Текст книги "Red Serpent: The Falsifier"

Автор книги: Делсон Армстронг

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

The door opened. Alex was seated with his back to them, at the head of a table. The elegant table looked somewhat like the one in the Boardroom at the Regnum. There were large windows, about four on each side, stretching upwards almost till the ceiling. In the center of the ceiling was a large, intricate crystal chandelier. To their right was a ten feet high fireplace with a roaring fire that heated the room. The glow of the fire gave a warm, amorous quality to the area. The thick drapes flowed like majestic cloaks from the windows. “Uncle John,” Alex said, getting up from his seat. “Is it...is it really you?” He ran up to him and John embraced him.

“Yep, kid. It really is.”

“Where is Erik?” Daniel asked the two guards inside.

“Sir, he said he had some urgent work in the recuperation chamber,” said one of the guards, “He will be arriving shortly.”

Daniel sighed, “We shall have to continue without him, then. Come, Councilman. Sit.”

“Something’s wrong,” said Kurt to his comrades in the meeting room in the transport tanker. They could see through the screen that everything had stopped. They couldn’t see much but they knew fighting had broken out because of the constant explosions of light. But now, nothing. The ships didn’t seem to be getting any closer or any further away. “I’m going to check it out,” said Kurt, walking out of the meeting room. He hurried into the elevator and descended into the hangar. He rushed out. “I need fifty men. Pronto!” He didn’t wait for any response and jumped into his own ship and flew away. Immediately, twenty, then thirty, then finally fifty fighter ships came after him. He put the fighter into hyperspeed to try and catch the enemy off-guard. When he and the rest of his squadron arrived at the battle scene the sight that met their eyes left them openmouthed. The entire first wave of fighters was frozen. Kurt could see the frightened faces of Bill and the other leaders. The men were moving around inside. It was only their ships that were stuck and not moving an inch!

One of the vampires from an enemy fighter opened his cockpit and smiled maniacally. He climbed out on top so that everyone could see him. Then, he took his hands and created an electrical mass of energy. It was red and black and growing exponentially. “Oh crap!” Kurt shouted, “Get him! Get them all and destroy them!”

Kurt’s squadron responded and in an instant shot down the vampire and his entire group. The fighters suddenly unfroze and were mobile once again. Bill’s fighter, which was going up in flames, went into a whirlwind of destruction. Bill, who had his oxygen helmet ready, ejected just before everything exploded. Kurt’s ship blazed through the inferno. He put on his mask and opened the cockpit, as Bill swam through the vacuum of space into his father’s fighter. He grabbed the seatbelt of the extra seat behind Kurt and buckled himself in. The fighters regrouped themselves and headed back to the Regnum, savoring their first taste of victory.

Tea was served. It felt good being in the warm room, sipping on some fragrant and bone-thawing jasmine tea. Outside the rain had picked up speed and pounded on the glass. The wind howled as the sea waves crashed onto the outer rims of the Command Center. John sighed as he sipped the last of his tea, “So, Daniel. How do we start this negotiation?”

Daniel yawned. “You tell me, General Howe.”

“You know what I want,” John said, as he handed his cup to the waiter. Alex remained still with his eyes closed in silent contemplation.

“Yes, but you think you know what I want, or should I say, what we all want?”

“What’s that?”

Daniel’s face darkened and contorted with disgust and anger. His nose crinkled up as if he had smelled something awful. He bared his three-inch fangs.

Daniel’s sudden transformation made John jump.

“It’s the death of you and your whole bloody race,” sneered Daniel. “You’re lucky Anaxagoras shows so much mercy. If I had my way, I’d bake you all and eat you for dinner!”

“You know,” said John calmly, “that has already happened once before in our history; at least the first part. I suspect the second part too.”

“Don’t joke with me, human scum.” Daniel’s voice rolled like thunder and screeched like a thousand nails on a chalkboard.

John was shocked by the sight of Daniel’s face. He breathed a sigh of relief when it went back to normal. “Uh, well...Alex. What have they told you?”

“Nothing at all,” Alex said.

“And the Rebels?”

Alex shook his head. “Nothing. They would come to my room and that was all.”

“Hmmm.” John rubbed his chin.

From outside, the sound of energy blasts and thudding penetrated the doors. Then they heard the clash of metal. It sounded like a sword-fight. “What the hell?” John asked.

