[rom: the star of sorrow]
Credit goes here. All I did was C&P and change some of the 6s to As. I also found it a bit hard to read the white on black background. A bit of editing for wording, but I can't edit it all so \o/;;
Chapter 4 - "The Star of Sorrow"
"The light and the sun rose up, and the lowly were exalted, and they devoured the glorious..." (Esther 11:11)
Staring at his dead wife's portrait, Marquis Gyula Kadar silently promised her that it would all be over soon. Those who drove her to her unhappy end would soon get their just desserts. He dropped a thick tablet into a wine glass before him. Like many vampires, Marquis Kadar found the taste of fresh blood rough and repugnant, particularly in the aftertaste. He preferred to dissolve the blood extract in some refined, elegant drink, like the red wine. With some extra spices, it made for a good way of getting over the ‘Craving’ - a physiological dependence of vampires on the human blood.
An automata maid announced the arrival of Dietrich von Lohengrin. The Marquis seated both him and Esther Blanchett, whom Dietrich brought along, at the dinner table and ordered the supper to be served. Sister Esther asked where the priest was and got told that her friends were safe. Then she told the Marquis that he was finished - after what he did, Vatican would no longer stay silent. The vampire nodded and said that indeed right at that very moment the Vatican's army was smashing the last remains of the City Guard forces at the border. They were probably planning to be in Istavan by the morrow. The way the vampire said this, made it sound like it was of no more importance than yesterday's weather. Promising to show the girl something interesting, the Marquis told Dietrich to proceed with their arrangements.
Few minutes later, a dark-gray hologram was hovering above the table. Esther peered in and saw an image of a landscape, taken from some very high vantage point. Higher than any airplanes should be able to fly. Then the dots on the landscape moved - and the girl realized the image had been live. The Marquis explained that what they were seeing took place about 200 kilometers west of Istavan, where the 6th brigade of the Vatican's Eastern Army was battling the forces of the Istavan City Guard - and winning. The vampire turned to Dietrich and asked him where the ‘Star’ was. The youth replied that at present the Star was was at 44•5°N, 33•3°E. The territory of the Empire, above the city of Babylon. In 40 more seconds it would have charged enough energy and in 7200 seconds it would be in an appropriate position to fire. The Marquis smiled gently at Esther and suggested she watched closely as this city they arrogant Terrans all worship, this Rome, enjoys what would become its last night.
--
Major-general Unbert Barbarigo stood and watched as broken remains of the Istavan City Guard fled pursued by his ‘arditi’. “Veni, vidi, vici, is it...”, he muttered. The skirmish had barely lasted an hour, leaving the field of battle with him - and his ‘Justinians’, the 6th brigade of the Vatican's Eastern Army. “Hic iacet pulvis, cinis, nihil. And we ended up just watching from the sidelines”, spoke Major Mark-Anthony Braski, who stood by Barbarigo's side. His ‘Golden Knights’, the 28th battalion of mechanized infantry, didn't get to fire a single shot during the whole engagement. The two men proceeded to discuss how to conduct the warfare on the streets of Istavan tomorrow. The HQ had already permitted the civilian casualties of up to 20%. Suddenly, Major Braski paused, stared intently at the sky to the south and then told Barbarigo that there appeared to be an abnormality in the concentration of the ion in the atmosphere. A few moments later, the sky to the south was lit up by a huge wall of pale blue-white light. Aurora Borealis? Here? The major-general crossed himself. Braski's mechanical voice continued talking. “What the..? A magnetic storm..? Your Excellency, I am reading off a major energy surge... It's coming from directly above us..!” The two men raised their heads to the skies above. And then the night sky, burning, fell down on them.
--
In Rome, the Vatican Council was listening to the reports pouring in from the east. ‘Constantinians’, the 5th brigade of the Eastern Army, had destroyed the 3rd regiment of the Istvбn City Guard. ‘Justinians’, the 6th brigade, were in a pursuit of the remains of the 2nd regiment, near to 200 kilometers west of Istavan. Kalocsa, one of the satellite towns of Istavan, had declared itself neutral in this conflict and asked for the protection of the Vatican's army. The battleship ‘Nathagiel’ had finished the bombing raid according to schedule, the damage inflicted was being estimated. It was clear to everyone on the Council that Istavan would be taken by tomorrow's sunset. Within seventy two hours of its declaration, the war would be over. It was an indisputable masterpiece of military strategy and tactics on the behalf of the Supreme Commander Cardinal Francesco di Medici. Even Caterina Sforza had to agree that her half-brother's triumph was well-deserved. For all their difference, she knew full-well that he was probably the most skillful general in the Western Europe. But the doubts continued to gnaw her - the enemy was too weak. Far too weak. And there was still no sign of the Marquis Kadar's secret weapon, whose existence her spies had confirmed. ‘The Star of Sorrow’...
