The poor man had been taken by the creature. His neck was dislocated and his eyes were looking upward. His mouth was drooling and opened and his body was mangled in an unnatural position. He was utterly crushed and his body shook from the force of the tentacle that held him firmly. Alex wanted to yell, to get out and swim away, but he also wanted to destroy the beast and avenge the death of what would be the forgotten brave. And so, he kicked the eye of the monster.

The vampires on the main landing area were taken care of. The Rebels proved to be unbeatable with their silver bodies and sword mastery. “Well,” Orwen said as they landed softly on the ground, all looking out to sea, “that’s the last of them.”

“Not yet,” Davik said, as he pointed to the bodies of the slaughtered humans. They would have to disintegrate them totally before the bodies became possessed by the disease and will of the vampires.

“What about Alex?” Orwen said.

“Hey!” John’s voice called out, as he heaved himself forward, holding on to his ruptured shoulder. “You all okay?” he asked them. They nodded. He looked around for Alex but could not find him.

“He’s gone down,” Gavin said, “to save someone.”

“What!” John yelled, “How could you let him?”

Just behind him, Richard and the others ran towards them. “What’s happened?” Richard asked.

“They left my nephew in the bloody water!” John yelled.

The tentacles wrapped forcefully around Alex, rendering him helpless. He yelled out in pain and concentrated his energy towards the eye. After a few seconds, the tentacles blew apart from the force of his will. He slashed the eye with his sword, causing the squid to toss him out of the sea.

Alex crashed to the ground at John’s feet. “Alex!” shouted John. He took his nephew by the shoulder and stood him up. “Are you alright?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Alex said in a daze, “I wanted to help Justus, but he’s dead.”

“What? What happened?”

“A vampire left him in the sea and a giant squid killed him.”

Just then, a hollow, deep bass groan came through the waves of the ocean and a set of large tentacles smashed onto the floor. They jumped back.

John had only ever heard of such a creature in stories. But he knew this mutation resulted from nuclear waste. “Forget it!” he said. “Let’s just get into the ship.”

“What about Nick?” Alex asked.

“I’m going back there to help him.”

“I’m coming with you,” Alex said.

“No!” John yelled, “You have to get back to the Regnum, safe and sound. Stay with these men. Go!”

The transport ship landed and Hektor pulled Alex towards it.

They boarded it and, just before the entrance sealed shut, it took off into the sky.

The night grew darker and the skies over the Vatican and its neighboring forest were filled with stars. On a clear night such as this, one could see the spherical body of the Regnum eclipsing the bright full moon.

The General and his men were now inside the Vatican fighting the guards. Suddenly, General Chang and General Nakashima charged out with their men. The arrival of the reinforcements made the vampires panic. They ran for cover. The fighters attacked them with greater effort, further reducing their numbers.

“Great work, team,” Singh said, as he shot a vampire who immediately crumbled with the force of the silver nitrate. He turned to Evan and said, “Activate the sound.” Evan nodded and pushed a button on the edge of his metallic glove, and a frequency emanated from Evan’s entire armor. Every single vampire in a fifteen mile radius fell down on their knees, begging for the sound to stop. The humans couldn’t hear anything, as the frequency was so low that it could be heard only by hypersensitive ears. Ranjit approached one of the vampires who covered his ears and eyed the general with spite. “Tell us, where we can find the main computer database,” said Singh.

The vampire spat blood into his face, “Turn it off!” he yelled, “And I’ll tell you.”

“Tell me and I’ll turn it off!” Ranjit yelled back.

“No one is allowed inside. There is a code for it. Please,” tears of blood flowed down from his eyes, “Just turn the damn noise off.”

Ranjit signaled the order, and a reluctant looking Evan pressed the same button. The noise stopped immediately.

“Now tell us. Where can we find the database?”

The vampire, his long hair matted with blood, breathed heavily and paused, “We cannot tell you. It is forbidden.”

“Don’t fool with me!” Ranjit yelled, pushing his sword towards the vampire’s throat.

The pain burned through his skin and he let out a squeal. “Don’t kill me!” he tried to push away Ranjit’s hand, “I’ll tell you.” The other vampires stared at him and prepared to strike. The humans created a circle around the vampire and Ranjit.

“You will help me,” Ranjit said softly. “Lead me to the library database. If you are useful, we might spare your life.”

“Alright, follow me.” He got on his feet and gestured for the humans to follow.

General Singh said in a loud voice, “If anyone is to follow us or try to attack, you know what will happen.”

The vampires glared and hissed at them.

John ran towards the entrance and a large tentacle smacked him hard on the back. The tentacle left some kind of powerful irritant on his skin causing him to cry out. He cursed wildly under his breath and in his anger sliced off the tentacle and hacked away at the remains.

The squid’s large tubular head protruded out of the water. One of its eyes bled and the other glared at John as if it was hungry for human flesh. He didn’t fancy sticking around to fight, but realized he had no other choice. He decided to call for a fighter.

*****

“I should have known you would do something like this,” Erik said, biding his time.

Nikolas smirked. “Now you see your flaw, don’t you? Do you really think I would join a man who would kill his own son... a man so hungry for power that he would think of sacrificing his own grandson?”

Liam and Dante stood near them. The guards in the chamber were reduced to ash and there seemed to be no more on the way. Daniel remained on the floor and bled profusely. He watched Nikolas and Erik with one eye open. No way was he going to leave anyone alive, especially that brat cousin of his.

Erik suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Nikolas, but Liam spotted him and shoved him aside.

“No,” Nikolas said, “Leave him to me. I want to enjoy killing him with my own hands.” He threw a fairly small but powerful green energy ball towards him that blasted him through the steel wall. As the smoke drifted away, they saw Erik still standing, his clothes shredded by the impact. Erik threw his sword like a boomerang at Nikolas. It missed its target by two inches and returned to its owner. “Don’t pull your tricks on me, vizier!” Nikolas flew straight for him, smashing him into the wall and creating cracks around the room.

Daniel stood up with blood still flowing from him. “You cannot escape,” he croaked. “I won’t let you.”

“Back down, Gareng. It is too late,” Dante took his sword and pointed it at him.

Daniel screamed and let out a destructive burst of energy, “I won’t let you!”

Nikolas landed on the floor. “Son, give it up,” he said. “Either let us go, or join us.”

“How could you?” said Daniel, tears of blood flowing from his eyes.

“I had to,” Nikolas said.

Erik collapsed with a fractured skull and slipped into unconsciousness, blood flowing out the back of his head.

The battle in Morocco was over. Hopkinson and the two hundred and thirty soldiers that were left rested themselves on the floor, exhausted. Some drank alcoholic remedies to ease the pain of their wounds. Others helped the wounded. George sat there with a cigarette in his mouth and observed the blood soaked sand that stretched for miles around.