The door suddenly burst open in a flash of blue light, and a figure appeared as the smoke faded away. “Let him go!” the figure said.

When the smoke settled they saw that the figure was the exact double of Alex. He held a massive sword, about four feet in length and six inches in width. The blade radiated a fiery blue light with electric sparks. The ashes of dead soldiers spread and scattered all around. “Uncle John!” yelled Alex’s double, “Get away from them. That’s not the real me! That’s Erik.”

“Here,” he said, grabbing a sword from the floor. He threw it above the false Alex’s and Daniel’s heads. John caught it and jumped on the table, catching Daniel off-guard. Alex used an energy beam to destroy the remaining three swords, so Daniel and the double had no weapons.

“Lead us to the Rebels,” John said. “Show us where they are.” He pushed the tip of his sword into Daniel’s Adam’s apple and the flesh around it sizzled.

Daniel backed away and turned Erik who was still disguised as Alex. “Alright,” Daniel hissed. “As you wish.” He led them to the elevator.

The first phase of the battle was complete. Kurt was relieved for now.

“Well,” said Bill, “What do we do now?” He brushed his dark golden mop of hair aside with his fingers. His light blue eyes shone like two aquamarines.

“We wait,” sighed Kurt, clutching his cup of coffee. They were in the lounge area of the tanker, where the soldiers took a load off by relaxing and chatting with their friends. Bill’s father had died in the war and ever since, Kurt took care of him like the son he never had. Bill had even started to call him, “Dad.”

“Any news from General Howe?” Bill asked.

Kurt took a deep breath and said, “Nope, not yet.”

“Is that trouble?”

“I wouldn’t know what to make of it, but I have a feeling things are under control so far.” Just then, distorted and barely intelligible words came from Kurt’s earpiece. He could make out John’s voice. “Do you copy? Kurt...” another distortion, “Do you copy?”

“Yes! John, yes, I can hear you. Is everything alright?”

Bill straightened himself at the mention of John’s name and the other soldiers went silent.

“Tell the others to get ready. Tell General Hopkinson he’ll be needed soon.”

“What? Why? I mean can’t you get through to him?”

“You’ll see once you come into the atmosphere. I don’t know what’s wrong but this is the only frequency that I can get through to. Don’t worry; I’ve got Alex with me and we’re on our way to the next phase. Tell Richard he’ll be needed. He’s still inside the ship. I just hope nothing’s wrong with him. Now is the time to strike! Over and out!” The irritating buzzing noises stopped.

“Alright boys! Get ready. We’re going down there!” They all stood up and walked quickly to their designated posts and ships. Kurt and Bill went to the other generals, who were having a meeting of their own, to inform them of the news.

Vampiric guards infiltrated John’s escort ship. Richard and two other soldiers dashed into attack formations. Everywhere, the vampires burned, reducing to piles of hot ash. Richard swung his sword wildly, so any approaching enemy wouldn’t have a chance of survival. The other soldiers that protected Richard ventured out to keep the enemy at bay. To their astonishment and fear, they saw hundreds of them coming towards them. “Sir,” said one guard, “There are too many of them.”

“I don’t give a damn!” Richard said, “Just make your way through! We have to find John and Alex fast!”

With that, the guards redoubled their efforts and began pushing back the enemy. Richard pushed himself out and nearly slipped in the water. The pilots, seeing that everyone was out, moved the ship and broke through the glass bubble. Richard thought they were cowards and were trying only to escape. Then he realized the pilots were actually helping them out as they flew into the air and swerved around, using laser blasters to blow apart the oncoming vampires.

The enemy’s numbers greatly diminished and Richard and the two guards were given safe passage to the opened doors. There they faced another wave of vampires. Hundreds of them. Richard used his fear to fuel his wrath. “Keep going!” he commanded. His guards followed him and attacked, wreaking death and destruction as they advanced. Piles of ash built up around them as the vampires stupidly ran to their deaths. It shocked them and the fighters in space. For the first time ever, these vampires were absolutely ready to give up their own lives for their people.

Sparks flew as the humans’ swords stabbed at weak areas of the vampires’ armor. They slashed at necks and sliced off heads. Due to the rain and heat, there was a stifling humidity that made the humans feel sick and suffocated. They managed to bare it long enough to get to the elevator.

Inside the elevator, they had time to catch their breaths. Their faces were blackened by the ash that stuck to their sweat. “Richard! Richard!” His communicator screamed in his ear; it was Kurt. “General Bacon!” Kurt shouted, his voice completely clear and annoyingly loud. “General Howe has asked you for your help. They say that they’re on their way to the fifth level.”