An operator reported that ‘Sandalphon’, the battleship which provided the air support to the ‘Justinians’, was on the line. Francesco di Medici ordered it patched through. A hologram of a middle-aged man appeared above the Council table. The captain of ‘Sandalphon Colonel Arnoldo diCambia reported that the ‘Justinians’ advanced to a point 200 kilometers west of Istavan, that the enemy resistance was insignificant, but that even taking it into account, they should be able to reach Istavan by the morrow. Just the captain was about to sign off, an interference appeared on the screen, breaking up the signal. Suddenly the whole image flashed brilliant white for a few seconds, near blinding the members of the Council, and then vanished altogether. After a few minutes the operators managed to restore just the audio link. The shaking voice of Colonel di Cambia stuttered, incoherently, that all their optical devices went dead. An evil foreboding clutched the heart of Caterina Sforza. She surged forward, ignoring an aggravated look of her half-brother, and ordered the captain to get a grip on himself and report the situation as best as he could. Then the whole Council heard that there was a change on the battlefield below the ‘Sandalphon’. Both the ‘Justinians’ and the City Guard troops were annihilated. Not massacred - annihilated. There was nothing left on the ground below!
--
In Varhegy, Esther was struggling to regain her voice, as the swirl of light was subsiding on the holographic screen. “This is the Star of Sorrow, my trump card”, said Gyula Kadar in a voice torn between the satisfaction and the regret. A high-powered satellite-mounted laser, rotating around the Earth on a low orbit at the speed of 4000 m/s. Each of its blasts had the explosive power of near to 1 megaton. Four or five such blasts would suffice to reduce a city the size of Rome to smoking rubble. Crying, Sister Esther asked why was he doing all this. Almost sadly, the Marquis said: “To survive.” Let's be perfectly clear - this was a war. The war for the survival of the species. The Terrans and the Methuselah - one would live and the other would perish. The co-existance was but a foolish dream! No screams for mercy would stop the crazed Vatican fanatics once their silver spikes and their oaken stakes are raised. The Marquis turned to Dietrich and ordered him to prepare the Star of Sorrow for the second blast. The target coordinates were 41•53°N, 12•29°E - the center of the city of Rome. “Oh, and Sister Esther. I am afraid I have lied to you before. Your friends I captured this morning and the priest - they are no longer in this world. I had them executed already.”
--
When Father Abel, his wounds barely treated, was pushed, at last, out of the car, it was already nighttime. In front of him were a long runway and a concrete watchtower. It appeared he had been taken to a remote army airport west of Istavan. Also there were Colonel Radcуn, his City Guard troops and about a hundred partisan prisoners. The giant colonel loudly announced to the prisoners, that they were found guilty of many heinous crimes against the residents of Istvбn - including murder, burglary, extortion and arson - as well as of the high treason against the city itself. They were, therefore, sentenced to death by shooting. More specifically, they were to be used as the target practice for the machine guns of the ‘Sarkany’, the huge dirigible hovering in the sky above. They could try to run - but any who crossed the white line before the runway would be shot by Radcуn's people.
The giant was clearly deriving an immense enjoyment out of the proceedings. He told the prisoners that his only regret was that he didn't have time to murder them at length, like he did Mother Vitйz and her churchmen. Father Abel paled. Then a familiar voice had inquired from behind the colonel whether they've begun yet. Tres Iqus, newly arrived, explained to Colonel Radcуn that he came on the orders from Gyula Kadar to inspect the battle-readiness of the ground-to-air artillery unit, stationed at this airport. Which provided him with a fine opportunity to watch the slaughter of the prisoners. The colonel grunted and ordered one of his soldiers to have it transmitted to the ‘Sarkany’ that they could open fire.
The Gatling gun, mounted at the bottom of the dirigible, started to rotate - and little fountains of earth went up, in a line, bare inches before the first row of the prisoners. All the hell broke loose, as prisoners scrambled to get away from the guns, trampling each other in the process. The colonel shouted for the gunners to get that priest first. Just as the priest, and the old man Ignatz he was helping to run, were swallowed up by a fountain of earth, everything suddenly became very bright. Those, who looked up, could see a huge ball of fire blossoming in the night sky above. As they realized that it was emerging from the broadside of the ‘Sarkany’, a second blast had pierced the helium-filled balloon of the dirigible and skewered the hull below. With a deafening thunderclap, the dirigible split into two and fell to the ground in a trail of fire. It crashed onto a small hill nearby and a second explosion shook the air. Flabbergasted, the colonel struggled to make out what happened in the sky. When he finally saw it, he could barely believe his own eyes. A huge dirigible of pure white, sleek and elegantly shaped, was descending towards them from far above. It was both larger and more beautiful than any airship the colonel ever saw. Burning in scarlet red on its snow-white hull were a catholic cross and the words ‟Arcanum cella ex dono dei”.
