wait, what? A stolen shuttle? What are you waiting for, call security!"
Jargon walks out of the shuttle, totally oblivious to all of the turmoil around him. A security officer points a gun at him and starts to shout something about stopping, but Jargon ignores him. Jargon takes out his autocaster then, with a single twist, activates a spell he had coded in earlier. All the lights in the space center suddenly go out simultaneously, as the security camera logs suddenly are erased. Jargon walks out of the building, into the bright, bright day with a very worried looking John at his heels.
"Very... dramatic entrance, Jargon, but don't you think there would be a way to go anywhere without doing so much damage?"
Jargon turns back to John. "Well... they were asking for it. I mean, challenging our landing clearance? Just because we had to steal a spaceship to leave doesn't make us outlaws or anything."
John sighs and looks around a bit before replying. "Well, it looks like I will have to take up a pseudonym and re-integrate myself into normal society. You... go do your own thing. As far away from me as possible." He pauses. "Well, anyway, adios. I wish you luck... just don't visit me till things cool down."
And with that, he leaves.
Jargon walks for a few minutes, looking at a disk of the information he had gotten earlier. It talks of the various places refugees are free to stay, and all but one appears to be full. Jargon sighs, then continues on. After another half hour of walking and getting annoyed at how long this will take, Jargon passes the site of a crashed spaceship. Suddenly, he gets an idea. He takes a small disk- Robby's CPU- and puts it on the ground. After a few minutes of fiddling with his autocaster, he waves it in the air and makes a final twist. From the junk of the spaceship crash, a whirlwind of activity emerges. Junk flys through the air, forming a machine around the CPU core. Through the chaos of activity a definitive shape begins to emerge. Eight skeletal, spiky metal legs... a disconcerting spiderlike body... an array of eerie red-glowing eyes... looking more like some undead spider monster then anything, his transportation is ready.
Jargon swings onto it and begins his merry way to Greenthorp.
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Chaper 26: Disorientation and Misacquainting
(Expletive), that's frustrating, Verity thought, as the ship came into her line of vision.
"We have to turn around."
Icarus and Naomi's heads swiveled as one towards the source of the absurd notion, disregarding the sight of the ship before them readying its missles.
"We cleared Diamondus's atmosphere almost three hours ago, Verity," Icarus said, trying not to sound as though he was explaining two plus two to a small child. "Without a teleport we're still only halfway to Carrotus. Why would going back help us? Lets go to Nimbus or -- "he glanced briefly at one of the screens-- "we're even close enough to Muckamo to duck under the cloud cover."
Verity sighed, looked back and forth between Icarus's and Naomi's young, but never naive, eyes, and made up her mind.
"No," she said, "We aren't. What do you two know about the Diamondus Warzone?"
There was a brief pause in which another blast rocked the ship.
"Never mind," said Verity, "I'll tell you later. Until then, I'm going to fly for a moment, if you don't mind. " She reached for the control panels, but a gold-furred paw blocked her own. Verity looked up into Naomi's eyes.
"I beg your pardon," Naomi said calmly, "but first of all, this is my ship, and I don't think anyone flies it better than I do. And secondly I may not know anything about the war here but Icarus has been flying escape transports off of Diamondus for the past thirteen months. I think I might assume enough to say that he has some idea what's going on here. With all due respect, I'm not ready to just let you take off with my ship and some cock-and-bull story."
Verity inclined her head, refreshed by the courage the younger woman offered.
"Understood, Naomi." She used the other rabbit's name in an acknowledgement of the new respect she had for her, and could see that Naomi appreciated it.
"I am out of line to assume that I am in any position of authority here. The situation is merely one that I believe I understand a little better than you do and it may be safer to allow me to use my knowledge. However, if you would prefer to fly the ship, I would rather you do so, although it may be advisable for you to pay attention and do exactly as I tell you." Verity spoke quickly, knowing their time was short, and hoping to disguise the note of panic she feared would creep into her voice.
Naomi slid back into her seat, her fingers light on the controls, and Verity braced her paw against the doorway of the cockpit, as another blast, stronger than the last, threatened to knock her off her feet. The local force field around the small shuttle was rapidly weakening.
"Icarus," said Verity, "they've been aiming at the left engines, have they not?" From the copilots chair Icarus nodded, his eyes focussed on the screens.
"Knocking out a side engine would put us into a spin, " Verity murmured under her breath.
The shuttle shuddered as Naomi's skillful fingers maneuvered it between blasts from the opposing ship.
"That ship is a member of the party on Diamondus that's still in control. The federation is trying to prevent import and export and recently there's been theorization about a projective screen that they wanted to put into action to prevent unauthorized ships approaching or exiting the planet. I have no idea why private shuttles are being disallowed, but basically what I'm saying is that we've been locked into a synthetic orbit around the planet for the past three hours and that the planet--" here Verity waved at a bunch of symbols on one of the screens-- "is really just a projection and we've been blocked from seeing the real planet which is still right underneath us. They're going to knock out our side engines so we'll fall directly downward, through the atmosphere, and potentially crash on the planet rather than drift off somewhere else."
Icarus gave Verity a look that clearly spelled double-ewe-tee-eff.
