Page 41 of The Vampire King's War

The officer to her right, a big man with a gut and wispy blond hair, frowned as he turned. “What the Hell? Robbins, are you seeing this?”

Robbins was the officer to the female officer’s right. He was younger than the other two and had an intelligent fox-like face. He moved swiftly into action too. He unfurled out of his fully crouched position but kept low to the ground as he went to intercept Kaly.

“Hey, kid,” Robbins said as he extended one hand. “Stop where you are. You can’t be here.”

The dead boy continued to hum and make his way forward without any hesitation or acknowledgement of Officer Robbins. Julian looked between the two of them. Fifteen feet separated them. Officer Robbins had his flashlight out, but it was off. The other two kept their places, though they kept glancing between the kid and the building.

The female officer brought her radio up to her mouth and said softly, “This is Officer Janelle Watkins. We have a child--I repeat, a child--on the south lawn. He is unaccompanied by any adults. How did he get here?”

Julian felt a trace of unease himself. How did the dead boy get past all of the officers? And where had Kaly found this child’s body? Or had he made it? Julian started moving as silently as he could towards the dead boy. He didn’t know why the child was here. Was it because Kaly knew that Julian had been left alone and thought to attack him or kidnap him? Or maybe Kaly just wanted to check out Kara’s handiwork.

Or add to it? Can he separate souls from bodies like she did when he’s just inhabiting a corpse? Or marionetting it or whatever he’s doing? God, I hope not.

There were now ten feet between Officer Robbins, who was still crab-walking towards the dead boy, and the corpse Kaly puppetted. The boy had stopped humming and was standing there, head cocked to the side, sniffing the air. Julian noted that he was very, very thin. Maybe he had been killed by some disease like leukemia that had eaten him away and not on a knife or the tips of two fangs.

“I can smell you,” the boy said. His voice was high and sing-song.

Officer Robbins paused at the dead boy’s words, even though Julian knew they weren’t for him. Julian crouched low to the ground. He was to the right of the child, about ten feet away. Should he try and call the other Vampires? Were they aware of the dead child being here? He thought he sensed the red lights in his mind’s eye move towards them.

But I’m still closer than anyone. I am the best chance for these officers.

“Smell me?” Officer Robbins gave out an uncertain laugh. “I hope I don’t smell bad!”

The joke fell flat as the dead boy did not respond to him. Instead, the child kept talking to Julian, “You’re using the Helm gift already. That’s impressive. And you got out of the museum without setting off any alarms. Wyvern’s gift? More impressive. I thought I was going to have to go inside to talk to you.”

“Ah, kid, what are you talking about? Or who are you talking to?” Officer Robbins sounded both annoyed and alarmed. He likely wondered if the kid was insane.

That’s all we need!Julian heard from Officer Robbins’ head. First, this terrorist crap and now a crazy kid? What’s going on with the world these days?

Julian was too stunned for the moment at having dipped into the officer’s mind to realize that the dead boy had moved closer to Officer Robbins. There was something shiny in the boy’s right hand. It only just caught the light so Julian couldn’t quite identify it. But it couldn’t be good.

“What’s your name, little guy? Where are your parents? You shouldn’t be alone at night like this--ah, uhm, did you roll around in some garbage or…” The scent had reached Officer Robbins’ nose and it was so bad he couldn’t quite hide his distaste. His lips writhed back from his teeth and his nose scrunched up.

“I like the dark. It’s where I’ve always existed. But what about you, Julian? You haven’t had the time yet to miss the light, have you?” The dead boy asked almost sweetly. “You’re young so the gift of immortality doesn’t really mean as much to you as it would an older person. But, then again, you’ve lost people so maybe you have some idea.”

Julian shifted closer. His eyes were focused narrowly on the child’s right hand where that shiny thing was. It could be a knife. Or a bottle. Or even a gun. Who knew what Kaly had the dead boy pick up on his way from the graveyard.

“Julian? Whose--ack!” Officer Robbins’ voice was cut off.

Kaly’s right hand was up and against the bottom of Officer Robbins’ chin. There was a gurgling noise and then the distinct coppery scent of blood filled Julian’s nostrils. He knew what had happened even before he saw the waterfall of blood--black instead of red in the darkness--stain the front of the officer’s shirt.

No…

It had happened so quickly that Julian couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. Then the dead boy drew back that hand and the knife--six inches long and clotted with blood--was removed. There was an arc of more crimson that splashed on the grass and the little boy’s front.

Officer Robbins should have fallen over. Dead. Quite dead. Julian could tell that he had bled out in moments. There was an emptiness about his body. But instead, Officer Robbins stood up and reached for his gun. Officer Robbins turned towards his former co-workers and aimed at them.

The female officer’s eyes grew huge as she stared at Officer Robbins, realizing that he had drawn on her. She only had a moment to open her mouth before there was a bullet between her eyes. The sound of the bullet had the other officer ducking for cover, one hand on the top of his head. Even though the bullet had come from behind him, he thought the danger was from the museum. He was shot in the head too. Both of them were dead instantly.

And they were instantly on their feet and taking out their guns.

Julian heard a burst of static and frantic cries over the radio, demanding a report. Report, damnit! But no one was reporting. They were dying, being taken over, and creating more corpses for Kaly to control.

Kaly smiled and asked through all of the mouths of the controlled dead, “Now, Julian, let’s see how well you fight.”

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