A Vatican battleship.
A loud female voice announced clearly from the sky: “This is ‘Iron Maiden II’, a battleship of ‘Ax’, the Special Operations Department of the Vatican's Ministry of State. I am Sister Kate, the ship's captain. This is a warning to all the soldiers of the Istavan City Guard on the ground below. This airport had just been brought under our armed control. Please drop your weapons and surrender immediately. I repeat, drop your weapons and...”
As an indication of the full seriousness of the threat, a blast of guns from the battleship's side tore up a few nearby biplanes as if they were paper planes. Trembling with fury, Colonel Radcуn grabbed his wireless operator by the neck. What is the anti-aircraft artillery unit doing!? The giant screamed into the wireless, telling them to shoot that monster down.
“It's no good”, a voice from behind the giant told him, emotionlessly, “they were wiped out, to the last man.” The colonel started to shout for Tres Iqus to stop talking nonsense, but suddenly froze. “...came on the orders of Gyula Kadar to inspect the battle-readiness of the ground-to-air artillery...”
As the colonel stood and boggled, one of the soldiers attempted to take Father Abel hostage - and collapsed with a bullet wound the size of a fist.
“Were you not clearly told surrender your weapons”, inquired Tres Iqus, now holding a pair of huge guns.
“Iqus, you bastard..!”, roared the colonel.
“0•44 seconds too late”, replied Tres Iqus and fired. Radcуn collapsed to the ground clutching his stomach.
“Switching the battle program to the ‘Genocide’ mode. Commencing combat.” Four of the City Guard exploded in a shower of blood.
“Major Iqus, have you betrayed us!?”, shouted one of the officers.
“Negative. I was never your ally to start with”, replied Iqus and shot the officer's head off. When, eventually, his guns ran out of bullets, Major Iqus had to pause to reload. While he did so, he calmly told the remaining soldiers that they were guilty of an assault on the St. Matthias' Church and would be questioned at Castel Sant'Angelo in an appropriate fashion.
“Castel Sant'Angelo..? So you are a Vatican's dog, you bastard!” Father Abel's warning shout came too late. The bionically-enhanced colonel managed, even after taking a 13mm bullet to his stomach, to grab a machine gun off one of the fallen soldiers and stand up. And now he emptied the whole clip at Major Iqus, who was still reloading his guns.
“Hah! Serves you right, you traitorous bastard! Did you really think Vatican scum could kill someone like me!?”
“Negative, Colonel Radcуn. I never had any intention of killing you. You will be taken to Rome alive.”
The voice from the cloud of dust raised by the machine-gun blast rung with coldness of the tempered steel. And when the dust settled down, Colonel Radcуn's eyes popped out of their orbits. Standing before him was Major Iqus, arms crossed in a crucifix, a gun in each hand:
His uniform was torn to shreds, but there wasn't a drop of blood on his body. The bullets pierced the polymer-made skin, but were stopped by the artificial muscle below, made out of the shape-memory plastic. “You ain't human!”, shouted the colonel.
“‘Ain't human’? Positive. Certainly, I am not human. I am HC-ⅢX (Tres Iqus), codename: ‘Gunslinger’, a field operative of ‘Ax’, the Special Operations Department of the Vatican's Ministry of State”, the android killer introduced himself in a colorless voice. With a howl of rage, Colonel Radcуn charged himself at him.
“Die, you robotic bastard!”
“0•25 seconds too late”, calmly replied Tres Iqus. He then slid the fresh magazines into his guns, neatly side-stepped the colonel's fist and fired eight shots. Elbows, shoulders, knees and hips. “Like I said, Colonel Radcуn, you are to be taken to Rome alive. A special interrogation cell had already been prepared for you in Castel Sant'Angelo. There you will tell us everything you know. This body of yours can withstand a lot.” Without sparing the collapsed giant another look, Tres Iqus turned around and informed Father Abel that, regretfully, the Star of Sorrow had been fired two hundred seconds ago. An earcuff in Father Abel's ear suddenly spoke with Sister Kate's voice, relaying the orders of Caterina Sforza. Father Tres was to stay with the partisans and help them to take possession of the city. Father Abel was to board the ‘Iron Maiden Ⅱ’ immediately and, through any means necessary, prevent the second blast of the Star of Sorrow.
