Changing of the Guard

Part Five: Rise of the Immortal

Cover: A huge, winged demonic form standing in a pool of blood. Corpses hang upside-down overhead... their throats slit, dripping more blood down onto him. The creature's eyes are glowing.

inding the van's owners proved to be easier than Jason thought it would be. First they snuck back into the parking garage and retrieved Jason's ruined Toyota Celica. The leather upholstery was just as the cerberite had left it... torn to shreds.

"I paid good money for this car," said Jason. "Leather seats ain't cheap, you know! If we're gonna be hunting monsters we need to do it in YOUR car!"

"You complain a lot," replied Donovan. "Stop it."

They pulled out of the garage and headed out of the city. Jason heard the police sirens approaching just as they were leaving downtown. They... actually HE, since Donovan was a ghost... stopped at a gas station, where Donovan instructed Jason to start going through the phone book.

"Veterinarians?" Jason questioned his ghostly partner. "Why are we looking for veterinarians?"

"Because only a zoo keeper or a vet would have this kind of tranquilizer. But not just any vet... it'll be one that specializes in large farm animals. Horses and cows. Livestock."

"Okay." Jason turned to the "V" section of the phone book. "There aren't too many farms in Rock Springs, so there shouldn't be too many vetera-... Daaaaamn look at all these names!"

"Start calling. Say you've got a sick horse. Tell them that you-"

"I get the idea."

Jason called.

The first two places didn't treat large animals, and the third number he tried had been disconnected. Jason started dialing the fourth

"Wait," said Donovan. "That was it. That's the place."

"What? It was disconnected. Out of business..."

"Which means its the perfect place for him. We need to go there. Now."

Jason memorized the address and then got back into the car.

"What are we gonna do when we get there?" said Jason as he pulled out of the gas station. He drove west, towards the almost-setting sun. It would be dark soon.

"If we're lucky... just deal with a few perfectly normal homicidal fanatics."

"I ain't feeling lucky today, ghost-man."

"I which case, you're probably going to die."

Jason's foot slammed down onto the brake pedal and the car skidded to a halt in the middle of the street.

"Mind running that by me again, Casper?"

"Since you refused to take the woman's gun, you will be without the one weapon you need to survive an encounter with... anything."

"I don't do guns, I told you."

"You 'did guns' quite well back in the alley."

"YOU did that to me. That wasn't me, it was that funky Affinity crap."

"That 'crap' is your only defense."

"I've got your sword; it'll have to do. It worked in the parking garage, right?"

"It worked against a lower cerebite... a hellrodent. What we're facing now is more powerful by several orders of magnitude."

"Then why the HELL are we going after it!?!"

"Because it's what you do."

"Do? What I do is write computer programs. What I do is go out to Benny's Bar on Saturday nights for some drinks, then go to the club down the street to listen to some jazz and speak to the ladies. What I do is stay the hell away from guns, ghosts, lower cerberite, and whatever ELSE you're walking me into. You couldn't make me take that gun, and you can't make me do this!"

"You don't have to,"

"Damn skippy I don't have to!"

"You're absolutely right. We could go there now and hopefully stop this thing before it starts, or we could just do NOTHING and let those people use the blood of living humans to bring this monster back from the hell to which I sent it. Once THAT happens, then instead of us going to IT, IT will come to YOU!"

"What?"

"Just like the cerebite just HAPPENED to be in the parking garage when you pulled in. Just like that cop's partner just HAPPENED to have a demonic aura. Just like those thugs just HAPPENED to pick you to rob this morning, and the doctor who treated you just HAPPENED to have a habit of experimenting on his patients. Evil will seek you out, Jason. You can face this now... or later. But you will face it. Of course, by the time it finds you the police would have thrown you in jail, where there will be no HOPE of you having the tools to defend yourself. But if that's what you want-"

"Okay. I get the picture."

Jason started driving again.

"Good, said Donovan. "I don't suppose I can convince you to stop and procure a firearm-"

"Not a chance."

