Chapter 30

by Carycomic

KING O' CLUBS,

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA

SEPT. 29, 1999 (1:22 A.M.)

"Why don't we test that theory?" rasped Sil. Whereupon, the Ratkin Abomination's eyes began to glow red as she now began using the mind-control power her former co-host had drained from the egg of a cascabel kamsa. And, unfortunately, it seemed to be working!

The Newcomer magician called 'Duncan Shane' began advancing on George Francisco, Kate Lockley, and Matt Sykes. His deadly katana held directly over his head for a vertically downward strike. The three police detectives, for their part, tried their hardest to yell at him to stop. But, they could not even open their mouths. Instead, their fingers began to gradually increase pressure upon the triggers of their nine-millimeter handguns. Following which, a hail of bullets began turning Duncan Shane's tuxedo jacket into Swiss cheese!

Meanwhile, Angel and Faith did not even so much as blink in reflexive response to that thunderous fusillade. Instead, all they did was launch themselves at Prince Cyrus and Russell Winters. The pair of them focused solely on plunging wooden stakes into the vampiric hearts of the two Kindred gangsters before them! But, the latter managed to catch their respective attackers in mid-air and throw them over and beyond them in a ninety-degree arc. Resulting in Angel and Faith landing on the floor of the kitchen amid a clattering shower of pots and pans.

It was Faith who sprang back on her feet, first. In the process, she grabbed up a meat cleaver, and threw it at Winters, with eye-blurring speed. And almost managing to smirk when she saw it lodge itself in his forehead with an otherwise-sickening 'thunk'! She then sprang forward, once more. Meeting with more success, this time, as she plunged the wooden stake remaining in her right hand into the Ventrue primogen's heart.

"AR-R-R-R-RGH!" he screamed, even as his body turned to ash. Thereby dirtying the toes of Cyrus' Italian-made shoes. That, in turn, made the Brujah Prince snarl in near-mindless rage as he lunged at Faith. Only to have Angel intercept him in a perfect flying tackle! Two seconds later, they were rolling around on the kitchen floor. Angel, trying to impale Cyrus with his wooden stake, while Cyrus simultaneously strove to do the opposite.

Meanwhile, Duncan Shane's bullet wounds had once again regenerated courtesy of Talamour the Burrower. Consequently, the Newcomer magician was able to stand back up and raise his katana overhead for a second attempt on the police detectives' lives. And Sil telepathically chuckled with amusement as she compelled Sykes, Lockley, and Francisco to reload their semi-autos.

"This is like a 3-D shoot 'em-up video game. Only better!"

Her amusement, however, was dragged to a screeching halt by the simultaneous occurrence of two interruptions. The flaming silver arrow that suddenly lodged itself in the left side of Duncan Shane's neck. And the roughly half-dozen blessed silver shurikens that lodged themselves in Sil's back! Naturally, this caused both of them a lot of pain. Doyle took advantage of Duncan Shane's initial agony to charge forward and batter him three times with his shillelagh. Once in the stomach; next, under the jaw; and, finally, against the left side of the Newcomer's head!

Meanwhile, Prince Cyrus, who had managed to wrestle Angel flat onto his back, was about to deliver the Final Death blow with one of the wooden stakes was momentarily distracted by Doyle's Gaelic battle cries. This, in turn, allowed Angel to scrunch both his legs into a fetal position prior to catapulting the Brujah prince off of him. . . and on to the shurikens sticking out of Sil's furry back. The Ratkin Abomination having thrashed about in a complete circle vainly trying to dislodge the ninja throwing stars! Consequently, their ensuing screams of pain were in perfect unison.

Faith took advantage of that opportunity to run forward and pick up the katana.

"Angel! Catch!"

The re-ensouled vampire did as instructed. Whereupon, he sprang to his feet and decapitated Prince Cyrus with a left-to-right stroke! He then used the momentum of that move to complete a full circle. . .and impale Sil from behind. Thrusting the katana right through Cyrus' headless corpse! Faith, meanwhile, had removed the still-smoldering silver arrow from Duncan Shane's neck. Whereupon, she leaped on top of the central counter of the nightclub's kitchen. Using it as a springboard to jump on to the Ratkin Abomination's shoulders! Upon landing there, she wrapped her legs around the giant rodent's throat. . .and then stabbed the silver arrow into its brain via the left eye.

