She Who Loves Silence (part two)

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  Darius stood at the top of the stairs leading down to the witnesses, leaning on his heirloom cane, waiting for the true sun that signaled the end of his nights and the never-ending rejection of his days. Last of those who protect, no longer needed, no longer wanted but satisfied at a task well done. Darius was the last of the vampires in his world and almost the last of the supernaturals. The rest had left for other worlds leaving Darius behind because he had been the anchor and they, the ship. They had to cut the rope because this world was done. All that remained were a few who could not bear to leave and who would bear witness. And the anchor, Darius. He wore his favorite old suit and smiled into the dawning sky. He had led as honorable a life as possible it was for him to live. He had fallen on his face and stood back up countless times and whether he succeeded or failed he had come through all to stand here this day to triumph for one last time. His job was done as surely as this world was.

  The sun started pulsing with a wavering light that increased in speed. The End was here.

  Darius spread his arms wide to welcome the dying sun and the skies turned darker than true night. A Chaos Storm bore down on him snatching him from his joy at a life well lived. Reality rippled and he knew nothing, felt nothing until he awoke no longer on the planet that he knew so well but elsewhere. It was deep night instead and the stars were different from those he was accustomed to at either the north or south hemispheres of his world.

  He appeared to be in a town of some sort and buildings were burning around him spewing smoke across the area. Chaos had erupted in the streets and cries for help reached his hearing. Strange that he could understand them, but it was almost as if through a mental filter. A cry for help however was something he could understand on any level.

  He lowered the arms that had tried to embrace the exploding sun still holding the ancient cane of his family which he planted on top of the hard-surfaced street. Darius stretched his vampiric senses seeking the closest victims of the Storm, found many and headed that way. Darius, once Lord of the Shield's Service had a reputation to maintain after all. He wasn't pleased at the suffering around him but at the same time he was strangely lifted. He was needed and as long as he felt that, as long as he knew that, then he could live forever. He tried to shake the thoughts from his mind and went about his profession.

  It felt good to be needed.

  As Darius hurried he kept glancing at the sky. The Chaos Storm was still stationary, raging, but he was in its eye. If the Storm started moving they would all be in trouble. So he kept his senses fully engaged, processing information and sounds. On one level it appeared he was hearing quite a few different languages. On another level he could understand them all. Must be a Universal Language Translator operating somewhere close by, he thought. Extremely high tech for such a low-tech area. He shrugged to himself. It was going to make his work much easier and that was a plus.

  He wondered about the possibility that a Chaos Storm would appear at the moment he accepted the 100% certainty of his own death. It seemed truly impossible that he was still alive.

  He noticed a large number of uniformed men and women, wearing the same cut of clothing but were in assorted colors. Off to the side down an alley he saw a different group of men dressed in black. A small squad. Everyone else was rushing into burning buildings saving people or removing wreckage off of trapped victims and treating their wounds, but this small squad… They were beating the victim he had been drawn to. They were brutally efficient, and he felt their intent. They were going to kill her. Piece by piece. Slowly. Purposefully. The victim had tried to fight back but the storm must have injured her before the squad ever saw her. But why?

  It was obvious these men were in authority but what a perverted authority it was. If she was a threat then the woman should be restrained. If she wasn’t, then why go to such extremes?

  Darius transformed, becoming one with the mist and moved quickly to them. On his world, he had rooted out the corrupt with impunity. Here was a different matter. By saving this woman he might very well be declaring a war he couldn’t win. That’s when he realized. He knew the woman and extending his senses further, he saw four more people he knew. All of them from his world. All of them in chains except Leoris the woman being killed so slowly, so cruelly. Members of the Shield’s Service, they had stayed behind with Darius and others unwilling to leave the home they had known for all of their lives. They had been ripped away the same as Darius had been. There was no reason for them to be treated this way any longer. He judged the small squad of ten ruthless men, and he found them lacking.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Misting closer to the man currently beating Leoris Darius forced mist towards the man’s head then wrapped it around his neck. Darius waited a moment and materialized behind the man gripping his throat, then Darius looked at the rest of the black coated squad.

  Darius gestured at his four old companions, “Free them or I kill him. Your choice.”

  “Kill him then, He let himself get taken. He isn’t worth the trouble it takes to let him stay alive.”

  The soldier in question, garbled out a response, “Fuck you Garvin,” and he shot the man a bird.