"Fine. This'll either be a very short encounter... or a very long and painful one."

They found the place about a half-hour later. It was a large ranch-style house sitting on about seven acres of land. The entire place had been converted to a veterinarian's office, with special pens for the horses and other large animals. There were no animals there now. Everything was empty, and the lengthening shadows from gave the place an eerie, deserted feel... like a western ghost-town.

There was a brown van parked on the grass behind the house.

Jason cut off his headlights and coasted down the hill, then pulled over at the corner of the property. He was still a good distance away from the house, but he could see that there were no lights on inside.

"Looks like nobody's home," he said. Jason didn't know why he was whispering, but he was.

"We need to know for sure. And quickly."

Jason opened the door and got out.

"The sword," said Donovan.

Jason pulled Donovan's sword from the passenger's seat and stuffed it under his stained brown trenchcoat.

"Is this demon blood gonna come out of this coat?" said Jason.

"No."

"You owe me a new trenchcoat, dammit."

He stared walking toward the house. The breeze caught his coat and made it billow softly behind him, exposing his sword and stained clothing. The wind had a strange, empty quality to it. It carried no scents or sounds.

"No animals," said Jason. "Not even a damn bird."

"Animals cannot abide Brite's presence. They would flee from him... and from those tainted by him."

"Can't help thinking that maybe they got the right idea."

The place got less inviting as Jason approached. He stood in the house's shadow and peered through a window. The curtains were drawn, and he couldn't make out anything other than vague shapes of furniture.

"Like I said. Nobody home."

"We need to get in."

"We? You're the ghost, Casper. Can't you float through the wall and look around for yourself?"

"Yes, but I can only get a few feet away from you. I can't get to the interior rooms... or the basement."

"Then what the hell good are you, then?"

Jason walked around to the front door. It was locked and, since it was a business, it had a security system. There was card reader/keypad mounted on the brick beside the door. To open the door, someone had to swipe an access card down a reader, and then punch in the correct code.

"Kinda fancy for a vet," said Jason. "And this looks new. Like it was just installed... maybe even today."

"Check the windows. One might be unlocked."

"Why bother?" Jason reached into his inner coat pocket and retrieved his spare credit card, which he carried in case he left his wallet somewhere... or if it was stolen.

"What are you doing?" said Donovan. "You're going to open it with a credit card?"

"Shut up and learn. YOU do demon hunting... THIS is what I do."

"Breaking and entering?"

"This is a Sentry-X Model 1700," said Jason. He swiped his credit card through the reader, and the panel beeped. The display lit up and said "ERROR."

Then Jason began punching the "9" key repeatedly. The display didn't change, but it kept beeping with each press.

"Jason..."

"Shh!"

Jason kept hitting 9 over and over... and finally the keypad stopped beeping. It was silent for a few seconds, and then the door unlocked with a 'click.'

"How did you do that?"

"Buffer overflow," said Jason. "It's a design flaw. If they'd put ME on the software team this crap never would've made it into production, but nooo..." Jason opened the door and stepped inside. He... they... were in a waiting room. A collection of couches, chairs and two coffee tables lined the walls in either side of a long, high counter. Shadows cloaked every detail, revealing only vague shapes to Jason's straining eyes.

"Like I said, nobody here."

"Back there. Behind the counter."

Behind the counter were two doors leading to the back of the building... the offices and operating rooms were back there, kept well away out from the prying eyes of the patrons. One of the doors was unlocked, and when Jason opened it he found a dark hallway with two rooms on either side, and another door at the far end. He paused to listen, but heard only his own breathing.

"I don't like this," said Jason.

"You'll get used to it."

"Assuming you don't get me killed."

Jason checked each room as he came to it. He found two examination chambers, an operating room, and an office... all at remained was the door at the end of the hall. He walked down to it and tried the knob. It was locked.

"Pick it," said Donovan.

"What do you mean 'pick it'? I can't pick this."