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
"It's government, Icarus. They don't know the meaning of a simple plan."
Naomi dodged a blast from the opposing ship.
"Naomi, engage the ship," Verity said suddenly. Naomi glanced briefly up. "Engage? They're six times our size. That's practically the size of a transport. I only have the lowest level preinstalled weaponry on my ship."
"I want you to fire one round at them and then turn around and head back towards the planet. We have to land again or they'll kill us."
"See? Imminent death," Icarus joked, but was stifled by a withering glance from Naomi before she tapped the trigger twice with her thumb. The shots ricocheted off the laser shield surrounding the larger ship in a burst of sparks and smoke and Naomi grunted, "hold on," before dragging the stick hard to the left and hurtling back towards the blue-glowing, grapefruit-sized globe on the screens that represented Diamondus.
As Verity suspected, they were not pursued, although a few parting shots glanced off the flickering force field on the tailfins of Naomi's shuttle.
"Give it five minutes..." she guessed, leaning over the window screens.
The three rabbits were silent as Naomi guided the ship, watching the screens, and then the whole display blackened for a fraction of a second before a scrolling static bar slid down the screen, flickered, and the horizon of a planet mere miles below them became visible glowing under its gentle purple atmosphere. Icarus swore softly.
"They've cloaked the whole planet."
The cool female voice of the Intergalactic Positioning System droned on the overhead, "We are now entering the United Diamondian Planetary Systems. Preparing to enter stratospheric levels on Diamondus, intrauniversal magistration code 36873912L-t. Please note that none of the Diamondian Territories nor the outlying planets in the Diamondus Union are able to support any freelance communications units at this time."
The trio ignored the voice, focussing on the planet below them. Icarus noticed Naomi's paw, shaking slightly on the controls of her ship. He reached over and covered it with his own black-furred paw.
"Hey," he said softly, "We're okay. It'll be fine."
She mustered a smile. "It just...really shakes me up that they can mess with us like that. What kind of place is this? How do we get off the planet?"
Icarus shrugged. "It's never been a problem before. I make pretty regular trips on and off and I've always made it just fine. Verity's familiar with the situation anyway. We're all in good paws." He looked over to the grey rabbit for confirmation of his statement, but Verity was gazing at the printouts on one of the screens and did not meet his eyes.
Naomi's eyes were wide, though, as the small shuttle tilted through the myriad of rainbow coloured gas layers composing Diamondus's atmosphere and they landed the shuttle on a small charred landing strip in a suburban area on Diamondus's southern curve.
One of the suns had set already and the second one was lurking near the horizon as the little party disembarked from their ship, casting long shadows across the ground.
Verity knew the township vaguely; at least, she knew it was still neutral as far as the war was concerned. To her knowledge it was a good place as any to bring the two young rabbits she was with. She and Eddie had made sporadic checkpoints here while on scheduled target harvests, as they had called the routine small parties that were sent out to find potential hotspots of information that they could hack into and destroy. There was a nice tavern here if she recalled correctly.
She walked away a few strides to allow Icarus and Naomi a private conversation and climbed the crest of a hill to scope out their surroundings.
Naomi didn't want to look childish, but she was still nervous and she clung to Icarus's arm as they climbed out of the ship. "You were great flying," he told her, "the best."
Naomi clung. "I would feel better if we could talk to some kind of authorities."
Icarus sighed. "There's no authority anymore, Naom. Everyone's biased. Everyone's corrupt. Once we get away from the planet we'll be fine... and we WILL get away." He put his arms around her slender body.
"Now lets go find Verity and get something to eat." He pressed her forward towards Verity's outline perched on the hilltop beyond them.
Descending the hill into the small town, everything appeared normal, but as the three rabbits came close they could see that even this sleepy village was unable to escape the ravages of civil warfare. Near the center of the city what had once been a formidable estate lay still smoking in its own wreckage, and presently they passed a charred building that, in the quickly fading sunset, they could see had once been the local police headquarters.
Naomi slowed as they walked by this collapsed structure, observing glowing embers around the brick doorframe.
"This just happened..." she said, wavering.
"Police stations are the first to be targeted by militia or unorganizations," Verity stated briskly but softly. "It's a routine mission. It doesn't mean there's any danger here. Ravaging clans or renegade Union members will comb the land and anything they see in the form of authority that doesn't conform to their beliefs is...negated.
People-- especially civilians in a quiet town like this-- listen to authority figures," she explained, "They will go where they are told, if only in an effort to remain neutral."
She hesitated, but then pressed her paw quickly onto Naomi's shoulder in what was, however awkwardly, obviously meant to be a comforting motion. Icarus could see it was not something Verity was inclined to do naturally, but he could also tell that Naomi appreciated the protective gesture.
He knew that Naomi would become more attached to a figure like Verity's, an older, perhaps more experienced female of Naomi's own species, because of her motherless childhood.
Verity removed her paw quickly, though, and repeated, "It doesn't mean we're in danger."
Despite that, Icarus slid his arm around Naomi's shoulders as they walked on.
They entered a small tavern with a sign over the weatherbeaten door announcing it as The Marinated Pearl and quietly slunk into a corner table. Icarus and Naomi put their heads together to converse and Verity ordered a meal from a pudgy, buxom female lizard with a grubby notepad.
