The Siege Against Tolkeen

Sonja entered the room, obviously ready for combat. She was in her Juicer body armor, with twin energy rifles slung over her back, a vibro-sword sheathed on her belt, and a bandolier of grenades. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail.

"Nick said that you needed me for a mission?" she asked Perrin, who was sitting in the room alone, with a CD player\recorder clutched tightly in his hands.

"Yeah," said Perrin. "I've been told that you could sneak out of Tolkeen and into Coalition territory. Was I misinformed?"

Sonja shook her head. "I can sneak out of Tolkeen," she said. "Used to do it all the time back in my smuggling days for the Dimensional Market. 'Course, it's much harder now, because of the war and all."

"Good," said Perrin, handing her the recorder. "Because I need you to deliver the CD in here to the Coalition military. Tell them that it's a message from Jack Perrin."

"No sweat," she said nonchalantly, tucking the item away in a utility belt pocket. "But when last I checked, there were a few outstanding warrants for me out in the CS. I'm not going to stick around any longer than I have to."

"That's perfectly all right. By the way, what exactly are those warrants for?"

Sonja chuckled. "Petty little stuff," she said. "Just a few little misdemeanors. You know, gun-running, selling contraband, grand theft...puny crimes like that." Seeing the disapproving look on Perrin's face, she blurted out, "Juicer augmentation doesn't come cheap, you know. I had to steal and sell half a dozen SAMAS suits before I could even afford the procedures, let alone the bio-comp harness."

"So...you had to pay a hell of a lot of money...in order to get your lifespan shortened by about half?"

"That's it in a nutshell," she said, walking out with the disc. "But you know, I wouldn't trade this short life for anything."

"Please don't!" pleaded the inquisitor, as he was hurled at over 100 miles per hour into a dank sewer wall. His crimson robes were stained with his blood, which streamed from his face and from his hands. It spattered all over, congealing into puddles on the ground, and splashing on the walls.

"You thought to exterminate me," growled Arturo, the vampire lord. He was dressed in his usual opulence, but his suit was soaking wet, and his vampiric body was sizzling like a juicy steak on a barbecue. However, his body healed as quickly as the water could damage it. "You thought you could kill me like you would kill a rat."

He lifted the inquisitor's huddled body off of the ground, and hurled it into another wall, very nearly dashing the man's brains out.

"Know this," he said, looking deep into the terrified man's eyes. "I am the lord of these sewers! I and I alone rule here."

With that, he lifted the inquisitor up again, and ripped off the gas mask which protected his victim's head and neck. He then clamped down on the man's throat with his teeth, enjoying the hot, intoxicating flavor of the blood. The inquisitor struggled for a few moments, but quickly became weak, and then lapsed into unconsciousness. Arturo continued sucking for a few minutes until he was sure that the body was dry, and then tossed the lifeless corpse away into a corner.

"What's this here?" he mused, looking at the man's discarded backpack. He began to flip through it, pulling out interesting or lethal looking items for later resale or use. There was a motion detector, several clips of silver bullets (although early on in the battle Arturo had crushed the man's automatic pistol), some survival rations, and a bundle of wooden stakes.

Curious, the vampire turned on the motion detector, just to see what it could do. He was very much surprised when the thing registered a man-sized object nearby. "I thought that was the last of those damn inquisitors," he cursed, as he got up to his feet. "Oh well. I suppose I can bottle this one's blood, and have it for supper tomorrow."

Sonja sprinted through the sewers at a speed no unaugmented human could ever hope to match. She was staying on the side railing, but the sewage lines had overflowed, meaning that the walkway was ankle-deep in foul-smelling crud. She paused for a moment to slip on her air filter, to keep the stench from nauseating her.

Suddenly, a greenish mist flowed into the area through a ventilation duct, swirling around the Juicer. For a moment Sonja thought she was being gassed, and was very glad for her air filter. But then, as the mist began to coalesce into the shape of a man, she knew that this mist was something far more terrible than poison.

A tallish young man in a business suit stood in front of her, his long fangs protruding from his upper lip. He looked at her strangely, rubbing his chin. "You don't look like an inquisitor," he said, in a harsh, grating voice. "What are you doing here, in my tunnels? You're trespassing, you know." He then reached out for her neck.

Sonja grabbed his wrist, twisted it, and then hurled the vampire into the stream of liquid waste. He sank like a rock. For a moment, she thought that it might have killed him, but he merely levitated out, sewage dripping from his body.

"Look what you've done to my suit!" he cried, very much offended. "Oh, and it's WATER that hurts us. Piss merely agitates vampires, young lady."

Terrified, Sonja backed up to the wall, and began frantically searching her utility belt for an anti-vampire weapon of some sort. The pouch which held the CD fell to the ground, spilling out its contents.

"What's that?" he asked, staring into her eyes. "I think you'd better hand it to me."

A wave of confusion washed over Sonja, which quickly turned to panic when her body, acting on its own accord, picked up the CD player\recorder, and handed it over to the undead. She began even more terrified when her head jerked upwards, exposing her pulsing jugular to the vampire. Although she tried with all her might to move or run, her flesh would not comply.

The vampire, almost oblivious to his helpless victim, slipped the headphones over his ears, and listened to Perrin's message. He instantly recognized the voice, and hate filled his shriveled heart. He patted his chest, feeling the area where he had been shot. Although the wound had quickly healed, the silver slug had stayed inside, causing him great pain for about a week until he found an unscrupulous doctor to remove it for him. The surgery (with a silver-plated scalpel, of course, as normal knives could not pierce his skin) had been both costly and painful.

"You go," he said, smiling like a shark. "Deliver your message. And remember nothing of this...encounter."

Sonja's mind went blank for a few minutes, as if she was asleep. When her brain took control again, she found herself running through the sewers, the CD player in her hands, unable to remember the events of the past hour.

The godling was sitting in his apartment, hunched over a copy of the dreaded Necronomicon. He was greatly frustrated by the ancient text of power. While he could see the words, printed in blood, and tried his very hardest to understand them, they were just scribbles on a page that he could make no sense of. Still, the book had several diagrams of the more powerful demons and gods, and an intriguing page of magical symbols, including several signs of warding or banishment that he had heard of but never actually seen.

Suddenly, his telephone rang. The godling put the book of evil lore away, and picked up the receiver. "Hello?" he asked. "Who is this?"

A voice distorted by intense static greeted him back. "You don't need to know who this is," it snarled. "But I have a very important message for you."

"How did you get this number?!"

"Shut up. I bear news of utmost importance. The Coalition has found out about your precious pyramid and your trapped gods. They should attack soon, probably within the next week or so. You have been warned, and must prepare." The line then went dead.

The godling hung the phone up. Then, hesitantly, he picked it up again, and dialed a number. "Hello, Shaard?" he said. "We've got a problem."

Next Chapter

By David Haendler.

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998 David Haendler. All Rights Reserved.