Book One Chapter Thirty One: The Onslaught of Hemlon

Nick and his friends have a plan to destroy Hemlon, Saja's base of operations, but at a huge price: The loss of thousands upon thousands of innocent lives. Will they do it?

Chapter Thirty One The Onslaught of Hemlon:

“Get that barricade down!” I heard one of Estelle’s crewman yell.

This order was followed by the thud! Thud! Of something being rammed into our makeshift barricade. I saw that all of my friends had readied their weapons, preparing for the onslaught that promised to come in the next few seconds. Sure enough, a few seconds later our barricade of crates fell, revealing a whole team of vampires, there had to be at least thirty of them!

“Show them no mercy! They pose a threat to Lady Saja!” Estelle ordered her crewmen.

With that, the thirty or so vampires in front of us made their way forward, attempting to reach us as quickly as possible. As soon as the first vampire reached me, I cut him down without hesitation. He let out a cry of anguish as he fell. I heard a few more agonized screams from the enemy vampires, this told me that my friends had joined the fray. Another vampire ran at me, baring her fangs. I could not get my sword up in time to block her, she gave me a solid slug on the shoulder, forcing me backwards and making my shoulder flare in pain. She leapt at me with her mouth open, saliva dripped from her fangs as she anticipated the taste of my blood. Since she shoved me backwards, I now had room to get my sword up, and as she leapt at me I managed to impale her through the chest. I saw the spark of life fade from her crimson eyes as she let out a dying scream. I pulled my sword out of her chest. The pain in my shoulder was starting to dull a little.

“Push them back!” Carmella yelled.

Two vampires ran at me. There was one on each side of me. I readied my sword. I could not take them both on at once, I had an idea. They came at me together, at the same time. I swung my sword at the vampire on my left and sidestepped to avoid the vampire on my right in one movement. The vampire who I sidestepped altered his course and ran at me again. His reckless charge made it easy for me to dispatch him with one swing of my blade across his chest.

“Fall back! They are too strong! Regroup with Lady Saja’s guards and prepare a defensive position! We cannot allow the intruders to reach Lady Saja!” Estelle ordered her crewmen frantically.

Right after Estelle gave her order, what was left of the attacking vampires ran out of the lower deck of the airship. Like Estelle had said, they were regrouping with Saja’s guards.

“We must push forward while they are still regrouping. This will give us time to make as much progress as possible to Saja.” I said.

“Do we even know where Saja is?” Asked Fenton.

I shook my head.

“No, but I have a feeling that we will not have a hard time finding her. Since she is all about the theatrics, she will reveal herself at some point when we are fighting her guards.” I said.

“That does not surprise me.” Fenton remarked.

“Alright, enough chit-chat, we need to move out of here right now!” Carmella ordered.

“I agree. We must find Saja before her guards advance on us.” Luna said.

“Right then, let us move!” Federov said.

With that, Federov led the way out of the lower deck of the airship. We ran out on to the upper deck and hopped off of the deck and landed on the floor of the metal room that we were inside. Just then, I heard a blaring siren that reminded me of the air raid sirens back on Earth. The guards must have sounded an alarm!

“Intruders alert! Intruders alert! A group of seven intruders has hijacked a friendly airship and infiltrated Hemlon! All armed personnel are ordered to engage! They were last spotted in Hangar B-7 Sector Alpha. I repeat, all armed personnel are ordered to engage!” Estelle’s voice crackled over a P.A system nearby.

The volume of Estelle’s voice was great enough to reach every ear in the room. I then heard footsteps coming from almost every direction. My vision flashed white as an intense white searchlight fell on my friends and I.

“We’ve got company!” I yelled.

I then heard multiple doors around the room open with a hiss of air. Vampire guards stormed the room, bearing down on my friends and I.

“It is us or them!” Anna-Maria shouted.

I surveyed the vampires around us. They kept their distance, so they did not completely surround us. There were a few scattered crates here and there that could be used for cover by either my friends and I or the enemy vampires. I readied my sword as I saw two vampires run at me. I reeled back and swung my sword with perfect timing, effectively managing to kill both vampires in one swing. They had been running side by side, and my sword penetrated both of their chests from the side. I felt a slight resistance as my sword cut through their bodies. I heard Anara cry out in terror. I looked over to her. She wielded a silver kunai. She stabbed the vampires one by one as they came at her. A few almost bit her, but she held her own against them.