"-- and a Medivian Sour Ale for me," she finished. Their waitress grunted, sticking her pencil stub into a dirty pocket, and trundled back towards the kitchen.
While waiting for their food, the three bandied potential means of leaving the planet and chewed absently on the slightly wilted carrots that the waitress had plunked down on their table. Verity did not contribute often to the discussion, but, sitting across from Icarus and Naomi, only pointed out why the ship wouldn't be able to circumnavigate the planet for more than six consecutive orbits or that the cloaking device had been projected from air rather than off of the planet's surface.
"Is it even legal? Why are they doing this anyway?" Naomi wondered aloud, stretching strands of spaghetti for whole feet between her plate and fork. Verity sipped espresso and burnt her tongue and did not answer Naomi except to say, "The government doesn't want intergalactic cooperation."
Icarus frowned into his brussels sprouts.
"It was installed in the past two days," Naomi said thoughtfully, "so could we assume that they are just testing it? A synthetic orbit has to be hard to get perfect. Maybe they'll like, shut it down again."
Icarus sat up rather suddenly. "Wait," he said, "what pulls something into orbit in the first place? Isn't it some kind of magnetic force? What if we coated the ship in something that wouldn't be attractive magnetically to whatever's holding it? To keep the all the shuttles circling the planet, it has to be magnetized to a component all ships have in common."
"I think you'd have to completely negate the charge, not just block it," said Verity, but her voice was not so pessimistic. "It's a viable option...at this point probably our only option."
Naomi smiled hesitantly. "We'll be back on Carrotus before we know it!"
"Excuse me. I couldn't help overhearing... you're flying to Carrotus?"
Icarus and Naomi both started in suprise at the new voice. At the end of their table, a tall, lanky white rabbit, stood with his ears cocked anxiously. His fur was grimy and he looked as though he had not slept for days, but he nodded his head courteously to them. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suprise you. My name's J--" he began, but the white rabbit was taken considerably more by suprise when Verity flung herself away from the table and smashed him into the floor, her blaster appearing from her leather boot and pressing its barrel into his temple.
Her knee in his throat as he wheezed for air below her, she cocked her RF and whispered at him, "I already know your name, Jonathan."
The young rabbit couldn't speak, but his eyes widened when he heard his father's name.
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Chapter 27: Remittance
It was probably just before sunrise when they found the werewolf.
Michele looked at the deformed corpse. She'd been taught enough by her father to know what one would look like of course, but she'd never seen one up close. She knelt down and examined the prone figure. There were no signs of any attack, no blood... but looking closer, under the fur, there was some sort of bruise-
*Thomp* It was as if she'd been hit from behind with a pillow shot from a cannon, a fuzzy feeling enveloped her and she collapsed. There was another thomp and a yell. Looking up she saw Tier standing over a robed figure. His arm was limp and he was holding something that looked like a small rod. A crunching sound made her look at her stomach. A small circle had been neatly cut out of her shirt and her lower half was twisted at an unnatural angle. As she looked on in horror it slowly twisted around to its proper position, accompanied by sickening sensations she was sure were her internal organs shifting. Tier walked over, his arm was bruised, like the werewolves and was making small clicking noises like someone cracking their knuckles. He didn't bother checking if she was okay, or even what had happened, he just knelt down beside the werewolf and examined under the fur for- "Yeah he's bruised. I take it that rod did it to all three of us?" she said still slightly dazed. Tier looked up. "Yeah. Didn't think I'd see one of these again. Cookie cutter, the wizards used to use 'em."
The wizards? Micelle tried to remember, "Weren't they that crazy group who claim to control all magic?" Tier got up and showed her the rod. It was a perfectly smooth grey metal cylinder. "No, that was the sourcerers, but they're long gone. The wizards are a bunch of crazy wannabe's" Micelle laughed. "The sourcerers? From those old fairytales? ...you're not kidding are you?" Everyone, well, a lot of kids at least, had heard about the sourcerers, powerful people who could stop the sun setting if they wanted to. They had ruled the universe until- "The part about the prince is kind of true" interjected Tier. "But he had a few dozen planets of help, there was a lot of luck and a lot more bloodshed then the books say too." Michelle paused. He made it sound as if he'd been there, but those stories must have be centuries old "Just how old are you exactly?" she asked. Tier looked wistful "I kind've lost count, but I'm pretty sure I'll be a thousand and twenty four in a few weeks." he replied.
Michelle was stunned. An entire millennium like this? She looked at her cold dead hands and a moment of doubt passed through her mind, she crushed it. There were more important things to think about. "Well, the sooner you get introduced to this the better. Time to feed." This shocked Michelle "Feed? I though you said you needed to feed of living...?" Tier smirked "Yep, and these bodies are fresh. Not conscious, no pulse, but most of the cells are still living. It'll take a few hours for them to become inedible." Michelle waited for the shock to set in, but it didn't. Being dead seemed to dull all her emotional responses, Tier had mentioned something to do with having no adrenal glands anymore. She looked around and found what she was looking for. "If you don't mind, I'll just snack on these" she said taking a handful of Dubai berries off a small bush and popping them into her mouth. She instantly regretted it. The instant she bit down she felt sick. There was no taste, but she fell on the ground vomiting heavily bringing up the remains of an undigested breakfast two days old. A minute later she looked up a Tier's grinning face. "Like I said, living tissue, even zombies in a pinch, but say goodbye to vegetables or cooked food. If you don't think you can stomach it, here I'll take the werewolf; you can have the weirdo, just kneel down and tell me what he smells like."
