INCURSION: Knightmare (Knight's Bane Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  Six looked up and saw the steel mesh underside of the level above them, with an elevator waiting in the center of that level. The team leader looked down through the same steel mesh beneath his feet and saw at least one other floor below. The silo was a bit overwhelming. The massive size and construction made Six pause briefly.

  When the gunfire echoes died away, the team heard a cacophony of growls and screams, both from above and below. Six looked up and saw the platform above and stairs leading up from across the platform. The team leader spotted the elevator call buttons next to the pit and made a quick decision. He motioned to Ghost to close and secure the blast door. When the door slammed shut and hissed closed, Ghost joined him.

  The DHS commander looked around and summed up their predicament succinctly. "Shit," he said.

  He pointed to the Doc's glowing vestments and said, "Let's do this, people. Ghost and I will call the elevator. Doc, you help keep my back clear of nasties. Heavy, while we wait for the elevator, you cover the stairs. Boomer, your head is on a swivel—watch all the sides. We clear this out right now."

  He reached over and hit the call button for the elevator.

  As the elevator began to groan and move toward them, the rumbling was overshadowed by a roar from above. Leaping around the edge of the platform, a vampire rebounded off the concrete walls and sprang toward the team. Boomer didn't hesitate as she stroked the trigger on her AA-12. The volley of rounds caught the vampire in midair and tumbled the young creature. The vampire looked like she was maybe fifteen or sixteen before she was turned, and the rounds shook her hard enough that she landed in a heap.

  Doc stepped forward as she shouted her Latin blessings, and the creature shrank back. Shaken by the fall and stunned from the priest's incantations, the vampire was unable to defend itself against Ghost's ancestral blade. The hunter stabbed the creature through the chest, then reversed and swung, striking the creature's neck and shearing the head clean away.

  Distracted by the vampire, Heavy almost failed to see the revenant throwing itself down the stairs. When the creature leapt from the stairs, Heavy's burst of shotgun slugs tore into its chest. Thrown off balance, the creature misjudged its landing. It crashed into the railing that surrounded the elevator shaft and bounced over the edge, screaming all the way down. The screams were abruptly cut off by a crash from far below that shook the elevator's frame.

  Six watched the area above when the revenant dropped over the edge of the platform and nearly landed on him. As the creature tried to bite him, the commander shoved the barrel of his M4 into the creature's open mouth and pulled the trigger. Ichor sprayed out, and the lifeless body tumbled over the edge.

  When the elevator reached eye level with Six, the waiting vampire leapt out. The small boy, maybe eleven or twelve years old, grew fangs and claws and reached for the leader's face. As he quickly backpedaled, Six gave a startled shout, and Ghost swung around. The vampire shied away from the hunter and the priest; instead, he leapt for Heavy.

  Heavy dropped his shotgun on its sling to dangle and drew the pair of khukuri blades from the sheathes on his back. Meeting the leap head on, both Heavy and the boy vampire swung at each other. The glowing blades were again unerring and removed the creature's head in one graceful movement. As the glow faded from the blades, Doc pointed and gasped. Heavy looked down and realized that there was blood running down his arm from a long, thin scratch down his forearm.

  "Damn. Thing must've scratched me," Heavy said as he flexed his arm and moved around, causing a thin trickle of blood to ooze down.

  Doc pulled out a small first aid kit and did a very quick bandage wrap on the wound. She tied the bandage and asked, "How's that feel? Good to go?"

  Heavy nodded and picked up his blessed blades. "I think I'm going with these while we're here," he said.

  The team stepped onto the platform and pointed their weapons upwards. Six pushed the button marked "Level One," and the lift started to rise.

  As they slowly rose above the floor of the top silo level, Six looked around and was glad that there was nothing waiting for them. The team leader locked the controls on the panel and looked around. Boomer swiveled to keep watch over the nearby stairs.

  Level one was mostly storage boxes and trash. It looked as if the creatures had been actually living on this level. The stench from the garbage was vile and masked the odor of anything else that was up there.

  Six looked at his team and paused while he looked at Heavy.

