Venatores Mali: Aria Page 2

long to get ready."

  2nd Oct-14:03

  ZioTech Ind. R&D Dept.

  Lady Grey searched the floor-wide room for a young bald black man. "Needle in a haystack," she said under her breath. She pushed her way through the crowd of scientist, people that looked for ways to meld magic and technology. The world knew it as OcculTech. From the corner of her eye, she saw someone messing with a metal gauntlet. A fireball shot out of the palm, blasting a hole in the wall.

  A few sirens went off as several scientists ran with fire extinguishers. Grey continued walking, unfazed by the sudden outburst.

  An Indian woman no taller than five feet stepped directly in front of her. "Lady Grey," she addressed. "Doctor Myles is waiting for you." She glared at Grey from over the top of her large glasses, judging her for being late.

  A short trip through the chaos brought them to the man she was looking for. A bald black man was looking over a large box that had glass on each of the sides. Inside the box was what looked like a swirling galaxy. "Doctor," the assistant announced.

  He turned away from his work, "Ah, Grey. Frank told me you would be here about this time."

  'I'm going to kill him', she noted. "Orders from higher up," she said to him. "Said you had something for me.

  "You have always been a 'strictly business' type," he noted. "Let me just finish up with this and we'll head over to R&D."

  "What is that," Grey asked, nodding towards the box.

  "Glad you asked," he said, patting the box."We have actually made some improvement in the field of PR."

  "What's PR," she asked.

  "Pocket Reality. We can hold an infinite amount of things with only the tap of an app."

  Grey gave him a questioning look.

  "A demonstration," he suggested. He grabbed the clipboard out of his assistant's hands and placed it on the table. Pulling out his phone, he tapped it a few times and aimed the camera at the clipboard. When the camera clicked as if taking a picture, a beam shot out and the clipboard disappeared.

  Lady Grey was taken back by the display.

  "Now for part two," Austin said. He pushed another button, and the beam shot back out. This time, a small purple imp came with it, trying to eat the clipboard. A few scientists near by started to panic. The imp hissed at them, ready to attack.

  Grey quickly pulled a hand rifle out of her coat and blasted the creature to bits.

  Austin picked up the remains of the clipboard and handed it back to his shocked, covered-in-imp-bits assistant. "We may have a few more tests to run, Ashra," he stated.

  Ashra simply nodded.

  Lady Grey followed Dr. Myles to the Weapons Research room. The walls were covered with prototypes of both offensive and defensive devices. Guns. Grenades. Swords. Shields. Some even looked like they would be more at home in a spy film. She picked up a pen sitting on one of the racks.

  "Careful with that," Austin warned. "It's a Dimensional Splitter. Can cut a hole in reality itself."

  Grey gently put the pen back.

  "These are what you're here for," he commented from behind a counter. He pulled out a box with a hinged lid. He lifted it to reveal twelve rifle shells. Each one had a small clear tip.

  Lady Grey lifted one out to analyze it. "What is it?"

  "It's a special UV-tipped bullet," he explained. "It's engineered to activate once it makes contact with anyone of vampiric blood."

  "How," she questioned.

  "The blood acts as a chemical trigger. Once blood hits the tip, a UV pulse sets out from it and destroy the part of the vampire's body. Hit the heart or head, and it's instant death."

  "What if I hit any other part of the body," she asked, looking over another bullet.

  "Then it just leaves a nasty wound that will never heal," Austin explained. "It won't kill them, but they will be in excruciating pain for the rest of their unlife."

  She placed the bullet back in the case and closed it. "I'll keep that in mind," she remarked as she took the case.

  3rd Oct-10:00

  Lady Grey's Quarters

  Lady Grey stepped out of the shower. Hunting worked up more of a sweat than she expected. She wiped the fog off the mirror to find her skull face staring back. A full face tattoo might not let her ever blend in with society, but it also hid the burnt, blasted remains of a face underneath. A face, a life, she lost in the war. She closed her eyes, and the face of one of her soldiers sat there, looking back. Spittle of blood covered his mouth.

  "They came out of nowhere, sir," he struggled to say.