Somewhat cautiously Michelle tried to discretely sniff the body. She would have been embarrassed if she'd ever bothered to be embarrassed about anything in her life. The stranger smelt like paraffin wax and mothballs. She took a deeper sniff, and then he no longer smelt of dusty attics, it smelt like life.
She awoke later. How much later was hard to tell, the sun was coming up but not yet risen. And she hadn't quite been sleeping either, images flashed across her mind, hazy and indistinct. She realized she was fervently licking something off her hand. Blood. There was no sign of the two bodies save a few small scraps of bloodied cloth. Tier was watching her reaction from a few feet away. She did a quick mental check. "Well, that was feeding was it? Okay then c'mon we've got to get to Greenthorpe ASAP." In the early morning light she could already see that the trees were thinning out and it wasn't long before the found a disused track leading to the town. Feeling somehow refreshed Michelle sprinted down the track at a speed she'd never have been able to sustain when alive. Despite the stiffness and cold she felt stronger and more in control than ever before in her life. And more determined.
She removed the 'wand' she'd picked up off the wizard and showed Tier. "You said this was a 'cookie cutter' how does it work?" It felt odd to be talking normally while running at top speed; lack of breathing was certainly an advantage. "Tier grabbed the rod and pointed it at her. This end is the one you hold; it shoots real small particles of silver that spin around real fast, near light speed. It instantly kills werewolves and most other things. Anything else, the silver bits hit the body and almost go through, when the slow down enough they explode, sending out a sonic and magical shockwave that liquidizes a portion of a body, makes it look like a bruise. When it hits skin it makes a thin red line that looks like someone took a cookie cutter to your skin. Thats what took a bite out of the back of your shirt. Michelle looked over her shoulder; sure enough there was a large circular hole in it, just below her shoulders, directly opposite the smaller hole in the front. She snatched the wand of Tier and pocketed it. The vampire would get acquainted with it soon enough.
They encountered the traveler just outside the town, on a road the track had joined half an hour earlier. He was a young red rabbit who by the looks of things was walking to the next town, or maybe to see family. Wasting no time Michelle simply ran up to him, picked him up by the shirt and asked him where Greenthorpe Mansion was. Terrified and confused he nevertheless managed to stutter a reply. "The vampire house? Wh-why do you want to go there? Its easy to find, just off Old Main street, real old run down big building!" Walking calmly over Tier put a hand on the young rabbits shoulder. "So sorry about my friend here, family troubles you see. Do put him down won't you? Good. Now sir, I suggest you continue what you were doing, as I have no doubt you will, its just that less logical people might do something unproductive like sneak back to town and say two zombies or something were heading in. That could cause a lot of unnecessary panic, and in such situations it wouldn't be surprising if that person or their friends and family found themselves at a disadvantage. Proceed."
Tier smirked as the figure ran into the distance, almost he realized, as fast as Michelle was speeding in the opposite direction. Nevertheless it was midmorning by the time the approached the mansion, which was every bit as decrepit as Tier had expected. After you'd hidden out in a few abandoned building they all started to look the same. Michelle didn't seem to want to take in the view; she simply vaulted the fence and ran inside. There were several people outside, one of whom yelled something at Tier. From inside the mansion there was the sound of breaking glass and more yelling. For a second Tier considered just walking away and leaving, it wouldn't be that hard, lord knows he'd screwed things up enough already. But then, what had he got lose? Attempting to sigh melodramatically Tier walked slowly up the footpath and into the mansions front door.
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Chapter 28: Dealing with death
There was a knocking at the back door. Tom opened it to reveal a rain-sodden Louie with a body hoisted over his shoulder.
"What on Carrotus... who is that?"
"Some kind of undead hunter, judging by the equipment he was carrying."
"But..." Tom was lost for words.
"Look, can I come in? It's pouring out here."
"Come on. You'd better take him up to my room." Tom stood back as Louie entered. He barely avoided hitting his burden's head off the top of the door frame. He carried Alexander Garand upstairs and laid him out on Tom and Susan's bed.
"Why did you bring him here?"
"I couldn't leave him out there. The werewolves that were after him never leave the woods, but other things do."
"Werewolves?"
"Yes, there were a pack of them after him."
That's not what Tom had meant. It was only a few days ago that he'd been forced to accept the existence of vampires. Now he had werewolves to deal with.
Tom stuck his head through the hatchway in the attic floor. "That's the video done. I even got Louie to hold up today's newspaper to prove it was made today."
Susan had just finished putting a bed sheet over an old, worn mattress. With Garand in their room, Majo in the spare room, and Tony on the sofa, they had no choice but to sleep in the attic. Louie slept on the bare floor. They'd offered him the mattress, but he'd insisted their need was greater than his.