“I do not recall fighting vampires for you as part of our agreement!” Anara yelled.

“It wasn’t part of the agreement, it’s an occupational hazard with us!” I shouted to her.

I heard Carmella shout at the vampires who were attacking her.

“Back! I said get back you bloody vermin!” Carmella yelled as she cracked her whip at the attacking vampires.

I then heard a gunshot go off, the sound had more depth than Federov's revolver. It could not have possibly come from a pistol. I heard Anara scream almost instantaneously. Dread flooded through me. Fenton ran at Anara and dragged her to the safety of behind one of the boxes I had spotted earlier. He peeked to try to get a shot in on one of the guards. I heard the shots go off again, and again. I heard Anna-Maria and Federov cry out. Fenton bolted towards them dragged managed to drag them both into cover along with Anara and Federov.

“Up there! On the rafters!” Carmella shouted, pointing to the roof of the room.

I looked up and saw a metal grate circling the outer rim on the room above us. Standing on the rafters were around ten vampires all armed with sniper rifles! I saw what the vampire snipers were doing. They were killing off my friends to get me alone, where I was most vulnerable. Next, Saja would most likely show herself now that she knew that she had an advantage over me. I heard two more shots go off. I heard Fenton and Carmella cry out in pain and drop to the ground. I looked over to my only other remaining ally and saw Luna in her wolf form, struggling to fend off several vampires who were attacking her at once. She managed to subdue four of her attacking vampires, when I heard three consecutive shots being fired from three different sniper rifles. I heard Luna let out a dog-like yelp of pain as three bullets hit her. Two hit her right shoulder and one hit her left hind leg.

Sorrow filled me to the brim. I was the last one alive! I was the last man standing! All of my friends were dead! I looked around frantically, praying that I was wrong. Relief flowed through me as I found out that I was indeed wrong. I saw Carmella hiding behind a metal box, out of sight from the guards. She was clutching her whip and she had a bloody gunshot wound on her forearm.

I heard a hiss of air as a door opened above me by the rafters that the vampire snipers were stationed on. Proving my previous suspicion, Saja revealed herself once she thought that she had an advantage over me. I saw a place for cover; behind the crate that Carmella was behind, but Saja saw that I was going to move and called down to me.

"I wouldn’t do that. I went back to your world where those clever contraptions were made. What do you call them? Sniper rifles? They are most amusing, and quite the utility as well." Saja said.

Her voice always had a hint of arrogance, I hated it.

"So, Nick, you found an airship, I am impressed," Saja said arrogantly.

“You made it difficult by destroying all of the airships and factories in Sven, but you missed one.” I said.

“And so it would seem.” Saja stated.

“Well, next time you know to be more thorough.” I said cockily.

“Well, either way it doesn’t matter. You have been a thorn in my side since Ectoclis. At first it was fun to torment you with fear, it was fun to send Luna after you to attack you and to slow your progress to thwart my plans, but it is no longer amusing. I must admit, you pose a serious threat to my plans. I must say, you were quite the worthy adversary. Alas, now you are here. I plan to kill you, as I have already killed all of your friends.” Saja said to me.

“You’re a monster!” I shouted at her.

I didn’t attack her. It would be stupid to. One wrong move and I’d be gunned down by Saja’s snipers.

I looked around the room, desperate for an escape plan. I saw multiple doors on the perimeter of the room. These were the doors that the guards had used to rush in to the room on Estelle’s command. I surveyed them all. My eye caught one door that was out of place. One of those doors was open! I figured that one of the vampire guards forgot to close it. I thought about going for the escape attempt, but how could Carmella and I get away without being killed? Just then, Saja shouted an order to her men.

"Bind him!" Came her voice from above.

Four of the vampire guards that still stood on the perimeter of the room ran to my sides, two on each, and threw ropes over me and pulled. I was forced to kneel. I heard Saja walking on the rafters above me. I heard her footsteps get louder. I looked upwards to see that she was climbing a ladder down to me. I looked back down to the ground. In almost no time, Saja reached the bottom of the ladder and walked directly in front of me. She stopped when she was directly in front of me. She knelt down and slipped a finger beneath my chin. She grabbed my chin with her index finger and thumb and tilted my head upwards, forcing me to look at her. Her crimson eyes bore in to me. She surveyed my face, I did my best to show no signs of fear.