  The scene unraveled as if it was still happening. The rest of her unit was scattered among the desert sands. The fire from the Humvee lit up the night sky. There were sounds of gunfire and screeching surrounding them.

  "Hold on," Grey ordered the soldier.

  "Tell my wife..." he started, but never finished.

  Grey dropped the body once she caught a glimpse of one of the creatures. It was tall and thin with white skin and bat-like features. It screeched at Grey as she readied her rifle. It lunged at her...

  'Grey.' His voice broke through the flashback.

  She blinked. She found herself back in the bathroom, naked in more ways than one. 'Sir,' she mentally answered.

  'We have a situation,' he explained. 'The Tome of Blood has gone missing.'

  She blinked in confusion. 'How?'

  'I do not know. All I do know is the tracer enchantment I placed on it has it at the church you originally found the runes at.'

  She quickly threw her clothes on. 'Ready the transport,' she said. 'I'll head them off myself.'

  3rd Oct-10:31

  Our Lady of Redemption

  Lady Grey examined the building. Police tape draped over the front. She slipped through and was greeted with the lingering smell of dust and gunpowder. The morning sunlight barely broke through the stained windows. The turned over pews and dusty remains of the creatures she fought a few days ago still remained on the floor. 'Creatures must have been the guard dogs,' she noted.

  There came a rustling of wings somewhere above her. She looked up from under her large hat to see one of the bat-like creatures that she encountered several years ago. It circled over her before lading on the pulpit. The skin shifted and turned into a more human form. A form she remembered all too well.

  "Ethan," Grey questioned as one of the creatures returned to his human form.

  He paced across the front of the pulpit, not taking his eyes off her. Those cold, empty eyes. The eyes of a predator. The same eyes she was watching him with.

  "You abandoned us," he growled. "Left us to die at the hands of those monsters."

  "You became one," she replied.

  "No, I'm not the monster here." Ethan returned to his bat-like form. "Not compared to you, Hunter." More of the creatures descended around her. She pulled out her rifle and loaded the special bullets that she received. One of the vampires tried to slash at her, but she pulled back and shot down the attacker. The bullet slammed into the creature's shoulder. A hole grew out of the impact area. Within moments, the hole completely disintegrated the shoulder, causing the attacker's arm to fall off.

  She swung around to fire off a few shots at another attacker. One hit the creature in the stomach and the other crashed into his head. The body crumpled onto the grounds. Ethan leapt at Lady Grey, trying to catch her off-guard. She quickly dodged the attack and fired off a few shots. One hit his leg, one hit the chest, and the third broke through his arm.

  He stumbled to the ground, then stood and tried to attack her again. He managed to slash away at her just as she fired another bullet into his stomach.

  Ethan flipped over and laid upon the alter, withering in agony as his body shifted between man and monster. Grey walked up, rifle at the ready. "I forgive you," he sputtered.

  She ended his suffering.

  After a long moment of silence, she continued into the deeper parts of the church. The musty basement seemed older than the rest of the building. There were echoes of a con
versation. She came closer to it, catching the tail end of it. "Take it back to your master," a dusty, regal voice commanded. "It seems I have company."

  Grey turned the corner to find the same creature that converted her unit a decade ago. "You and I have some unfinished business," she hissed.

  The creature nodded. "We do, but not today." He got up and stretched his wings. "You and your master have more important matters to attend to."

  Grey aimed her gun at the creature's heart. "Like what?"

  "There is going to be," he started, motioning as if he was trying to remember something. "What is it? Ah, yes. Hell on Earth."

  Grey fired. The creature quickly turned to dust as the bullet flew through. He solidified as it struck the stone wall behind him.

  "It has been fun catching up," the creature mused. "But I must be off. I don't care to be here when everything comes to fruition." He turned to dust again and seeped into the cracks of the floor.

  Lady Grey found herself alone with the creature's two human pets. They snarled at her. She made quick work of them.

  She tapped the Mente Parlare. 'Sir. Target has escaped.'

  There was a long pause. 'Understood,' he replied. 'Return to base.'

  To Be Continued...