"Thomas," said Susan.
"What's wrong, dear?" he replied. She hardly ever called him Thomas.
"What's about to happen." She paused. Tom gave her an inquisitive look. "It's exactly why we left Earian."
"That was different."
"Different?" Her voice raised slightly as she continued, "of course it was different. There were no refugees, after all."
"There must have been some refugees. Remember that business with the Autonomous Lizard's Republic?"
"That doesn't count," replied Susan, again a little louder. "That didn't make any real refugees."
"As I recall, the hotel manager got his arm broken," said Tom, a little apprehensively.
"Can we forget about the hotel for a second?" snapped Susan.
"Sorry. Tell you what, as soon as we get the mansion sorted out, we'll take a holiday. We could go to Thernon to see your brother perform. He's wanted you to visit him ever since he got into the Royal Opera's orchestra."
"That's just it. I can't leave. You think with hundreds of refugees arriving, they're going to let a surgeon take a holiday? And even if they did, you think I'd leave?"
"Thank you, dear," said Hilda, stiffly. Hilda took a sip of the tea she had just been handed.
"My pleasure, grandmother," replied Gary. He closed his briefcase. "I can't thank you enough."
"Nonsense. Anything to see the family name back in charge of Peddleburg. Every penny of that must go to your campaign, mind. I expect to see receipts. Now zip up the mattress, there's a good boy." Parker obeyed, making sure none of the banknotes fell out onto the floor. He would never understand why his grandmother flatly refused to open a bank account. Just as well, though. He'd be back for the rest some other time. Hilda looked over her visitor. A self-centred, devious little brat. But he'd make a good governor. And who knows, maybe he'd stop asking her for money. He had no excuse for it, not with his inheritance. She took another large sip. This was very invigorating tea. Her heart hadn't been this active in years.
"There we go. Now I'm afraid I'll have to leave you, grandmother dear."
"Oh, what a pity," she lied. "Goodbye. Don't forget to call again soon."
"I won't. I'm sure I'll see you again very soon. Goodbye."
"Goodbye," said Hilda as he closed the door behind him. Her heart was positively racing now. Out in the hall, Gary met Hilda's maid.
"Poor girl," he thought, "she'll be out of a job soon. I simply must offer her an interview."
He wished her a good day and left.
"He's waking up!" called Majo. She was sitting by Alexander's bedside. Alexander cursed inwardly. He would have liked to have assessed his surroundings before anyone realised he was awake. Not only that, but his face felt like it had been hit by a train. He opened his eyes. It was immediately obvious that he hadn't been taken back to the Greenthorpe mansion.
"Where am I?"
"The Bradhurst residence, Greenthorpe," replied Majo. Tom and Susan entered the room.
"Who are you?" he asked. As they introduced themselves, Louie arrived.
"What do you want with me?" asked Alexander.
"We want to know why you were hunting Mr. Greenthorpe, here," said Susan. He considered this. He didn't know why they had no problem with the vampire. They were clearly in on the Masquerade, and they must have realised he was with Schism or a similar organisation.
"An incident a few days ago. A squad of marines and a TV crew were slaughtered by the present occupier of Mr. Greenthorpe's home. Which I am assuming is Mr. Greenthorpe."
"I moved out several days ago," said Louie. "The guy who killed those people is someone else. But you needn't worry about him."
"Oh?"
"He had a nasty accident involving a piano. Lost his head, you see."
"Ah. Would this 'accident' have involved you in any way?"
"Might have."
"Luckily for you, you can take the Masquerade Law into your own hands. After all, Schism can't police the entire planet."
"Schism? Never heard of it."
"But it's heard of you, and that's what's important."
"Schism. A very unofficial Carrotus government department that preserves the Masquerade," said Tom, recalling his studies.
"Yes," said Alexander.
"So good at what it does, I didn't even believe it existed until now."
"What is this 'Masquerade'?" asked Majo. Alexander swore under his breath. They weren't all in on the Masquerade after all. Well, they were now.
"It's what keeps the world ignorant to the presence of things like vampires and werewolves," replied Tom.
"And whatever moral quibbles you may have about it, it's vital that people stay ignorant," said Alexander. "You're all going to have to take the Oath of Secrecy. And then I'd like to confirm the elimination of the guy who brought me out here."
A few hours later, Alexander, Louie, Majo, Tony and Susan were in the morning room of Louie's mansion. They'd just finished burying Theodore Thatcher and were attempting to clean up the remaining evidence of the fight. Tom had gone to deliver the video of Louie to Councillor Dalton. It had taken some time to convince Alexander that Greenthorpe had a masquerade of its own, and that Dalton could be trusted to be discreet.
"It's no good, there's nothing we can do about the bloodstains," exclaimed Susan.
"Don't worry about it," said Alexander. "As long as the body's gone, we can claim anything else has been there for years." There was a noise from the hallway, and a few moments later Tom entered, followed by Dalton.
"Ah. Hello," said the latter.
"You must be Dalton," said Alexander.
"And you must be Mr. Garand."
"Have you called off the demolition order on this place?"
"Yes."