"You got us in the front door..."

"The front door was a Series 17 Sentry-X cardreader... THIS is a freaking' big metal deadbolt lock. Big difference. I don't see any keypads or user interfaces on this thing... do you? Beside... nobody picks locks anymore."

Jason pushed on the door. The old, cheap wood gave a little beneath his hand.

"Jason what are you-"

Jason unsheathed Donovan's sword and shoved the sharp metal blade right through the rotting wood of the door. He then used it like a saw, slicing back and forth, cutting a semicircle around the deadbolt lock.

"What are you DOING! You're ruining my sword!"

"You wanted to get in, right?"

Jason finished cutting, and yanked the sword back out of the door. The lock, and the part of the door it was attached too, fell to the floor with a loud.

CLUNK!

"Oops."

"Thank you, Jason," said Donovan. "I feel much better now that we don't have to worry about surprising them anymore."

"What are you worried about; you're already dead."

The room beyond was a large storeroom. Tired of not being able to see, Jason turned on the light. Large metal shelves filled with boxes of veterinary supplies covered the walls. There was a large crate blocking the building's back door.

"Nothing in here," said Jason. He sheathed the sword... somehow managing to avoid cutting himself. As he did, saw the door leading to the basement. The rectangular trap door wasn't actually hidden, but Jason never would have seen it if he hadn't turned on the light... though he may have tripped over the large metal handle sticking out of the floor. Jason knelt down to investigate when he heard the footsteps.

From below him.

Someone was coming the stairs from the basement!

Jason clicked off the light and pressed himself against the wall just to the side of the trap door... it was too late to run anywhere else. The door to the basement opened... pushed upward from below. It rose up on its hinges and fell back against the crate with a loud BANG. Light beamed up from the basement. There were sounds... voices and the rattling of heavy chains.

A head appeared... a tall, middle-aged man with a beard. He was wearing a strange, yellow robe that contrasted sharply with his swirling black aura. He was holding a flashlight. The man didn't come all the way out, he just stood on the stairs, with only his head and shoulders protruding up into the storeroom. He clicked the flashlight and looked around.

"Don't let him raise an alarm," said Donovan.

The flashlight swung around the room, and stopped at the storeroom door... which, thanks to Jason, looked like someone had bitten the lock off of it.

"Huh?" said the man. He looked back down in the basement. He opened his mouth to say something to whoever or whatever was down there...

"Hey." said Jason.

The man's head snapped back up. He swung the flashlight around.

WHACK!

Jason kicked the man in the head and then quickly grabbed him by the shoulders before his limp body slid back down the stairs. He hauled him up and dumped him onto the floor. Jason knelt down and checked the man's pulse. He was alive. The man groaned softly, but didn't wake up.

"Assault and battery," Jason whispered. "I'm just getting deeper and deeper."

"You should probably kill him. If you grab his chin and twist his head sharply to the side-"

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that," said Jason. He grabbed the man's flashlight and was standing up when something stopped him. Jason couldn't describe it... it was just a feeling. He ran his hands along the unconscious man's pockets, and his fingers felt the hard lump of a metal object.

Jason knew what it was even before he reached in and grabbed the 9mm semiautomatic. He held the gun in his hand, not wanting to look at it, but unable to put it down. He TRIED to put it down... but his arm just trembled.

Jason got the sudden urge to throw up... or scream. Fortunately he resisted both.

"Donovan!" he whispered. "Donovan make it stop!"

"Take it with you."

"No! I told you I don't do guns! Make it stop...I want my arm back!"

"You're resisting it. Stop... it'll get you killed."

"This gun will get me killed!"

"That's not what happened last time, is it?"

Jason stood and tried to toss the gun away, but his arm was receiving orders from some place other than his brain. The weapon ended up in his coat pocket.

"Okay, fine." Jason whispered. "I'll take the damned gun." He peered down into the basement.