--
In Varhegy, the thick glass of the windows designed to block out the ultra-violet rays shook audibly. The Marquis looked outside and saw a tall pillar of fire rising towards the sky to the west. Something must have happened at the airport. Dietrich said that he would go to investigate it and left, hurriedly. Meanwhile, Esther sat still at the table and contemplated her plight. All whom she cared for were dead. The only thing left to her, it seemed, was to slay the vampire responsible for this horror - or at least to die trying. Her only hope lied in the silver rosary she always carried with her. Its bottom end was sharpened, so were she to get one lucky strike in, it might prove out to be enough. The silver had an extremely adverse effect on the Methuselah. Seeking to distract the Marquis, Esther asked who was the lady on the painting which hung on the wall. Perhaps the Marquis was more in a state of mental turmoil than it appeared - for his answer was more than the girl had bargained for. He told Esther that his wife was a human who was lynched by the Vatican priests for being a wife of a vampire. But the bitter irony was that at that very time he and his wife together were working to better the lot of the humanity. The Star of Sorrow was originally an energy-relay satellite, designed to receive the energy gathered by a solar-battery unit on the Moon and relay it to the power stations on Earth. Were it to be restored to a fully-operational state, many of the dead cities, abandoned since the Armageddon, could become inhabited again.
His wife was originally a ‘Programmer’ whom he invited to work on the project. Very few such people existed still, who possessed the skills necessary to communicate with probably the most arcane artifact of the lost civilization - the ‘Electrical Intelligence’. Before long, his wife had become the chief enthusiast of the project. But in Rome they thought that the Marquis and his wife had been restoring some fearsome ancient weapon - and had the wife killed. Without a ‘Programmer’, the Marquis could no longer carry on with the project. And so he wallowed in self-misery, until one day they had contacted him. The Orden. Even now he still wasn't sure who exactly they were - but they consisted of both the Terran and the Methuselah and they claimed to oppose the Vatican. They had sent him a new ‘Programmer’, Dietrich von Lohengrin, to continue with the restoration of the Star of Sorrow. Thus he gained his chance to wage a war on Terrans. To gain his revenge. But maybe... The Marquis paused, lost in a labyrinth of his memories. Maybe it was a mistake...
It was then, that Esther swung down the rosary from behind, aiming at the back of the vampire's neck. The Marquis' story threw her into a turmoil - but still she had found it within herself to strike. The vampire's last words, however, caused her to falter for an instant - and that instant proved fatal. The vampire had time to turn around and block the improvised weapon with a palm of his hand. An acrid stench filled the air. The enraged vampire grabbed the girl and threw her across the room so hard that she almost had broke her spine slamming into the opposite wall. Cursing all the filthy Terrans in this world, the Marquis strode over to where Esther had collapsed. Grabbing the girl by the chin, he bared his fangs... and with a deafening noise the anti-UV window behind them shattered. “Miss Esther!”, cried a familiar voice. And the Marquis of Hungary went flying to the floor with a silver bullet lodged in his shoulder.
--
Without sparing the collapsed vampire a glance, Father Abel ran over towards Esther. The girl was unharmed. Hurriedly, she explained to the priest that they must stop the Star of Sorrow before it destroys Rome. Half-way through her explanation, the priest whirled sharply around, having seen something reflected in her eyes. Advancing on them from behind was the Marquis of Hungary. The vampire had extruded the bone-blade from within his palm and used it to carve the silver bullet out of his body. Along with a better part of his shoulder. Cursing Father Abel for a rotten Vatican dog that he was and inviting him to feast his eyes on the destruction of Rome, the vampire charged. The two of them fought. Marquis Kadar turned his other hand into a second bone-blade and was able to vibrate the pair of blades, each composed of many razor-thin plates extending one from under another, in such a way as to produce between the blades a high-frequency high-energy sonic wave which shredded anything that came near it. In particular, it shredded all the priest's bullets, rendering his gun useless. But the priest threw the gunpowder flask he kept on his belt to refill his gun with into the air and shot it. This created a small explosion and the Marquis ran straight into it. The shock-wave of the explosion had interfered with the sonic shield for long enough to allow the priest to shoot off the Marquis' right arm. The vampire couldn't use the sonic shield anymore and Father Abel fired his last shot, almost regretfully, straight between the Marquis' eyes. But the one who collapsed in a shower of blood was the priest himself. At the last moment, the vampire managed to kick his torn-off arm, sending it towards Father Abel's stomach and skewering the priest with the bone-blade. The silver bullet whizzed harmlessly by the vampire's ear and buried itself, with a thud, in the portrait of the Marquis' wife.
Right between the eyes.
It was over. The Marquis glanced at the holographic display which hovered above the dinner table. There was ten seconds left until the second blast. Behind him the girl rushed over to her collapsed friend. Seven. A stream of blood spurted out of the priest's mouth. Five. Somewhere high above the surface of the Earth, the Star of Sorrow, rushing at the speed of near to 4,000 m/s, began to concentrate the charged energy. The energy which Gyula Kadar and his wife meant to present to humanity as a gift. Three. It really was all over now. One.
And then the air exploded.