  "Are we ready? We're going to go down, level by level," Six explained. "We'll lock off the elevator on each floor as we reach it. We clear this place out as we go down. Scorched earth. When we get down below, Boomer, you figure out how to bring the house down.

  "As we lower, everybody stay as close to the center of the platform as possible. Form a box in the middle with Doc in the center. Boomer, you and I will be on opposite sides. Ghost and Heavy, you guys are on opposite sides. Doc, you stand in the center and keep us alive and keep the really evil stuff back. Questions?"

  Everybody shook their heads, and Six reached out to unlock the lift controls. He pushed the button for the third level. The lift began to descend. As they passed the second level, the team all subconsciously moved closer and thought about what they might find.

  As they dropped below the second level, the lift rattled and a pair of taloned hands grasped the edge. As a vampire poked its head over the lip of the lift, the creature found itself staring down the large barrel of Boomer's shotgun. The vampire snarled, and Boomer pulled the trigger. The regular vampire's body started to dissolve before it hit the platform below.

  As the lift came to a stop on the third floor, Six stopped it and locked out the controls. There was a large stack of packing boxes in front of Heavy. A scream tore through the air as a form hurled itself over the boxes and at the team. As the second creature bounced over the boxes, the machine gunner realized that they were revenants and shifted his stance for the fight.

  Boomer shifted to face the screaming creatures when she was startled by hissing from directly above her. She looked up and saw a vampire release its grip on the ceiling of the level and begin to drop to the floor. The fiend pushed off the ceiling and was headed straight for the explosives expert. Boomer knew she wasn't fast enough and prepared herself for the attack.

  The glow around the team intensified as the vampire got very close to Doc's vestments. An outstretched hand and a shouted phrase actually drove the creature away, to make it land in a heap in front of Heavy.

  The stunned vampire landed right in front of the revenants caused the lead creature to trip and land sprawling across the vampire's back. Startled momentarily by the fallen vampire, the second one paused.

  Heavy spotted the opening and took it. As he stepped forward, both blades whistled through the air and bit deeply. One blade took off the top of the sprawled out revenant's skull, and the other swiped clean through the neck of the vampire.

  Boomer recovered quickly and sighted her shotgun down the barrel at the one remaining revenant. She stroked the trigger twice and sent two short bursts into the chest and face of the creature that killed it instantly. Boomer switched out her drum magazine for a fresh one and turned to look for more targets.

  Six was watching the stairs when the young child vampire bounded up and over the top. Screaming in defiance, it rushed at the agents. The team leader pulled the trigger and sent a three-round burst of Norbert's ammunition into the chest of the young girl. The blast staggered the creature, but she quickly regained her footing and snarled. With bloodlust in her eyes, she again leapt at the DHS leader.

  Ghost lunged forward. He timed his thrust to place the tip of his weapon right through the ribcage and pierce the heart. The vampire screamed in agony and rage as the blade burned its flesh from the inside. The creature raked its claws toward the hunter, raking them across the leather-clad arms and chest of Ghost's duster.

  That one act of defiance was to be the creature's last. With the vampire
pinned by the sword, Six aimed at the head of the small creature and pulled the trigger. Twice. Ghost pulled the blade free, and the body slumped to the ground.

  Six quickly checked on his team. When each member of the team confirmed they were ok, Six engaged the lift. As they passed below the lip of the third level, the team scanned every nook and cranny of the walls and floor. This level was completely empty and was without even boxes or trash. Six didn't even pause the lift.

  The fifth and sixth levels were also clear of monsters and debris, but that changed as the lift dropped toward the seventh level. Three sets of talon-tipped hands grasped the edge of the lift on different sides. The coordinated vampire attack struck with precision and speed, and the three vampires were on the platform before the team could react.

  One of the vampires struck at Six directly. It reached up and knocked his rifle aside, avoiding the burst of bullets. As the vampire leapt onto the DHS leader, the vampire overbalanced its prey. Six crashed to the lift floor, and he fought for his life underneath the vampire.