Richard pressed the button for the fifth level. “Tell him we’re on our way. I can’t seem to get through to him.”

“He can’t get through to you either.”

“Never mind,” Richard said as the doors of the elevator opened. John appeared, holding Daniel hostage with a sword to his neck. Alex was beside him and seemed to be holding his doppelganger hostage. “I’ve found them.”

John turned to Richard, “Where the hell have you been?”

“We were caught up,” said Richard, smiling. “There’s something wrong with your communicator,”

“Same with yours,” John said, keeping his sword trained on Daniel. “Make room,” he commanded. “We have to go to the third level. That’s where the Rebels are.”

“Or so says this cousin of mine,” Alex said, with the point of his massive sword against his double’s neck. “I think that’s quite enough,” Alex said and pulled his sword closer to Erik’s neck. “You can show your true self now.” Suddenly Erik’s face changed. His nose elongated and his eyes stretched out. His mouth became thin and his chin turned pointy. His hair straightened and shortened and his stature grew to almost twice that of Alex’s.

“No way!” Richard said. Erik gave him a ghastly glance.

The elevator opened and they went into the recuperation chamber where there were a hundred or so scientists checking up on the Rebels. The guards inside instinctively formed into a defensive position, with their swords out. “No one move,” John said, as they entered.

Nikolas and the others were almost finished. They were in hibernation now and had returned to their normal state.

Alex said, “When they’re finished, let them go and take those things off of them.” He pointed to the restraints around their necks. Two guards volunteered to go and take them off when it was deemed safe by the scientists, who had to unlock them with a code. This took longer than expected and Alex realized they were just stalling. Suddenly, two guards teleported into the room. They held out their swords to John’s and Alex’s heads.

“Let them go,” one of them said.

Alex did as he was told and let go of Erik. Then, in a fluid motion he turned around and swung his sword at the guard. The guard parried and stood his ground. Daniel and Erik caught the swords the new guards threw at them.

The battle had begun.

The fighters accompanying the large tanker entered the atmosphere first, in order to seal off and provide protection for the tanker. The rains disrupted their vision, so they initiated the infrared windshields. The generals readied themselves for battle and looked out the window of the tanker. They wondered how the vampires could have built such a huge structure covering the entire Atlantic. This meant they had been planning the war since the beginning.

“This,” General Hopkinson sighed, “is incredible.”

“Yeah, well...I guess this is why John told you to go to the western front,” Romsky said.

“We’re going to need someone there instead,” said Hopkinson, pointing to what remained of Africa. “I’ll go there.”

“You’d better check with Howe,” Michio said. He turned to Singh and Chang. “Are you ready?”

They nodded.

“Then, let us go,” he said and the trio unbuckled themselves, and headed for the transports which would take the allotted men to the Vatican library.

“John,” George said, pressing the small button of his earpiece, and tuning into John’s frequency. “I have to tell you something.” He could hear blasts and sword fighting in the background.

“Well, now’s not a good time.”

“It’s urgent. I’ll be short. I don’t think they’ll come from the west, John. It’s too damn far. I’m leading the troops to northern Africa. Is that fine?”

“Yeah!” Then came a large explosion and a pause, but he could still hear breathing. After about ten seconds, he said, “If you think that’s good, then do it! Just make sure they don’t get any reinforcement; that’s all. And send the five hundred allotted for me and Richard. Quick!” The frequency jammed, but Hopkinson was lucky enough to hear the last statement. He looked over to the soldiers sitting behind him. He called one of them over and said, “Send this message to the five hundred. We need them to be at the Atlantic; Richard and John need help!”

The soldier saluted and left to do his bidding. Romsky got up and opened a large canister. The Russian took out his armor and gear.

“Come on,” George said, “we haven’t much time.”

The transport ship diverged towards the Vatican library, deploying a hundred fighters in the air. The fighters circled around the clouds way above the Vatican. The transport silently sped down into the forest and hovered three feet off the ground. The three Generals dropped down along with their men.