The basement was perhaps three times as large as the storeroom, probably a forth as large as the entire house. Wooden stairs led down into one corner of the room, which was conveniently packed with crates and boxes. He heard someone talking, but couldn't make out the words. Still not believing what he was doing, Jason turned off the flashlight and moved down the steps as quietly as he could. He reached the bottom without anyone shooting at him or shouting an alarm, so he ducked behind a box, lodging himself between the box and the concrete wall.

Light from candles and ceiling lamps flooded the room. The entire place reeked of chemicals and exotic incense. And something else. Something old and burnt.

Jason waited for his courage to catch up with him, and while he waited, he listened.

"What's taking him so long," said a young male voice. "Dammit, Henderson... always hearing things..."

"Our only concern is the master," a woman replied. "We must begin."

"Will four be enough?"

"The master will rise... even if we must supplement our offering with our own members."

"Who?"

"The honor will be mine," said the woman.

"Henderson should be the one. He has served longest. If we-"

"I was there in the church. I helped him slay the crusader. I rescued his vessel from the burning car. Where was Henderson? Where were you?"

"Whatever you say," said the man.

"We can't wait for Henderson. Finish preparing the sacrifices."

"By myself? This one is heavy-"

"Do it."

Jason heard the rattling of a chain and the creaking of wood.

"UNNGH!" the man grunted, as if exerting himself.

Then came the sound of something heavy rolling across the floor on tiny un-oiled wheels.

"UNGH! Dammit, Henderson...where are you..."

More rattling and creaking. Somewhere, a rusty pulley squeaked. The wooden crossbeams on the ceiling protested loudly as they were called upon to support a heavy weight. Something was being hoisted into the air.

"Whenever you're ready," Donovan spoke into Jason's mind.

"Okay," Jason whispered. "I give up... I gotta see this..."

Jason crouched on the balls of his feet and peered over the edge of the box.

Near the center of the room, three bodies... one woman and two men... hung upside down from the ceiling, suspended by chains. A fourth body was about to join them. A young man in a yellow robe was pulling on a chain, throwing all of his weight into hoisting the body... which outweighed him by at least sixty pounds... into place next to the others.

The woman that Jason had heard was pushing a large metal tub across the floor and positioning it underneath the bodies. The tub sat atop a small platform to which some rather ill-functioning wheels had been attached.

Jason recognized them both. He'd seen them in the alley just a few hours ago. The woman had been driving the van... and shooting at him and Detective Dobbs with a tranquilizer gun. The young man couldn't have been older than 18. The last time Jason saw him he was jumping into the rear of the brown van as it pulled off.

Both of their auras were as black as tar.

Behind them both was what looked like a doctor's examination table. There was something on it... some twisted lumpy shape covered by a stained white sheet. It was looked too small to be human remains, but there were quite a few flies that were certainly interested in whatever it was. Dozens of them buzzed around the sheet like... well... flies.

"Got 'im," said the young male. He secured the end of the chain to a hook on the floor. The body swung back and forth from the ceiling, bumping into the others and setting them in motion as well. The ceiling creaked from the strain.

Meanwhile, the woman had finished moving the tub. She grabbed the covered examination table and wheeled it over next to the platform. Then she pulled the sheet away.

"MMMPH!" Jason strained to keep from yelping in disgust.

"My God, it's him," Donovan gasped. "Jason, we have to act, NOW!"

Jason was too stunned to move.

The thing under the sheet WAS human... or at least it HAD been at one time. It was the charred upper torso of a man: a head, a chest, and two partial arms. The skin had been burnt completely away, and the remaining layer of flesh was black and... crispy. There were no facial features. There was no face at all. Just a vaguely head-shaped lump with a mouth twisted in a final, tortured scream.

"Help me transfer him," said the woman. She and the young man grabbed either end of the partial corpse and carefully sat it in the tub. The woman took the time to adjust the corpse's position... propping it up and arranging what was left of the arms so that it was reminiscent of an Egyptian mummy. The deliberate care she took as she touched it was unsettling... the look in her eyes... the way she stroked it with her fingertips. It was as if she were stroking her lover's skin... as if she wanted to climb in the tub and make hideous love to the charred, grotesque thing.