"How do you like my little operation here? I have a whole energy plant here under Hemlon, The people of Artemis thought it was their god of the sky that relieved Hemlon from its Earthly tether but it was me all along. I have an energy core in the center of the cansodin. This is where I get the power to fuel the many factories on the cansodin so I can manufacture airships, bombs, firearms and a few special things that I stole from your world, such as those sniper rifles." Saja gloated.

“You brought items from my world to this one. Isn’t that a little… Wrong?” I asked.

Saja chuckled.

“Well, I am the villain here. Haven’t you figured that out? When have I ever done anything that was considered morally right?” Saja asked.

“Well, you’ve never done anything that was morally right.” I said.

I didn’t know if there was some kind of universal law that says you can’t bring items from other worlds into other worlds, but it seemed wrong to mix two worlds that were meant to be separate.

I then got an idea on how I was going to get Carmella and I out of there alive! Saja's arrogance is going to be her downfall! She said that Hemlon had an energy core at the center of Hemlon. If the energy core produced enough power to fuel her factories as well as keep the huge cansodin afloat, it must be very powerful. It also must have a way to explode! If I can get to that energy core, I would have a shot at getting Carmella and myself out of Hemlon alive! Just then I saw movement across the room from behind a box. It was Federov! Federov threw something up into the center of the room. He threw it thirty feet into the air. Federov was not dead! In few seconds, all of the guards shielded their bodies by turning their backs to the object. I followed their leads and ducked and covered my ears and s**t my eyes. A second later, the object exploded. Upon detonation, the object emitted a high pitched shrieking sound and it sent shrapnel all over the room. The vampire guards and the vampire snipers shielded their eyes and ears. I took this as an opportunity. I yelled to Carmella and Fenton.

“This way!” I yelled, pointing to the door that one of the other vampire guards had carelessly left open.

We ran for it. My sight was blurry and my ears rang from Federov’s grenade. Where did he get it? I did not see him pick it up anywhere, so he must have made it! Federov had engineered a flash grenade! Carmella, Federov and I reached the open door and sprinted through it.

“I cannot believe that you two are alive!” I yelled.

“Those blokes must have used silver bullets in those rifles! The bullets harmed even me!” Federov said.

“I only sustained a shot to the arm, I will be fine.” Carmella said.

“What about the others?” I asked, dismayed.

“I do not know, I think that they are dead. However, I do not know for sure.” Federov told me.

“Can you cut my restraints off?” I asked.

“Certainly.” Federov said.

He reached down to his boot and pulled out a knife from it. He cut the ropes that bonded me and I was free again.

“Thanks.” I told him.

“We must head for that energy core! From there, we need to find a way to make it explode. We will destroy Hemlon and find a way to escape before the whole place explodes!” I said to them.

“That sounds like a good plan, but how will we escape when Hemlon explodes? How will we destroy Hemlon? We are leaving a lot of things to chance!” Carmella objected.

“Do you have a better plan?” I asked her.

“No.” She said.

“I didn’t think so. My plan is all that we have, so we need to follow it.” I said.

“Very well. We must move faster! Those vampires will be on us any second now!” Carmella said.

We ran through metal corridors, Carmella, Federov, and I. Just then, I heard someone screaming from behind us, the screams were getting louder. They belonged to a girl.

“Nick! Run!” I heard her scream.

“Anara?” I asked, attempting to put the voice with a face.

Just then, Anara rounded the corner that we had just passed and came around the bend in the corridor.

“The one and only!” Anara yelled.

Her arm was stained with blood, she was shot in the arm just like Carmella was. Triumph flowed through me. Anara was alive, too!

"Clever, Nick! But it won’t get you far!" Shouted Saja over a P.A system.

I then noticed that there was a speaker every few feet on the wall and there were wires connecting them. I noticed something else as well. It was a noise, like something scraping against metal. I looked behind me, confused. I saw a large, sheet white dog running after us. Once it came into view, the large white dog transformed to reveal Luna! She began running after us in her human form.