The Vatican was completely different from what it had been in Pre-WWIII times. Long ago, it had been the home of the leader of the second largest religious group on the planet. Now it was an impenetrable fortress where the ancient secrets of the vampires were hidden. Access remained granted only to Erik, Daniel, and the Elder Council. The Library itself was a large, square building, about ten stories tall and gray in color. To look at, there was nothing extraordinary about it. The most striking thing was the heavy security around it. There were electric fences and barbed walls around its perimeter, and heavily armored guards stood patrol 24/7. In total there were three hundred guards. Another one hundred guards stood fifteen feet in front of them. Since most of Europe was now full of forests hiding secret buildings, this library, far from the original spot of the Vatican and Rome, remained hidden in the enveloping shadows of the trees. Places like Rome, London, and New York were full of metal, iron and glass. They were inhabited by millions of people who ran the economy of the Vampire Confederation.

Singh, Nakashima, Chang and their troops hid in the forest, behind trees and bushes. Through his communicator, Singh whispered, “Wait for my command. When one of them comes close to the forest, shoot him down. We don’t need any silencer; let it be as loud as possible so we can distract the majority of them. Once that’s done, move towards the central gate and we’ll ambush them. If we’re lucky, they’ll move inside the forest to investigate and that will give us a better chance of getting in quickly. All we can now do is wait.”

Meanwhile, the fighters, still hidden by the dark clouds below them, waited for the command to strike.

*****

The splattering rain created deafening, rapid sounds as the fighters descended faster to get a better view of the giant base. Already, the prescribed units for John and Richard scurried about as their transport hovered above the slippery surface and ran towards the entrance.

Colonel Justus for now took charge of the men sent for John and Richard. He ran fully armed, blinking frequently under the rain as he led his men. The entire platoon activated their protective lenses to shield their eyes from the water. He turned on the communicator and tuned in to John’s frequency. “General Howe,” he said, “I have the reinforcements with me.” Stopping four meters short of the entrance, he glimpsed around the place to see if there was any danger. There were only the remains of the massacre where the ground was black with ashen rainwater. “Tell me what to do.”

All he could hear were explosions, John’s shouts and the clash of metal as he slung his sword around. “Level five.” The frequency jammed up.

“Come on!” Justus yelled and they marched towards the entrance of the base. When he reached the threshold, he narrowly missed a beheading when a large axe flew by him, scraping his chin. “Attack!” was the only word that came out of his mouth as he stood there in shock. The soldiers used flares to light the now darkened room and saw that hundreds of vampires, all sticking to the walls, in order to create an ambush, were glaring at them with fiery eyes, baring their long fangs, and hissing spitefully.

The vampires flew off the walls and glided towards the soldiers, knocking them down and pushing them off-guard. The ones still standing grabbed their semi-automatic silver proton Uzis and fired at their enemies. As the vampires flew down for a second attack, they were caught in the fire and disintegrated. Those who were lucky enough to survive fell to the floor. They ran at lightning speed, dodging the bullets and attacked those who were reloading. They grabbed a hold of them, ripped off their helmets and dug their fangs deep into their necks, feasting on what must have seemed to them like ambrosia. It had been so long since any of them tasted human blood. The sacred life-fluid splattered across the floor as they gorged on their prey.

The surviving humans screamed in fear and disgust and ran back from the carnage, gathering their will and strength. Many of them had never seen such gruesome acts. Some of them were frozen in shock. They fell prey to the second bloody assault, not able to hear Justus’s commands to back away.

“We need to fight together! Group up! Fast!” he shouted. Some of them were too horrified to react. The ones who could gave heed to his command and grouped into a giant dense circle as the powerful vampires, now filled with a fresh supply of life-blood, flew around them.

“Justus, where the hell are you?” John’s voice blasted through Justus’s earpiece.

“We’re in a bit of a situation, sir.”

Romsky split ways with Hopkinson and took a transport tanker to the southwest coast of the British Isle. He wiped the condensation from the window. As the ship came closer to the ground, he saw at least a thousand soldiers marching towards the Command Center in the Atlantic. He sent an urgent report to the War Council, where the seven other generals were taking in messages and sending out commands. The seven generals who were assigned to this were Strauss, Smith, Wellington, Kenmore, Park, Hussein, Lawler, Anderson, Skarssen, Di-Nardo, Huron, Jackson, and Xiu. Lawler was the one who received this printed report, “By God!” he exclaimed, “We’re going to need more men,” he told his comrades.

“Well, how many more, and where?” asked Wellington, moving his office chair around.