"There, my master," she crooned. Her voice was low and sultry.

"Henderson should be here," said the youth. "I'll go get him."

"We'll bleed these sacrifices first... then you go."

"Yes, of course."

The boy grabbed a step-ladder from the corner and set it up so that he could climb up to where the bodies hung. As he wiggled it into place, the top of the ladder cracked one of the bodies across the temple.

The body's eyes opened.

"AAAAAAA! What's going on!" the man screamed. He struggled, but his arms and legs were securely tied with thick ropes. He looked down at the thing in the tub below him... and at the woman standing next to it. He saw the boy starting up the ladder him... the boy was holding a long, sharp knife. "HEEEEELLLLLPP!"

"They're alive!" Jason whispered. "Those people are alive!"

"HELLLLP! SOMEBODY HELLLP!"

"Trevor you IDIOT!" the woman bellowed. "You forgot to put GAGS on them!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He sputtered as he continued up the ladder. "Won't happen again..."

"They're CRAZY!" Jason gasped.

"Jason, you have to stop this! You can't let ONE drop of blood touch that body!"

"All right, NOBODY MOVE!" Jason shouted. He rose and stepped out from his hiding place. "Whatever's going on in here is gonna stop right now!"

"Jason, what are you doing... SHOOT them!"

"HELP ME, MISTER!" the first sacrifice shouted. "PLEASE!"

The boy with the knife was halfway up the ladder. Both he and the woman looked at Jason in surprise... but with no fear whatsoever.

"It seems the final sacrifice has found US," said the woman. "With the blood of five, our lord shall rise again."

"Yeah, whatever. YOU... drop the knife."

"Jason, stop playing games and SHOOT THEM!"

"Slit their throats," said the woman.

"NO!"

The boy continued up the ladder.

Jason charged the ladder and slammed into it with more than enough force to knock it over. The ladder toppled, the boy's head and shoulders hit the concrete wall-

"UNGH!"

-and the metal ladder fell on top of him.

"OUCH!"

"MISTER, CUT ME DOWN! PLEASE!"

Jason heard the woman coming towards him. He turned and drew Donovan's sword...

...and found himself staring down the barrel of a .44 magnum revolver. The woman had it pointed at his head. Jason was about to try and throw himself to one side and slash at her with the sword when-

Click-CLACK!

Henderson... the middle aged man that Jason left upstairs... racked one shell into the 12 gauge pump-action shotgun he was holding. He stepped forward and rested the barrel against Jason's right temple.

"Don't move," said Henderson.

"Uhhh..."

"See, I TOLD you you should have shot them!"

"Drop the sword," said Henderson.

The sword hit the floor.

"Who's with you?" Henderson demanded.

"Uhh... nobody here but us ghosts?"

"Trevor, get back up there."

The boy pulled himself out from under the ladder and brushed the dust from his robe. He was a little dizzy from his encounter with the wall, but his head was clear enough to set the ladder upright and start up again.

"Oh, God..." the hanging man murmured. "Oh, God no... kid... kid LISTEN, you don't wanna do this!"

"Yes I do," said Trevor as he climbed. "To serve the master is... ecstasy."

"Donovan," said Jason. "Donovan, what do I do?"

"Who are you talking to?" said the woman.

"What can I do to SAVE them!!?"

"I... don't know if you can..."

"Who are you talking to?" said Henderson. "Who else is here?"

"It doesn't matter. Whoever they are, they are too late."

Trevor placed the sharp knife to the man's throat.

"Hey, KID!" the hanging man shouted. "Kid... Oh GOD NO!"

"Trevor DON'T DO IT!" Jason pleaded.

"PLEA-"

The boy slit the man's throat without a word. The knife parted his flesh and severed his jugular.