Sil uttered one last, near-deafening howl of agony before finally collapsing to the floor. Utterly and unquestionably dead.

Meanwhile, out in the nightclub's showroom, Preston Lennox had grown tired of waiting to see what the sudden quiet meant.

"Dart Six! I'll keep an eye on Harcourt. You go see what's taking Dart Two so long."

"Yes, sir."

The Tenctonese commando went into the kitchen through its double doors. The moment he did so, he beheld a puzzling sight. To his right was the ninja-garbed Newcomer female his team's intelligence briefings had identified as 'Alison Wonderland'. While to his left stood another female Newcomer- -identity unknown- -wearing a bikini-like unitard accented by a compound bow and a quiver of silver arrows. And, of those two, it was Ms. Wonderland who looked more shocked.

{"Jadeeka!"} she exclaimed in Tenctonese.

{"Leeloo."} replied the latter.

Suddenly, memories long-suppressed by his special 'counter-insurgency' training came flooding back into his head, as if a light bulb had been turned on with one pull of a chain.

{"Leeloo? Jadeeka?!"}

The Tenctonese women turned- -and chorused- -as one: "Josweedan!"

{"Josweedan?!"}

Dart Six looked in the direction of George Francisco's voice. . .and even more memories came flooding back.

{"Pop? ? ?"}

It was Matt Sykes, whose surname was the homonym for a Tenctonese slang term that roughly translated as 'cranium of crap', who first belabored the obvious.

"You guys know each other?"

"Know him?!" exclaimed George. "This is my long-lost son, Josweedan. Buck's older brother!"

"And this. . ." added Alison. ". . .is my younger sister, Jadeeka."

"Younger sister?" echoed Faith. "She looks more like your fraternal twin!"

"The mixed blessings of learning pyrokinetic archery in a parallel dimension with a faster passage of time," replied Ultra-Violet.

"Prior to that, she was the Sardonak-bonded* love slave of a Kleetzatsun," said Alison. "Which bitterly estranged us. Mostly, because of my own selfish pride!"

She looked at Jadeeka as she said this. The remorseful expression on her face verifying the truth of this statement for all other on-lookers. Ultra-Violet in particular. Consequently, the two female Newcomers ran into each other's arms and gave each other conciliatory bear hugs!

Meanwhile, out in the nightclub's main showroom, Lennox was becoming understandably impatient.

"What the frig is taking him so long?" he muttered.

Whereby, he began to walk backwards toward the kitchen doors, so he could keep William Harcourt covered. But, upon reaching the small rectangular windows built into the doors, he was forced to take his eyes off the would-be Tenctonese crime boss so he could observe what was going on beyond them. Thereby allowing Harcourt to employ his somewhat faster physical reflexes in opening the hollow compartment of a custom-made ring on his right hand. A compartment containing a pill made from a freeze-dried mixture of his new designer drug. . .and a drop of vampire blood.

To his credit, Lennox noticed the movement out of the corner of his right eye. Yet, as fast as he swerved about (Steyr AUG at the ready), Harcourt proved even swifter. Popping the pill into his mouth, left-handed, and then swallowing it whole in one gulp!

"What the frig did you just do?" demanded the anti-terrorist bounty hunter.

Harcourt grinned. "You might say I've taken the first step toward becoming the first Newcomer to go down in history. By becoming one with eternity!"

Whereupon, Harcourt's business suit suddenly began tearing at the seams as he started growing taller and more muscular, with extra-long canine teeth, too. In short? He was taking on the physical attributes of a Nosferatu!

To be concluded.

*GLOSSARY

Sardonak: a sort of Newcomer aphrodisiac, possibly derived from a liquid version of jabroka, that was used to accelerate the breeding cycle of lower-ranking Tenctonese slaves by eliminating the longer, slightly more drawn-out rituals of courtship and marriage that preceded pregnancy and embryo gestation.