  Ghost's blade struck the vampire and ran it through the back and into its chest. The vampire howled in pain and reached up to swipe at the hunter. Six used the hunter's distraction to draw one of his M9s from the thigh holster. As he pointed the muzzle into the belly of the beast, the leader pulled the trigger.

  By the fourth shot, the vampire rolled off Six and was stunned on the platform. Ghost yanked his blade free and swung it hard. In one swift movement, he cleanly removed the head of the creature. Six looked at the rest of the team to see how they were doing.

  One of the vampires had landed in front of Heavy. Prepared for the attack, the big machine gunner raised the blessed blades he still carried and swung to decapitate the creature before him. The blades carried through the vampire's upraised arms and decapitated the creature. The heavy weapons specialist looked to his right and saw the vampire, cowering as it shrank away from the holy wrath of the priest. Boomer lined up the barrel of her shotgun and pulled the trigger, and the head of the cowering vampire exploded.

  The team had no time to rest as four revenants attacked the platform. Six paused the platform at the floor of the seventh level, and the revenants leapt out of hiding. This time a concentrated roar of firepower quickly knocked out two of the creatures. Ghost and Heavy danced around the other two creatures as the teammates used their blades to wound the creatures while holding them out of striking distance.

  Heavy was the first to get his kill. The two blessed blades bit deep into the neck of the revenant who proved too slow to avoid the big agent. With a simple yank and strike, the head of the revenant dropped to the platform as its body followed behind.

  Ghost's revenant got desperate as its only remaining partner was killed. The revenant lunged in in an attempt to try to wrap up the hunter in a fatal embrace. Ghost's family blade burned right through the revenant's chest, but, unfortunately for the hunter, the creature used its last remaining strength and smashed its fists into the hunter's shoulder. Ghost felt a "pop" as the revenant died. Sheer agony blinded the hunter with red, and he passed out.

  27

  MONSTERS

  DECOMMISSIONED ATLAS MISSILE SILO, DIVIDE, COLORADO

  Doc rushed over to the fallen hunter. As Six saw the priest bend over and start working on Ghost, he called out, "Cover Doc. Everyone pick an angle."

  The medic-turned-priest gently, but quickly. assessed the passed-out hunter. She noticed that his shoulder was in a very odd angle, but she did not find any other wounds on his body. She rummaged through her field kit and found some smelling salts. She wafted the aromatic spirits of ammonia under his nose. Ghost awoke with a start and then cried out in pain as he clutched his shoulder.

  Doc looked down at him and said, "Your shoulder has popped out of socket. This is going to hurt."

  Ghost nodded and grasped her arm as she pulled and twisted. The pain flared and threatened to drag him unconscious again until the joint popped back into place. The pain dulled to a low ache, and Ghost flexed his hand and arm. He seemed to have most of his mobility back.

  It was a long ninety seconds before Doc called out to Six. "We're good here. Let's get this over with," said Doc.

  The team commander looked over and said, "We have no idea what's down there. Whatever it is, we kill it. Hopefully the master vamp is down here. Watch your targets, and watch the ricochets."

  He reached out and pushed a button. The elevator began descending again.

  . The farther they ventured down the shaft, the darker it became. Even though there were lights on around them, they somehow seemed dimmer. The normally brilliant lights turned to a low twilight as they descended. It was as if the very air surrounding them was dark and oppressive.

  As the elevator dropped past the edge of the seventh level towards the bottom, there was a loud, terrifying roar from below. Moments later, it was followed by an answering call. The team gripped their weapons tighter, and Doc's vestments lit up and glowed blue.

  Warned by her vestments, Doc looked up and watched as a vampire threw itself at the platform. It flailed in the air as it realized its momentum would take it near the priest. Doc raised the staked end of her cross and waited for the vampire to land. A loud thunder of gunfire disintegrated the head and upper torso of the vampire. Doc looked at the explosives expert and Boomer lowered her shotgun. The explosives expert smiled and swung back to face toward the walls of the elevator shaft while the glow faded on Doc's vestments.