  Garvin scoffed and raised his rifle shooting the other man and into Darius who immediately misted, unharmed. Then he pointed the rifle at Darius’s old companions, “Best stay that way.”

  Darius materialized insta-casting two of the shields he had been so famous for as Lord of the Shield’s Service, covering both his friends and Leoris laying there in agony.

  Then all hell broke loose as the squad opened fire.

  Darius invoked his personal shield and blinked towards them casually crushing a helmeted head into an immovable thick stone alley wall with so much force it exploded. The Third Squad in Black, infamous for their battle skills, fired sporadically at the quickly moving vampire. They didn’t have a chance. Darius snapped necks, broke heads with his thick wood cane, shattered rib cages with well placed kicks and left Garvin for last.

  “And then there was you,” Darius told him.

  “Very impressive,” said Garvin as he stamped the ground with his right foot causing a burst of energy that surrounded his suddenly growing form, his skin hardening into organic stone and spikes sprouting from his body. He batted at Darius with his right fist hoping for a quick solution that wasn’t there, crashing it into a stone wall that partially crumbled from the impact.

  Darius misted and phased his hand through the man’s chest gripping his heart. Garvin stiffened arching his back in pain. Darius began extracting Garvin’s life force with one hand, and inserting it into Leoris with the other, healing Leoris’s injuries. He had become a conduit of life and death. Garvin was screaming in agony before he finally fell lifelessly to the ground, his body thudding as it hit.

  Darius fully materialized again and quickly knelt to Leoris laying on the ground, gathering her in his arms and burying his head in her dark hair. “Leoris…”

  She pushed him away slightly, “You have others to deal with…,” and she kissed him lightly on his cheek. “Go,” she whispered in his ear. “You saved me. Go save them and Put Me Down.”

  Darius smiled foolishly and set the now healed Leoris on her feet, then turned towards the lifeless Garvin. The man had reverted to his normal self and Darius wondered about the man’s brutal power. No doubt about it, Garvin would have outclassed most men in a fight, but of course Darius wasn’t a true man anymore. He wasn’t a true Vampire anymore either. Darius had gone beyond and come back. Long ago.

  He looked over at the men in their chains, with a light smile,“Thought you would have stayed free from this lot gentlemen,” gesturing at the Third Black Squad's scattered dead on the ground.

  “We were taken right when we woke up Lord. And these chains they have us in are special but I almost had us free.”

  “Sure Humphrey. I don’t recall you ever being a locksmith or an accomplished thief either.”

  “I was using my well-known charm Lord,” smiled the man.

  “Uh Huh.”

  He frowned and bent over Garvin to loot him, specifically looking for a key. Finding a key ring he stood and stretched before going to free his men from their chains. All of them had served in the Shield’s Service with him and played into his immediate plans.

  He unlocked the chains. “Go arm yourselves and inventory equipment.”

  “Loot them Lord?”

  “Loot them.”

  They all laughed.

  “Thought we would be dead by now,” said another of his men.

  “I am sure we all thought the same thing,” replied Darius, giving everyone time to sort through gear and weapons. “And if we have been transported here that means there could be more of the old Shield’s Service alive. More civilians also. Cross your fingers and hope they work. Activate implants now.”

  Darius’s internal stat screens activated and lit up his vision. He extended the five people surrounding him an invitation and they grouped up into a party. Darius ran a quick diagnostic. Everything was fine and he could see their stats as party leader.

  Leoris approached him holding an armful of backpacks and rifles, “Still protecting us to the last Lord Darius?”

  “Forever and always Leoris. Forever and always.” said Darius with an almost somber smile.

  Leoris grinned, “I haven’t seen you in this good of a mood since the last Festival of Light we had.”

  “It’s the gods truth. I seem to have purpose again.” Darius shook his head retrospectively.

  “We all seem to have purpose again, not just you.”

  “True. We it is. Humphrey start scanning for Shield’s Service members and put out an activation signal to their implants. We need all of them.”

  “Aye Lord. Most left the planet with the others, but I know for a fact, there were exactly 3339 who stayed. What are we going to do sir?”

  “We are going to take this area. The authorities here seem to be into incarcerating every sentient being thrown here by that Chaos Wave and beating young women to death. That pisses me off. Let’s show them how we feel.”

  Danger hit the edge of his sensory net just then and he frowned. Looking out of the alley he saw a swarm of black uniforms approaching and at their head a man he could sense danger rolling off of in a palpable wave. Dammit. He needed more time to gather his forces.

  Darius didn’t think they were going to survive this.