--
Even after the blinding flash of light had subsided, it took a considerable length of time before either the Marquis or Esther could see anything. And when the vampire had finally regained his sight, he lost his breath instead. Out of the shattered window he could see that, on the opposite shore, a large part of Pest was simply no longer there. In its place was a giant smoking crater. The waters of Danube were pouring into it with a roar.
Flabbergasted, the Marquis checked the data on the holographic screen. Indeed the coordinates for the second blast were nothing like what he had specified. While the Star of Sorrow was already preparing for the third blast. Dietrich! He needed Dietrich! As if answering to the Marquis' thoughts, Dietrich's face appeared on the holographic screen above the dinner table. The Marquis told him that something went wrong with the coordinates they had entered, so Dietrich needed to return re-program the system.
“Wrong? No, Your Excellency, these coordinates are exactly right”, the youth smiled back from the screen. “The second blast was centered on the City Guard headquarters. The third blast will hit the very center of Pest. And the last blast will be aimed at Varhegy and Your Excellency's palace. My program is in perfect order.”
“Dietrich!? You've... betrayed me..? You've used me!?” The Marquis made the only possible conclusion.
“No. I haven't used you. I've used the Star of Sorrow. Of what use could a one stupid monster be? You flatter yourself, Your Excellency.” Dietrich proceeded to explain that the goal of his Order here was to escalate an armed conflict between Vatican and the True Human Empire. The last major skirmish between the two occurred 270 years ago, when the 11th Crusade, summoned forth by Pope Sylvester XIXth, was massacred near Debrecen. Not the least reason for this long-lasting peace lied with the neutrality belt of free domains like Istavan, which humans thought was ruled by humans and the vampires knew was ruled by a vampire. An occupation of Hungary by Vatican, therefore, was certain to be followed by an armed retaliation from the Empire.
“But why would the Orden want that?”, cried the Marquis. “What is your game!? Who side are...”
“We are not on anyone's side”, Dietrich interrupted him. “We are contra-mundi. ”
Leaving the Marquis to gape, the youth turned his attention to Esther. He apologized at length for what he had done to her, claiming that he always quite like her beneath it all. As a token of how sorry he felt, he would teach her a magic spell: “IGNE NATURA RENOVATUR INTEGRA.” At the sound of this words, the eyes of Father Abel, whose limp body Esther held in her arms, flew wide open. Unmindful of that, the girl asked what were these words. Dietrich replied that they were the self-destruction code for the Star of Sorrow, which he programmed in, unbeknown even to the Marquis. She only had to enter them using the keyboard on the table and the Star would explode. Provided, of course, she could enter them without someone interfering first... The stares of Marquis Kadar and Esther collided, almost striking a spark. Dietrich laughed and wished Esther good luck. That done, he vanished off the holographic screen.
The girl and the vampire raced each other to the keyboard. Esther stood closer at first - but the Marquis was significantly faster. He overcame Esther and slammed her away from the keyboard, projecting the girl halfway across the room. He then took up the keyboard and looked desperately for a way to regain the control of the satellite. But Esther took hold of the priest's gun and, threatening him with it, demanded for the vampire to step aside and let her destroy the Star. Cursing, the Marquis extended the bone-blade out of his palm. He'd have had to kill her anyway - no one who knew the self-destruct code could be allowed to live. He advanced on the girl. Esther fired - and immediately realized her mistake. The gun was out of bullets. “Die, Terran!” The bone-blade swept down in a flash... and it was then that a tall cassock-wearing figure suddenly stepped in between the girl and the vampire.
--
Father Abel caught the descending blade in between his palms and held it there, few inches above his head. The Marquis tried to aim a kick at the priest's mid-stomach - but went flying across the room himself. Having crashed onto the floor, the vampire stared in disbelief at the man before him. The man, who still had a bone-blade protruding from his stomach. The man, who had so many injuries he should have been dead twice over. “What are you!?”, cried out the Marquis.
“The humans feed upon the cows and the chick”, replied Father Abel. “The vampires feed upon the humans. Don't you think that there should be something, somewhere which feeds upon the vampires?”
The priest pulled the Marquis' hand out of his stomach and brought it to his lips. Sharp fangs, the vampire fangs, bit into the dead flesh. The hand started to shrivel... to wither... until it became no more than a bone clad into a thin gauze of the flesh. A deep dark voice, which sounded as if it came out of the bowels of the Earth, boomed:
“Nanomachine ‘Crusnik 02’ initiating the operation at 40% limit. Acknowledged.”
The color of the priest's eyes changed from its usual pale-blue of a midwinter lake to the scarlet of the blood. “I am Crusnik”, he told the Marquis, “The vampire who drinks the blood of the vampires.”
The two of them fought.
The Marquis split the bone-blade in his left hand into three and was able to vibrate them so as to create a miniature version of the sonic wave he employed earlier. Father Abel's hands burst - and the dark liquid which flew out instead of the blood solidified into a giant monolithic two-bladed scythe, which the priest used to fight with.