"This way!" Luna shouted.

She was alive, too! Happiness made my chest swell. Maybe we did have a shot...

"Saja showed me the way to the energy core when I was in her service! I overheard your plan and I think that it can work, follow me!" Luna said.

Luna broke off from us and took a left. We all followed her. We ran for another few seconds and we came upon a large, padlocked metal door. The words ‘Keep Out!’ Were painted onto the door.

“It is locked!” Anara said with dismay.

“This is not a problem.” Luna said calmly.

She then shifted in to a huge white wolf and began clawing at the padlock. She clawed at the padlock fiercly and in seconds, she ripped it to shreds. She shifted back in to her human form and ran through the door.

“This way!” She called over her shoulder, her shoulder length sheet white hair was flowing behind her.

Luna led us into a huge room. In the center a pulsing yellow ball was suspended in the center of the room. We were probably about ten kilometers above it, and the huge ball was still huge from where we stood. This led me to wonder at its actual size. The room was a big single room, but the floor was metal grating. I saw a flight of stairs leading up to a room with a button on a pedestal. I also saw big metal beams that supported the walls and roof high above us. Saja then rushed into the room. This took me by surprise! She was angry.

"Luna! You dare betray the secrets I entrusted to you! You aren't going anywhere without a fight!" Saja seethed in anger.

“I am no longer in your service, Saja!” Luna spat.

Saja pulled her sword and darted forward at vampire speed. She had ran at Federov and knocked him down to the ground. She raised her sword above her head. A smile tainted her lips. Saja then looked at me. She decided not to kill Federov came rushing at me. Saja went for a stab with her sword. I let out a cry of fear and dove out of the way. She was angry!

Before Saja could deliver me a blow, Luna shifted into her wolf form and grabbed Saja from behind. She quickly shifted back to her human form so that she could speak to me.

"Press the button Nick! What are you waiting for?" She yelled at me.

Luna shifted back to her wolf form so that she could better restrain Saja.

When Luna had Saja under control, she shifted back to her human form and spoke to me again.

"Press the button, Nick! It leads to a self-destruct!" Luna yelled.

She then shifted back into the familiar white wolf. I looked up to the room that held the button on the pedestal. A button to activate a self-destruct? This was not Saja’s style. She would not just leave a button to blow up her base of operations! Or would she? Regardless, It seemed too easy... 

"Do not press it! The engineers installed that button with the sole purpose of shutting down the power gradually in the event of a mass emergency! If you shut it off all at once, it will create a power surge so great that the entire cansodin will be destroyed!" yelled Saja, desperately trying to throw Luna off of her.

Luna shifted back to her human form.

"Press it!" yelled Luna.

She shifted back to her wolf form to restrain Saja.

"We are so close, Nick! Press that button, and you save Artemis!" Yelled Federov.

My heart swelled with the thought of defeating Saja.

"Do you not you dare? Everyone in Hemlon will die! Not only the people in the underground, but in the city above, too! Think about what you are doing!" Yelled Saja.

“Since when do you care about collateral damage?” I asked her in anger.

“I do not! I could care less about what happens to those people, but you care, you could not live with yourself if you killed that many innocent people!” Saja said with a slight laugh.

I was very conflicted. Was I really willing to risk the lives of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of innocent lives at the cost of defeating Saja? By destroying Hemlon like this, I would be wiping out Saja’s base of operations and killing off all of her vampires, but in turn I would be killing innocent people, and judging by the size of Hemlon, there were a lot of innocent people on board this cansodin. This had to be done in order to stop Saja. Saja had most likely killed more people in her lifetime than the amount of people on board Hemlon. I had to end her life. I had to restore piece to the worlds. I had to kill Saja, regardless of the cost.

“You cannot do it! Back down and surrender yourself to me! You cannot win here, Nick!” Saja yelled at me.

“Shut up! I have made my decision!” I yelled at Saja.

“What decision have you made, Chosen One?” Saja asked me with a smirk.

She did not think that I would press that button. Was she ever wrong. I ran up the staircase to the room. I opened the door. Something didn't seem right. It seemed too easy...

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think :)