"ACK!" the man convulsed and struggled as his life's blood poured out of him... and into the metal tub below. Trevor leaned over and slit the next person's throat.

Jason gasped. He was killing them. The boy was killing them one at a time, slitting their throats with such ease and lack of guilt that he may as well have been opening bottles of tomato juice.

"Oh, God..."

In the span of a few seconds it was over. Trevor had slit them all open like slaughtered pigs. The conscious man choked and gasped, but he knew his life was over. The others were lucky... they never regained consciousness. Now gravity did it's job. Their blood rained down on the thing in the tub, bathing it in slick warmth. For the first few seconds it shot out in spurts... pulsing jets of redness propelled by their still-beating hearts. Then it slowed to steady streams, like water from a faucet. The streams began to grow thinner as the blood drained...

But by that time, no one was paying any attention to the blood.

...ssss...

The hissing sound started softly, but grew rapidly as more blood fell upon the burnt corpse.

...sssSSSS...

It grew louder, and thin wisps of smoke rose from the tub. From the blood-soaked thing in the tub.

"Behold, the master's resurrection is AT HAND!" the woman shouted.

The thing was bubbling and hissing as if the blood that poured down upon it were acid... but instead of eating it away, the blood was RESTORING it! The burnt corpse soaked up the blood like a sponge... it swelled and crackled and hissed as new life sprang forth within it. There was a loud SNAP, and a new backbone burst from the torso. The spine ended in a pulsating knob, which literally unfolded to become a new pelvis. Almost instantly, new legs began to form. New cells sprang forth from the chest and grew downward, forming an abdominal cavity. Before the new abdominal muscles sprang into place, Jason could see the liver, stomach, kidney and intestines forming... inflating like tiny, bloody balloons. More blood dripped down on the thing, and now its arms began to fill out. There was fresh flesh on its face, now... literally crawling into place along the cheeks, lips and forehead.

The horror continued to grow before Jason's eyes. He couldn't turn away. He couldn't stop looking. He opened his mouth, but there was nothing he could say. He didn't know what he was seeing... he didn't WANT to know... but he had to look. He had to watch.

The arms and legs lengthened. Bones for the fingers and toes sprouted like plant shoots. Then came the Tendons and Ligaments. Muscles. Blood vessels. Everything but skin. There was no skin, yet. No skin at all.

More blood fell... and the abomination drank it up.

The head was almost complete. A lump of flesh ballooned outward... then sank back into the skull and became a long, regal nose. Liquid pooled in the eye sockets, and then two sacks of tissue grew over them. They swelled... and the thing had eyes. Still lacking the tiny muscles to move them, the blank eyes stared out into space.

The jaw dropped open, revealing the charred, dark cavity that was once a mouth... and soon would be again. Blood welled up from the thing's throat and filled the mouth, bathing the dead cells in the revitalizing fluid. New cells grew and displaced the old. The beginnings of a tongue swam around in the blood-filled pool.

Teeth.

The old shattered and broken teeth receded into the swelling gums, and new ones sprang to replace them. They were long and sharp... the upper and lower canines were over an inch long. The molars and incisors were all like tiny, pointed spikes. The lips twitched. The tongue wiggled.

The mouth closed and the thing swallowed the blood. Then it opened again... to scream. The skinless corpse sat up in the tub. It's new lungs filled with air and it screamed... not in pain, but victory. Victory over the death that had failed to hold it. It was the cry of rebirth.

"AAAAAAA!!!!!"

And it was matched perfectly by Jason's cry of terrified shock and disgust-

"AAAAAAA WHAT THE HELL IS THAAAAT!!!!!!"

"RISE, MASTER!" the woman shouted.

"Jason," said Donovan. "This thing is their god-"

"Never mind... I don't wanna know what it is!

"Listen to me! Their god is rising before them! THEY AREN'T PAYING ANY ATTENTION TO YOU!"