"Can't say I approve. A demolition would be the best way to clean up what's happened here. But hey, demolishing a building this size when hundreds of refugees are about to stream into the area would probably look suspicious."
"I'm not the most house-proud person, but it's going to need a hell of a clean," said Louie.
"A few trusted councillors are on their way to help out," said Dalton. "They'll be here any minute, so if any of you want to make yourselves scarce, now would be the time."
"I'd better make a move," said Louie. "I'm not the most popular guy in Greenthorpe."
"That's not necessary. They'd like to make amends for assuming the worst about you all these years."
That moment, they heard some yelling outside. A second later, a zombie crashed through the morning room doors, tearing them off their hinges and smashing most of their glass.
"Alright. Where's the vampire?" it snarled. There was a stunned silence. Michelle grew impatient. "Answer me, or you all die!" She was in an impatient mood, and she could feel the Hunger rising.
"Which vampire?" asked Louie.
"The one who killed my brother!"
"Was your brother part of a TV crew?"
"No! Wait. He was with a TV crew."
"A marine then?"
"Yes. Now where's the vampire?" she shouted.
"He's dead."
"What?"
"Dead. The grave's just out there, if you want to take a look."
Michelle walked over to one of the tall, mucky windows, and wiped away enough of the grime to see a freshly dug grave just outside.
"That proves nothing."
"What other proof can we possibly offer you?"
She pondered this, then hurled herself through the window. She dug into the grave, throwing up mud and stones until at last she reached the coffin. She couldn't open it as she hadn't shifted enough earth, so instead she rammed her arm through the lid and pulled out Theodore's severed head. She looked up. Alexander was leaning out of the window, looking down at her.
"Satisfied?" he asked.
"Yes. That's him." She dropped the head back into the coffin and climbed out of the grave. Her brother's death had been avenged, and she hadn't even been there to see it, let alone take part in it. She knelt down and cried.
"Just a few days ago my life was perfectly normal. Then this *er killed my brother." She sobbed in silence for a minute or two. Alexander climbed out into the garden and put his arm round her. It had been a long time since he'd had to comfort anybody.
"There, shh. It's all over now."
"All over? I'm a *ing zombie. A zombie! All because I didn't trust anyone else to sort out my problems. All because I'm too impulsive."
"Don't start blaming yourself. We all do strange things when we're upset or angry."
"Nice words. But they're not going to cure me, are they? I'm dead now. Last time I checked, there was no cure for death. Well, none that would improve my situation."
Back in the mansion, Tom sighed. Vampires, werewolves, zombies. He'd have to dig out his old textbooks to find out what else was out there. And what about Diamondus? What kind of creatures were on their way from Diamondus?
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Mercy
Such life! Such beauty! It seemed that the hopelessness of the world had suddenly disappeared and no matter what happened, everything would be alright. Such emotions stirred that she had not felt in years. Clarity seemed to spring forth in her mind, even though the sting in her eyes. She opened them again, and once again blasted her optic nerves with the glorious sky.
As she repeatedly burned her eyes, addicted to the loss of desperation, her tattered ears started picking up on a sound that had previously been static. The laugh. Still beautiful, still from a voice more skilled than hers would ever be. But as reality stabilized she could tell there was something different about the laugh. Instead of returning her eyes to her beautiful sky, she angled her head towards the laugh.
Amidst the ruins she had loved so much was a golden figure with black framing her. The features were all a blur until she saw a flash of white gleam out from the middle of the face. Trying too hard to focus, she did not react when the figure leapt at her and slammed her head into the ground. Over and over again, flashes of lightning and fire in her eyes erupting in almost the same pattern as the last stars she saw. She shrieked, shrill and stuttered each time her skull hit the ground, ears flying around her occasionally getting twisted in a painful angle and once one was caught between her and the ground, crunching with a bruising certainty.
As she pleaded without words for an end to the torture, she felt a seemingly familiar feeling. There was a face against hers, lips pressed against her open, screaming mouth. Her nonexistent reflexes tried to shut her mouth, but she was too late. Something clamped into her tongue no, it clamped through. Her torturer pulled away and laughed again as her mouth was filled with spurts of blood, her tongue hurting so much she wanted to remove it. She tried to scream, but instead of the normal sound of her voice, it was now mottled with varying tones.
My sacrificial lamb, it is now time for you to serve your purpose, for your purpose is to die for my wants. The sensual voice was there again, deep with life and ebbing with death as each word twisted to the next. If not for the pain, she could have fallen into it again.
The pain! Her ears had been wrenched upon, and as one arm was raised in hopes of saving it, it was caught. Whether teeth, claws or a knife was tearing through skin and muscle, she did not know. First on her outer arm it was torn from wrist to elbow, then her arm was pulled and rolled away from her body, nearly causing the joint to lock, and the same was done to her inner arm, from elbow to wrist. She sobbed, tear ducts overflowing with salt and blood, but her mouth even more full. Trying to breath, she choked on it and hacked, blood spewing down her face.