“Romsky says that he can see at least a thousand in Britain, so he suggests sending another five hundred to himself and Hopkinson in North Africa.” Wellington’s balding head gleamed with sweat at the mention of the numbers he had deducted from the previous reports.

“Where exactly in Northern Africa?” Wellington asked. He turned on his communicator and switched to Hopkinson’s frequency. He could hear lots of gunfire and screams. “General, can you hear me?”

Hopkinson was in the middle of a duel with a vampire who was using double swords. The swords swung in such a quick rhythmic fashion that if he flinched for a second he would have his head cut off. “Abe? Is that you?”

“Yes,” said the clear voice, “Listen to me carefully.”

“Yeah,” he dodged the vampire’s attack and backed off, “Tell me.”

“Sergei says there are at least a thousand or so enemies in Britain. He’s requested reinforcements. What about you?”

“Well we sure could use it, but not now. We had them by surprise here. Over and out!” he said and the line cut.

What George had said was true, because the vampires miscalculated that the human armies would attack cities mostly located in Europe. They hadn’t thought of Africa, particularly Morocco, where they were fighting now. Thanks to the surprise attack, the humans now had the advantage. The storm raged on, spreading across England and now Morocco. Overhead, they heard fighting in the air and sometimes a fighter would plummet to the battlefield, crushing people to death. This was getting risky on his end, George thought. Their fighters were doing well but the enemy ships could land on his troops at any time.

The only reason why fighting was taking place in Moroccan airspace was because they had been ordered to reach the Command Center in order to help out President Gareng and his troops. But the human fighters made it almost impossible for them to get through.

George screamed in pain as a vampire slashed his skin. He faltered and fell to his knees in pain. His enemy’s sword chopped through the air, aiming for George’s head, but before it arrived, George slashed sideways into the vampire’s knees. The vampire screamed as his legs burned to ashes. The fire spread up his body until it charred into dust, and flew away in the high wind.

The rain and the wet sandy ground made it difficult for them to walk, but as they advanced towards the enemy troops, their resolve strengthened with each step. There were sparks everywhere and the vampires all began to shriek in harmony making the humans cover their ears. The ones who could not handle the sound fell to the ground. The vampires devoured the fallen, five or six of them feasting on one body. “Ignore the noise!” Hopkinson yelled to his troops. But he too found it difficult as the sound pained his eardrums and the cold water pounded on his slashed skin. He used his anger to his advantage as he flung his sword in the air, whipping it round and round, killing as many as four to five vampires with each slash.

They were winning. So far.

Nikolas and the other Rebels stirred from their recuperation. As Nikolas opened his eyes, he saw the most remarkable thing. John, Richard, and Alex were fighting against Daniel, Erik and twenty soldiers. As Nick turned from his left to his right he saw all the Rebels staring at him. They nodded and he returned their greeting. All of them jumped up, transformed their bodies into silver and charged towards the battle.

At the sound of their battle cry, the two opposing sides stopped and looked. Both sides believed that the Rebels would come to their defense. In the midst of their charge, Nikolas stopped, and then the others did likewise. “What are you doing?” Daniel asked agitatedly, “Get them!”

Nikolas smiled and shook his head, “Did you think you could really trust us?” He paused to see Erik’s and Daniel’s confused faces. Daniel looked at him with a mixture of sadness, shock and disgust. Erik’s demonized face reddened in hot anger.

“It doesn’t matter now!” Erik yelled. “We have you surrounded. Activate the restrainers.” He pointed to the restraint belts.

The belts activated and electrified the Rebels’ silver bodies. They yelled in pain, their eyes bulged out and their faces contorted in excruciation. Alex slashed at Erik.

Erik blocked the massive silver sword and spat at Alex, “You can’t do anything boy!”

John jumped to Alex’s aid only to be stopped midair by Daniel, “What do you think you’re doing? We’re not finished yet!” He attacked John maintaining a rhythm with the swords. This was a fight method all vampires had learned to keep their opponents in check and to give them the upper hand by controlling the rhythm.

Alex looked to Erik, who kept attacking him. Then he looked to Nikolas and the Rebels. He pushed Erik back with all his strength and stepped closer to Nikolas. He held out his right hand and from the tips of his fingers came a small flash of electricity, like miniature lighting. In a few seconds, it grew, filling half of the room. The sparks converged to the restraints on the Rebels’ necks. The chokers blew apart, leaving the bearers unharmed. Suddenly, Alex felt a jolt of pain in his back as Erik had slashed it open. He screamed. John looked over to his nephew and yelled, “No!”