  The elevator stopped at the bottom of level eight a few seconds later. Here, the distance between the floor and the ceiling averaged about fifty feet instead of the usual twenty. The elevator platform was surrounded by several clusters of old storage tanks that previously housed liquid missile propellants such as liquid oxygen and hydrogen and a large mountain of crates. An inky blackness seemed to ooze from behind the crates, edging into the light and swallowing what it touched.

  Out of the darkness stepped a large creature that none of the team had ever seen before. Standing eight or nine feet tall the massive creature made Heavy look like a small man. The bipedal creature stood upright and had dark gray and blue mottled skin. The large sloping forehead led down to an oversized mouth with two large canine tusks sprouting from the lower jaw. The creature wore a strange type of cloth for its clothing; the garments seemed to be made of a modern fabric, but both the top and bottoms were seamless and hung loosely, draping over the creature.

  This creature was not carrying anything that remotely resembled a firearm. Instead, it held a large warhammer that looked like it weighed several hundred pounds. With short spikes on its face, the hammer looked more like a meat tenderizer than a weapon, if you discounted the three-foot-long blade that was opposite the hammer face. Holding this massive hammer in hands that spanned a foot and a half, the creature raised the weapon to parade rest, as if waiting to see what the team would do. As the creature stepped fully into the light, the inky darkness quickly curled in on itself and vanished with an audible "pop." The creature and the team stood as they stared at each other.

  Six studied the creature for a brief moment and asked a simple question: "Doc? Ghost? What the hell is that thing?"

  Doc and Ghost both shrugged.

  "I don't know," Doc replied. "It is like nothing I ever studied in the Vatican."

  The veteran monster hunter chimed in, "I've got nothing, boss. Some kind of troll, maybe? It's nothing like I've seen before."

  The creature in front of them snarled in a bass rumble that the warriors felt in the soles of their shoes.

  "How dare you call me a troll! I am Thoktaller, warrior of clan Urkantos, mightiest of all the Chikara," the thick, gravelly voice rumbled from the creature. "I was prepared to accept your surrender, but now I shall destroy you."

  "Where do you come from, and how do you speak English?" Doc demanded.

  The creature's chuckle dislodged some of the loose debris scattered around the team. "Ignorant human. I do not speak this 'English' th
at you prattle on about. The nexus translates for me, as it does for all travelers."

  The creature then growled. "Enough stalling. It is a good day for you to die. Let us get on with it."

  All of the team members already had their weapons drawn and pointed at the creature. Six squeezed the trigger and let loose two short bursts of fire. The team leader watched as most of his rounds impacted with the upper chest of the creature, but not one of them even penetrated the creature's clothing. The creature staggered slightly under the assault, but it never went down.

  A fraction of a second after their commander had opened fire, the rest of the team did as well. Heavy and Boomer each unleashed a long string of automatic shotgun fire. The rattle of their shotguns was punctuated by the crack of Ghost's rifle. The combination of multiple hits from the automatic shotguns and the hunter's rifle was enough to make the creature reel and stumble.

  Roaring in agony, the creature looked down and saw its thick purple blood running down and beginning to pool on the floor. It took a huge step forward and swung the massive warhammer at the team. All of the team members scattered like bowling pins as they tried to get out of the way of the enraged death.

  Six and Ghost dove to the creature's left, and both of the agents ended up tumbled among the small crates and dross that surrounded the bottom of the silo. Six landed on top of a partially eaten animal carcass. Ghost landed a couple of feet away, ramming his still-painful shoulder into a small wooden crate that splintered on impact. The shipping materials in the crate spilled out and covered his face momentarily.

  Boomer and Doc dove to the creature's right. They landed in a small pile of crates, and the impact jarred the cross from the priest's hands. As she reached for her sidearm, Doc realized that it, too, had fallen out during her dive. She quickly looked around the debris. Boomer landed and rolled onto her back about five feet away from Doc. She was somehow able to keep her hands on her shotgun. As she sat up to take aim at the creature, she realized she was sitting in a small pool of liquid. She really hoped that it was water.