For the briefest instant the entire world seemed to paused. Everything froze in place... Henderson stood beside Jason, with a shotgun to his head. The woman's pistol still pointed at his face, but her face was turned elsewhere... toward the inhuman monster rising from a tub not three feet away. While Jason's mind was trying to figure out what to do... his body was already doing it.

Jason ducked and twisted to the right while swinging his arm over the shotgun's barrel. He punched Henderson in the gut with his left hand while yanking the shotgun out of the man's grasp with his right.

"STOP HIM!" the woman shouted. Jason remembered she had a gun.

His back was to her now, but he didn't have time to turn back around. An image of where the woman had been standing popped into Jason's mind. He didn't know where it came from, but he knew what it was for. He rotated the shotgun, thrust the backwards-facing weapon under his arm and pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

The front of the woman's robe turned bright red as the hail of tiny projectiles shredded her skin. Stunned and bleeding, ...but not dead... she fell. Her gun tumbled from her grasp and slid across the floor.

"Birdshot!?!" Jason gasped. "This gun's loaded with BIRDSHOT!?!?"

One of Henderson's hands suddenly appeared around Jason's throat. Jason twirled the gun like a baton and cracked the wooden butt across Henderson's forehead. He stumbled away, but unfortunately he was too stubborn to realize he should have been unconscious.

"NOOOO!!!"

Trevor was leaping over the edge of the tub... he was too close for the shotgun (although Jason had no idea how he knew this). Jason dropped the weapon and snatched the 9mm from his coat pocket. Trevor landed on top of him-

BAM!

And got a bullet in his chest, right through the heart.

...somewhere very far away, yet very near, Jason's mind reeled in disgust. But it knew better than to interfere...

Jason crouched, turned, and fired another round... right through the center of Henderson's skull.

Just as his finger pulled the trigger, something rose up out of the tub behind him. The blood-soaked horror... completely regenerated yet still without skin... stood tall upon its new legs and roared. It blinked the blood from its eyes and smiled at Jason... the final sacrifice. It stepped out of the tub...

As Henderson's brain was exiting his head through the back of his skull, Jason heard the wet, bloody bare footsteps behind him.

Again, Jason didn't bother to turn around. He took aim and fired three shots... at the concrete wall.

He ducked as the three bullets ricocheted and zipped past him... piercing the reanimated thing's skull from three different angles.

"ARRR--AR? rrr..."

THUD!

The thing toppled backwards and landed back in the tub out of which it had just risen.

Jason stood. His mouth dropped open as he realized what he'd just done-

"JESUS CHRIST!"

"I doubt even HE could shoot that good," said Donovan. "But we were too late."

"They killed those people-"

"That's not what I'm talking about. Look!"

The skinless thing was crawling out of the tub again. Bloody hands grasped the sides while it maneuvered its legs beneath it. It rose... the bullet-holes in its cranium were completely gone.

"Jason we've got to-"

"I know!"

Jason pointed the gun and emptied the final two shots into the thing's face. This time it fell forward... half in and half out of the tub.

"Actually, Jason," said Donovan. "I was about to suggest that we run."

"What?"

"heh, heh, heh, heh..." the reanimated thing chuckled. It stood once more, and climbed out of the tub... moving very gingerly for a creature with no skin and five bullets in its brain. But the entry and exit wounds were gone; as if Jason had never shot it. And now it was laughing at him. Chuckling in a low, wet gurgling laugh that made Jason's stomach twinge. "You are too late," it hissed. "The immortal has risen... but you are a welcome witness, for one final sacrifice is needed to restore me."

"This thing TALKS!?"

"It does a lot more than talk, trust me."

"Come to me-" The thing's eyes began to shimmer... a dazzling dance of colors, like looking into a kaleidoscope. Jason felt a slight tugging at the corners of his mind... but nothing more.

"Jedi mind trick didn't work," said Jason. "My turn!"

Moving on instincts that he never knew he had, Jason knelt and grabbed the shotgun he'd discarded earlier. He racked a shell into the chamber and fired before he even knew he was moving.