But, to everyone’s amazement, the huge cut in his back healed up. Alex smiled and turned around to face an awe-stricken Erik. He put out his right hand, extended his index finger and waved it, taunting and questioning the might of his opponent. Erik, in a fit of rage, flew towards Alex, who was off-guard at the moment, only to have the powerful attack blocked by Nikolas. “Learn to fight with those whom you can match!” He pushed him away in one powerful shove. “Alex, get out of here and take some of us with you.”

“But–”

“Just do it!”

One of the guards left his post. He walked into the forest to breathe in the pine scented air and light a cigarette. “Okay,” Ranjit murmured, “On my command.” And just as the vampire finished his cigarette, the General yelled, “Now!” There was a large explosion in the air, creating confusion amongst the guards. A non-silver bullet hit the guard with the cigarette in the head. “Troops, follow my lead,” said General Singh. They advanced towards the entrance of the gate at the edge of the forest. They would have to run as fast as they could because he and his men would be easily noticeable.

General Singh ran with his troops towards the entrance of the gate, but they were spotted and the guards shouted out to each other. They exposed their fangs and let out a hideous and unearthly howl. “Kurt, we need you! Now!” Singh shouted into his communicator. Within thirty seconds, the vampires attacked Singh’s army and the human fighters flew down and fired upon the Anisaei. Singh jabbed his sword into the unholy flesh of the vamps until fire and embers spurted out of their hellish bodies. As the large gates opened up to spew out more soldiers, Singh’s army pushed through the gate. He called for the ionic plasma bombs, which contained silver nitrate. Forty were thrown at a time, creating a large explosion of smoke and silver nitrate particles. When the vampires inhaled these particles they burst open spreading their glowing remains everywhere.

“Evan!” Ranjit shouted, “Evan! Stay with me.”

Evan, Ranjit’s lieutenant, answered, “I’m coming.” He rushed to Ranjit’s side, hacking away at the enemy and killing at least twenty of them in his stride.

“Keep those discs safe; we’re going to need them soon.”

*****

Alex stood in the elevator with seven of the Rebels: Davik, Joqetu, Gavin, Noel, Yagnik, Hektor, and Orwen. When they reached the main landing area, they saw the vampires feeding on human bodies. Blood spilled and flowed everywhere, making the ground shiny. Justus, along with his other men, battled it out with the vampires on the ground.

“Leave this to us, Alexander,” Orwen said.

“But—”

“Just get in the ship,” Orwen barked, “Davik, Gavin and Noel: you go with him.”

Justus, who spotted Alex amidst the bloodbath, said, “Don’t worry sir! I’m coming!” He had no idea that the others were Rebels.

“Wait! Wait!” Alex shouted, “They’re here to help!”

Justus stopped in his tracks and an expression of relief covered his face. Just then, a flying vampire grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him outside. Justus gasped. He gathered his senses and with his sword tried to literally disarm his predator. The vampire flew out of range. Suddenly thunder struck and pierced the vampire’s sensitive ears. The flying vampire let go of Justus who plummeted into the sea. Alex, quick to help, ran outside with the other Rebels, trying to catch him. But they were too late. Alex dived in the sea to save him.

“Let’s finish this off,” Orwen said. The Rebels turned into silver, took flight and prepared for the final assault.

John, accustomed to the ferocity of the fight and getting in tune with his old techniques, spun his sword around, broke the rhythm and slashed Daniel in the stomach. The sword pierced through the titanium chain-mail that he was wearing underneath leaving a searing wound there. Daniel screeched in agony and his face turned demonic. Just as it had in the boardroom, it became sharp, angular and intense. He leaped towards John and lacerated his shoulder with his sword, rendering his sword-arm almost powerless. The President laughed and thrust his weapon at John’s chest but not before Nikolas had gathered enough energy to telepathically push his son away.

“Thanks, I owe you one.” John spun his sword and smiled at Daniel maliciously. Daniel glared at him and in a raging fury, lifted a large broken piece of glass and telekinetically threw it at John. Dante used his psychic powers and broke it into innumerable shards that flew towards Daniel. Daniel ducked but it was too late. The glass pierced his body in many places, leaving him drained and weak, but not dead.

“I think you better get out of here, John,” Dante said, “Alex’ll be needing you!”

“Right!” John said with a deep breath and ran out to his nephew’s aid.