In the end, the vampire used his blade to dead-lock the priest's scythe and then his sides burst open. Eight bone-spears, eight ribs, sped towards the priest from all sides like giant snakes... and bounced off, shattered, as something dark enveloped the priest's body, something tough enough to withstand the diamond-like bone-spears. A pair of huge jet-black wings sprouted from Father Abel's and enfolded him completely.
“What... what on Earth is ‘Crusnik’!?”, cried out the Marquis.
“I am...”, said the priest and whispered something into his ear.
“It can't be..! Then you... no, thou art our...”
Giant black wings fluttered, unfolding with a rustling noise. The black scythe swept down and the bone-blade shattered in its wake, depriving the vampire of his last weapon.
“This is the end.”
The shining jet-black blade swept down once more.
--
“Is he dead!? Who... who are you!?”
Esther had many questions to ask. But Father Abel, whose body returned to its normal state and whose eyes were once again the pale-blue of a midwinter lake, silenced them all and told the girl that first of all they had to enter the code. He pointed towards the holographic screen, where the countdown to the third blast of the Star of Sorrow was still running. Esther hesitated. But there being no better option left, she walked over to the keyboard and entered the code. “Igne Natura Renovatur Integra.” The girl checked it over once more and pressed the return button. Nothing happened. The countdown continued to run. The priest walked over to her. Together they were staring, puzzled, at the screen when suddenly Dietrich's face appeared on it.
“Dear Esther. If you are watching this, then you've done as I'd told you and entered the code.” Dietrich proceeded to explain that, firstly, this was a pre-recorded video file and that, secondly, he needed to apologize her once more. The code which she'd just entered wasn't the self-destruct code. It was a target-change code, instead. Yes - the target of the next blast was no longer Istavan. It was now Byzantium. The capital of the Empire. The nest of the vampires, whom Esther hated so much. Of course, their capital attacked. the Empire would retaliate. There would be a war. The last, the ultimate war between the vampires and the humans.
“How does it feel, to have pressed the button which would trigger off the Armageddon? You really are an idealist, Esther, to have believed me once more, after being deceived so much already. But then it was, perhaps, this very naïveté that I always found so attractive about you... Bye-bye, Esther. Hope we shall meet again some day.”
The image vanished. Esther kept standing there, gaping at the screen, until the blood-splattered fingers of Father Abel hadn't touched the keyboard in front of her. The girl tried to protest... but was firmly told to step away and not interfere.
For a little while Father Abel just stood there and stared at the screen. Then he started to type. Hesitantly at first, but then faster and faster with each click of a key. Once more Esther tried to warn him that it was dangerous to experiment with such a technology. She was plainly told to be silent. The finger of the priest were now flying up and down the keyboard as if they belonged to a virtuoso pianist. A mechanical voice continued the countdown: “39... 38... 37...” Finally, the priest stopped typing and looked at the screen. In a clear voice he spoke out:
“Voice input to the super-user program. Requesting to switch the system to the administrator mode.” For a moment, the countdown stopped. The numbers on the screen froze up. A soft female voice, quite unlike the mechanical voice the computer employed before, replied:
“Acknowledged. Switching the system to the administrator mode. Welcome. All tasks are running normally. The time remaining until the next blast is 30 seconds... 29... 28... 27...”
“Give priority to all the emergency-use commands. Freeze all the ordinary tasks.”
“The command file has been erased by the administrator. An error at the address R200055, the...”
“Unnecessary. How many commands are available in the system-freeze mode? There is not the time, so don't quote the addresses.”
“Acknowledged. Search in progress... completed. Found 1 item matching the query.”
“What is it?”
“The self-destruction command, based on the security directive #3090.”
“Inputting the self-destruction command. Carry out the self-destruction, as per the security directive #3090”.
”An input of the self-destruction command requires a security level clearance of the Special-A class and higher. Please present your administrator pass.”
“My administrator pass is...” Father Abel took a deep breath. “...UN Air and Space Force Commander Abel Nightroad. Affiliation: The “Red Mars” Program, Administrative Department, Security Section. ID#: UNASF 94-8-RMOC-666-02ak.”
“Security clearance confirmed. The system shall carry out the self-destruction according to the security directive #3090. This will also entail the destruction of all the satellites on the orbit 9982. Thank you for using this system.” The voice went silent. All the numbers disappeared. Father Abel stared at the dark screen and sighed. Glancing through window to the skies above, he said, to no one in particular:
“Thanks for all the hard work all these years...”
Esther watched the scene, which played out in front of her, with a puzzled expression. What happened..? The Star..? “The Star is gone”, spoke a voice from the floor, “It's finished now. Or rather, it has been finished. So I've guessed right about you, Father Nightroad...”