Look. The voice commanded, no longer beautiful but forceful, like the voice of death, like the voice of Jade Dawn fating her to nothingness. Look Fearfully, she opened her eyes slightly, expectantly towards the voice. LOOK. The last you will see is the name of who you die for. She could not turn her eyes away from the blur of a face, but her own forearm was forced into her view. Beneath the streams of blood were dark, deep gashes:
ESTELLA
She shrieked her hollow cry, and her arm was shoved into her face and the other taken and treated the same. Estella. This must be the cursed name of this creature.
As Estella moved her way down her body, etching her name upon her sternum, on her legs, on her back, shredding the robes as she went, Neoma lay there, motionless aside from the shudders and twitches as Estella flayed nerves.
At least she was given the opportunity to die at one of the only places she remembered. She had loved this place. It was precious to her.
Precious. That was the meaning of the name someone had called her once -- Yakira. She had loved this person.
Yakira. She would not die a traveler, as the name Erditine had suggested.
It was if she was not really there, as if she was not in control of anything. Through ringing ears, she heard Estella say what seemed like static to her. She opened her eyes to gaze up at her tormentor, her killer. A paw descended upon her neck, and she felt each individual claw sink into her throat. Harder the pressed, making her gasp and inhale blood, but unable to fully cough. It was not the lack of air that was making her existence seem to disappear or the serpents of pain and dizziness wrap around her head. Blood was soaking through everything. All of her fur was damp and pinked by it, the ground was warm. Her lifeforce was drowning the ground.
Through one slanted eye, she saw blood begin to spurt up at Estella. Something pink obscured the glow of her teeth was she licking the blood off her face? Her own arm was forced in front of her face, the name obscured through the clots and streams.
This is the name that will carry you to death.
She forced her eyes closed and choked more as the grasp on her neck sharpened, but let go. Uncontrollably her eyes filled and she flung herself forward to drain the blood from her mouth. Raising her blurred eyes, she was wordless and frozen.
Estella had raised her arms and let forth a deafening screech, baring her fangs, claws out. Two identical creatures, shining as if with an inner light, one blindingly white, one brazen. Each was longer than either rabbit, and from them billowed what seemed to be massive wings, if she could focus long enough. Between the rabbit and the ethereal creatures there seemed to be a battle of sharp movements she could not discern. The light was blinding her.
Pain ripped through her back, but it was unlike the torture of Estella. It seemed to be coming from her skeleton and radiating out. She writhed, feeling as if the earth was crumbling under her. All sounds seemed to echo with a metallic feel, and she felt her eyes roll into her head just before she saw a sea of some unknown, slithering force stream out from the forests around the Mills and engulf Estella.
But next Yakira knew, she was running. Her limbs moved with an involuntary force like a machine. Clotted blood was globbing off her every wound, and it seemed the more conscious she was, the harder it was to run, the more her vision faded, and the more every open wound on her body cried out. The Mills were nowhere in sight, the forest had completely changed and the sun was gone from the sky. But a mansion was slowly growing out of the haze, and she continued, mutilated arms raised, crying out with her mottled voice begging for wordless mercy.
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Chapter 30: Lies and Betrayal
It is strange what one remembers when under extreme stress. Images, sounds, even scents come back with extraordinary clarity.
Jesse, flat on his back, was having one of these moments. The image of his father, recalled from memory by Verity's words, was so real to him that for a moment he thought the fire and everything following it was, perhaps, a dream. Jonathan Aimon's face was lit by a sardonic half-smile, the kind that Jesse had both loved and feared because of how swiftly it could change into either approval or scorn. Jesse had always avoided his father's wrath; the elder Aimon was neither gentle nor sparing in his discipline, but he was extremely fair, and Jesse never resented his punishments.
Jonathan's image reached towards Jesse, as though to help him up.
The pressure on his throat increased painfully. Jesse cound himself gasping for air that wouldn't come. Black spots flickered at the edge of his vision.
Dad?
Pick yourself up, Jesse. His father's voice, ghosting from memory. What happens when I'm not there for you? Learn to stand alone, without my help, and you will be even stronger with my help.
"Verity!"
Dazed, Jesse realized that this crazed female was going to kill him. His father abruptly forgotten, he found himself clawing at her knee, twisting frantically to get free, heedless of the RF launcher she was covering him with. He hadn't let Miss Savon kill him, nor Syamin and Adrian. There was no way he would let this stranger do him in without a fight.
"Verity!"
"I haven't forgotten you, Jonathan," she hissed at him, ignoring her companions, "or what you did to us."
Dad, what did you do?
Jesse was on the verge of blacking out. He could picture his father's sideways smile becoming scornful at his failure.
The pressure eased up suddenly, and his breath was very loud in his ears. Over the grey rabbit's shoulder he saw her black-furred companion bodily lifting her off him.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing.
It was a moment before he realized that the black rabbit was speaking to him.
"Your name is Jonathan?"
Jesse shook his head no. If the grey rabbit - Verity? - if Verity had such a grudge against the late general, he would be better off not admitting any blood relationship at all.
"Who are you then?"
"My name .. is Jesse." The last time he had spoken those words, it had been to another black rabbit. Jesse thought this one was more trustworthy though, which was why he had approached to begin with.
"Jesse what?" the black rabbit's eyes sharpened suspiciously.
"Just .. Jesse." Why did people insist so much on knowing last names? It didn't change who he was.