BLAM!

The gun recoiled violently, but Jason's muscles automatically tightened to counteract the moment... and keep the gun perfectly aimed for another shot-

Click-CLACK-
BLAM!

Two shots, one in the head and one in the chest. The thing stumbled back... it fell to one knee, just beside the woman who had orchestrated its return. She was still alive. She looked up, and reached out to her master...

"Take me..."

The creature lifted one hand. The fingers elongated, and claws sprang from the tips. It smiled, revealing row upon row of teeth that were longer than they had been a few seconds ago. In fact, they were still growing, protruding out of its mouth like daggers.

"Uh...uhhh... Donovan?"

"SHOOT IT AND RUN!"

The creature's claws slashed... incredibly fast... and tore out the woman's throat. The thing's jaws immediately closed over the wound. Teeth sank into the flesh, anchoring the mouth in place as it sucked the red fluid from her body. The woman convulsed in a twisted merging of death-throes and orgasmic pleasure. The creature accepted the sacrifice gleefully. Instantly, skin and hair rose from the underlying tissue. In the blink of an eye, the creature was whole. In a second blink of an eye... it was MORE than whole. The pale new skin darkened to a deep gayer. Gigantic bat-like wings burst from the rippling flesh of its back. It's arms elongated and bulged with new, iron-hard muscle. Teeth and nails grew even longer, and the thing's head became a twisted mass of horns and teeth. The creature had gone from grotesque thing, to human, to grotesque thing once more in the space of just a few seconds.

Of course, Jason wasn't just standing there watching. He was shooting.

He emptied the remaining four shells into the creature. The birdshot pierced the skin and drew blood, but the wounds closed instantly.

The creature drank the last of the woman's blood and rose to its full eight feet. Its wings spread behind it like leathery curtains.

Jason looked up at it in fear. The empty shotgun dangled limply from his hand. The thing's pitch black aura filled nearly the entire basement.

"...uhhh..."

"BEHOLD THE IMMORTAL!" It bellowed. "BEHOLD BRITE, YOUR NEW GOD! YOU SHALL BE THE FIRST OF MY NEW GENERATION OF SERVANTS!"

"...uhhhh..."

Brite's eyes flashed again. Jason felt the tugging at his mind, and again nothing further happened.

"How can THIS be?" Brite growled. "Unless... Yess... CRUSADER! SPAWN OF DONOVAN! GRRRAAAA!!!"

Brite's roar shook the concrete walls, and finally snapped Jason out of his fear-induced paralysis.

"Exit... stage left!"

Jason turned and ran, stopping only to snatch the woman's weapon... the .44 magnum... from the floor. He rounded the corner and took the steps four at a time. Fortunately the basement door was still open, or he would have had to run straight through it.

He reached the storeroom and ran for the door, but suddenly the floor heaved upward beneath him and Brite's hideous form exploded through the floor from below. Fragments of the floor flew everywhere. The whole building shook. Metal shelves leapt from the walls and tossed their contents across the room.

Brite slashed at Jason just as Jason turned to face him.

"LIGHTS OUT!"

BLAM-BLAM!

Jason fired twice, and suddenly Brite was blind. One .44 magnum bullet had gone through each eye... two perfect shots. Brite's slash missed, and by the time his eyes began to regenerate, Jason was out the front door.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!" Jason screamed as he ran for the car.

"A vampire."

"A WHAT!?!?!"

"A REAL vampire, not like one's you've seen on TV. Holy water and wooden stakes won't even piss him off... not now. Not like this. He's unkillable as long as he's got fresh blood in his system."

"AND WHEN THE HELL WERE YOU GONNA TELL ME THIS!"

"We have to keep him from feeding until the blood-charge wears off. Then he'll weaken and we can kill him. Hopefully for good this time."

"BUT WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO RIGHT NOW!!!" cried Jason.

"Run Fast, and Get Bigger Guns."

To Be Continued...

copyright 2005 by Dark Icon Entertainment