His right arm had been torn off at the shoulder, his stomach had a deep gash through it, but Marquis Kadar was alive. Father Abel told the vampire that his purpose was not to kill the vampire, but to stop the Star of Sorrow. The Marquis replied that if he were to be taken to Rome, he would die there anyway. And if he were to die, he'd rather it wasn't in a torture cell of the Inquisition. The vampire asked for Esther to be permitted to exercise her right of revenge. He did, after all, kill so many people dear to her. For a moment, the priest was silent. Then he took his revolver gun, handed it over to Esther and told her it was loaded with the silver. A shot through either the head or the heart - and the vampire would die. The girl took the gun, aimed... but in the end didn't find it in herself to press the trigger. What was the difference between her taking revenge for Mother Vitйz and Marquis Kбdбr taking revenge for his wife? Was there a difference?
With an expression of relief Father Abel took the gun back from the girl. In the city below the Castle Hill the shooting and the explosions had begun to die down. A familiar figure appeared in the doors of the dining hall. Tres Iqus walked in and reported that 97% of the City Guard forces have been subdued. After their HQ had been blown up, most of them lost any desire to carry on fighting and surrendered. At present, the partisans were sweeping up those few who chose to fight to the bitter end. By the time the Vatican forces arrived, it would all be over. Father Abel heard the report out and nodded. Then it was the time for them to withdraw as well. The rest could be left for the partisans to handle.
Unfortunately, at that point they were interrupted by Colonel Radcуn. The bionically-enhanced soldier managed to overcome his near-fatal injuries, avoid the partisan patrols and come all the way out to Vбrhegy. In his eyes only one thing still remained - a thirst for revenge. He aimed Esther's own crossbow at the girl. Tres, in one smooth motion, drew his M13 out of its holster and fired it over his shoulder. Without even turning around. The bullet hit the colonel between the eyes and went clean through, bursting his brains out of the back of his head. But not before the giant managed to press the crossbow's trigger. The arrow sped towards Esther - and buried itself in the Marquis of Hungary's chest as the vampire stepped forth to protect the girl. The arrowtip was full of silver nitrate and the vampire's end was swift. Within a few seconds, the convulsions had started. Crying, the girl dropped down on the floor and lifted the Marquis' head into her arms.
Why did he do it, Esther cried. The vampire replied that he didn't know himself. Really, why would he care to save a Terran..? A nun..? Half-delirious, the Marquis rasped: “Really. Where did it start to go wrong... All I wanted to see was your smiling face, Maria... When did it suddenly become...” Esther understood whom was the vampire seeing before him and spoke in the stead of the woman who for decades now lived only within the Marquis' memories: “Thank you, dear... You can rest now. Thank you for everything...”
The last expression on the face of the Marquis was that of a smile.
Tears streaking down her cheeks, made the sign of the cross over the dead body.
“Lord, have mercy upon this poor soul. And let him meet once more those he loved so dearly. Amen.”
Chapter 4 - "The Star of Sorrow"
"The light and the sun rose up, and the lowly were exalted, and they devoured the glorious..." (Esther 11:11)
Staring at his dead wife's portrait, Marquis Gyula Kadar silently promised her that it would all be over soon. Those who drove her to her unhappy end would soon get their just desserts. He dropped a thick tablet into a wine glass before him. Like many vampires, Marquis Kadar found the taste of fresh blood rough and repugnant, particularly in the aftertaste. He preferred to dissolve the blood extract in some refined, elegant drink, like the red wine. With some extra spices, it made for a good way of getting over the ‘Craving’ - a physiological dependence of vampires on the human blood.
An automata maid announced the arrival of Dietrich von Lohengrin. The Marquis seated both him and Esther Blanchett, whom Dietrich brought along, at the dinner table and ordered the supper to be served. Sister Esther asked where the priest was and got told that her friends were safe. Then she told the Marquis that he was finished - after what he did, Vatican would no longer stay silent. The vampire nodded and said that indeed right at that very moment the Vatican's army was smashing the last remains of the City Guard forces at the border. They were probably planning to be in Istavan by the morrow. The way the vampire said this, made it sound like it was of no more importance than yesterday's weather. Promising to show the girl something interesting, the Marquis told Dietrich to proceed with their arrangements.
Few minutes later, a dark-gray hologram was hovering above the table. Esther peered in and saw an image of a landscape, taken from some very high vantage point. Higher than any airplanes should be able to fly. Then the dots on the landscape moved - and the girl realized the image had been live. The Marquis explained that what they were seeing took place about 200 kilometers west of Istavan, where the 6th brigade of the Vatican's Eastern Army was battling the forces of the Istavan City Guard - and winning. The vampire turned to Dietrich and asked him where the ‘Star’ was. The youth replied that at present the Star was was at 44•5°N, 33•3°E. The territory of the Empire, above the city of Babylon. In 40 more seconds it would have charged enough energy and in 7200 seconds it would be in an appropriate position to fire. The Marquis smiled gently at Esther and suggested she watched closely as this city they arrogant Terrans all worship, this Rome, enjoys what would become its last night.