"I see." The dark violet-blue eyes warned him that the topic was not forgotten. "Do you know Verity?"
"No." He shut his eyes. Logic would say if he had known Verity, why would he have approached them?
"Who is Jonathan?
Jesse's eyes flew open. "What makes you think I know?"
"You recognized the name."
"Jonathan was ... a friend, I suppose."
"Was?"
"He's dead. Killed."
"He's lying," Verity said suddenly, voice tightly controlled. "Icarus, he's lying through his teeth."
Icarus sighed. "Give him a chance, Verity?" Verity made a disgusted noise. He turned back to the white rabbit who called himself Jesse.
"How did he die?"
"Why?"Getting answers from him was harder than pulling teeth. "Just answer the question, okay?"
Anger lit in Jesse's green eyes, but then he shrugged. "They got him in a fire."
"When?" Verity demanded. Jesse looked bewildered.
"A few weeks ago? I lost track of time.."
Icarus regarded this strange youth suspiciously. Ash and grime made his white fur dingy. He smelled of smoke. Icarus went on intuition.
"You set that fire in that station."
Jesse tensed. Clearly Icarus had hit a nerve. "Not - directly."
"How do you indirectly commit arson?"
Jesse didn't answer that. Icarus waited patiently. Finally, the white rabbit looked away. "It's a long story."
"I'm sure it is. How many people died?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" Verity's whole body expressed incredulity.(sp?)
"No more than two. Probably not even that. I think A.. one got out at least."
"Who?"
"A ... spymaster. And a spy. We... fought. The fire was accidental." He looked at Verity nervously, looking very young for a moment. "Can I get up?"
"Don't try anything."
"Like what?" Jesse sat up, gingerly rubbing his bruised throat. "You think I'm going to jump up and start burning everything? I'm sorry, I've had enough fire to last me a lifetime. Two lifetimes," and his head jerked up defiantly.
Verity looked clearly disbelieving. Jesse matched her stare for stare.
"How can we believe you?" Naomi said suddenly. "We don't know you. You won't even tell us your last name, for heaven's sake."
Jesse smiled bitterly. "I'm thinking I should look for passage offworld elsewhere, then?"
Icarus was surprised into a laugh. "Yes, the reception's been a little unfriendly, hasn't it. Naomi, you have to remember too, Jesse could be completely innocent. There's a good chance Verity has the wrong rabbit."
Verity found her voice. "Not bloody likely."
Jesse's face darkened. "What did Jonathan ever do to you?"
"You should know," Verity said dangerously. Jesse shook his head. He didn't look as though he wanted to know either. Icarus shrugged.
"It's an honest question," he remarked, "but makes no difference whatsoever to the question of passage."
Verity turned startled eyes to him. "You can't seriously be considering taking him?"
"It's not up to you or me," Icarus pointed out. "It's Naomi's ship."
Naomi gave Icarus a look that said thanks a lot. He shrugged it off. She sighed. "Icarus, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Uh, sure."
She drew him away from Jesse and Verity, who were eyeing each other again.
"What are you doing," she hissed at him once they were out of earshot. "We need Verity. We don't need this Jesse guy! He as much as admitted to killing two people and setting that fire we saw!"
"He also said that he thought they might have escaped, and the fire was accidental," he reminded her. "But like I said, the coice is yours."
"What if he's lying? What if he is this Jonathan?"
Icarus shrugged. "There's no justice on Diamondus anymore," he pointed out. "If he does turn out to be some criminal, we can turn him over to the Carrotan authorities."
"You believe him," she accused. Icarus gave her a twisted smile.
"I'm just remembering another kid accused of crimes he didn't commit," he said softly. "I have a certain amount of sympathy for Jesse, yes."
"Oh, Icarus," Naomi said, penitent, "I'm so sorry. I didn't think - I mean - that you saw him like that."
"Aside from the last name issue, he seems to be telling the truth," he told her.
"Then what do we tell Verity?"
"I'd say it's probably better to keep an eye on him than to kill him out of hand or let him go," he mused. "That way she can be sure of getting justice on Carrotus. And the truth might come to the surface."
"The truth?"
"About what Jesse says. And Verity."
"Oh."
"Make the call, captain."
"... Can you talk to Verity for me?" Naoimi's eyes were pleading. Icarus grinned.
Jesse watched Icarus and Naoimi walk away before turning his eyes to Verity.
"What did Jonathan do? he asked again, weary of this whole thing. "Try to kill you?" His quick eyes noted the scar on her face. Verity scowled.
"Oh, you tried. I'm not so easy to kill though."
Jesse stayed quiet.
"Raphael trusted you," she said bitterly. "You made him betray Eddie, and then you betrayed him."
He blinked. Verity's words disturbed him more than he admitted. Those names were familiar, and he couldn't place them.
"Look," he said finally. "I don't know how to convince you. I'm not Jonathan. I'm Jesse."
Verity laughed. "For not being him, you sure do look like him."
The words were a cold weight in Jesse's stomach. He told himself firmly that she was not speaking of his father. His father wanted nothing to do with the war. He was honorable. He didn't betray people.
But how often had he been told that he was his father's spitting image?
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