--
Major-general Unbert Barbarigo stood and watched as broken remains of the Istavan City Guard fled pursued by his ‘arditi’. “Veni, vidi, vici, is it...”, he muttered. The skirmish had barely lasted an hour, leaving the field of battle with him - and his ‘Justinians’, the 6th brigade of the Vatican's Eastern Army. “Hic iacet pulvis, cinis, nihil. And we ended up just watching from the sidelines”, spoke Major Mark-Anthony Braski, who stood by Barbarigo's side. His ‘Golden Knights’, the 28th battalion of mechanized infantry, didn't get to fire a single shot during the whole engagement. The two men proceeded to discuss how to conduct the warfare on the streets of Istavan tomorrow. The HQ had already permitted the civilian casualties of up to 20%. Suddenly, Major Braski paused, stared intently at the sky to the south and then told Barbarigo that there appeared to be an abnormality in the concentration of the ion in the atmosphere. A few moments later, the sky to the south was lit up by a huge wall of pale blue-white light. Aurora Borealis? Here? The major-general crossed himself. Braski's mechanical voice continued talking. “What the..? A magnetic storm..? Your Excellency, I am reading off a major energy surge... It's coming from directly above us..!” The two men raised their heads to the skies above. And then the night sky, burning, fell down on them.
--
In Rome, the Vatican Council was listening to the reports pouring in from the east. ‘Constantinians’, the 5th brigade of the Eastern Army, had destroyed the 3rd regiment of the Istvбn City Guard. ‘Justinians’, the 6th brigade, were in a pursuit of the remains of the 2nd regiment, near to 200 kilometers west of Istavan. Kalocsa, one of the satellite towns of Istavan, had declared itself neutral in this conflict and asked for the protection of the Vatican's army. The battleship ‘Nathagiel’ had finished the bombing raid according to schedule, the damage inflicted was being estimated. It was clear to everyone on the Council that Istavan would be taken by tomorrow's sunset. Within seventy two hours of its declaration, the war would be over. It was an indisputable masterpiece of military strategy and tactics on the behalf of the Supreme Commander Cardinal Francesco di Medici. Even Caterina Sforza had to agree that her half-brother's triumph was well-deserved. For all their difference, she knew full-well that he was probably the most skillful general in the Western Europe. But the doubts continued to gnaw her - the enemy was too weak. Far too weak. And there was still no sign of the Marquis Kadar's secret weapon, whose existence her spies had confirmed. ‘The Star of Sorrow’...
An operator reported that ‘Sandalphon’, the battleship which provided the air support to the ‘Justinians’, was on the line. Francesco di Medici ordered it patched through. A hologram of a middle-aged man appeared above the Council table. The captain of ‘Sandalphon Colonel Arnoldo diCambia reported that the ‘Justinians’ advanced to a point 200 kilometers west of Istavan, that the enemy resistance was insignificant, but that even taking it into account, they should be able to reach Istavan by the morrow. Just the captain was about to sign off, an interference appeared on the screen, breaking up the signal. Suddenly the whole image flashed brilliant white for a few seconds, near blinding the members of the Council, and then vanished altogether. After a few minutes the operators managed to restore just the audio link. The shaking voice of Colonel di Cambia stuttered, incoherently, that all their optical devices went dead. An evil foreboding clutched the heart of Caterina Sforza. She surged forward, ignoring an aggravated look of her half-brother, and ordered the captain to get a grip on himself and report the situation as best as he could. Then the whole Council heard that there was a change on the battlefield below the ‘Sandalphon’. Both the ‘Justinians’ and the City Guard troops were annihilated. Not massacred - annihilated. There was nothing left on the ground below!
--
In Varhegy, Esther was struggling to regain her voice, as the swirl of light was subsiding on the holographic screen. “This is the Star of Sorrow, my trump card”, said Gyula Kadar in a voice torn between the satisfaction and the regret. A high-powered satellite-mounted laser, rotating around the Earth on a low orbit at the speed of 4000 m/s. Each of its blasts had the explosive power of near to 1 megaton. Four or five such blasts would suffice to reduce a city the size of Rome to smoking rubble. Crying, Sister Esther asked why was he doing all this. Almost sadly, the Marquis said: “To survive.” Let's be perfectly clear - this was a war. The war for the survival of the species. The Terrans and the Methuselah - one would live and the other would perish. The co-existance was but a foolish dream! No screams for mercy would stop the crazed Vatican fanatics once their silver spikes and their oaken stakes are raised. The Marquis turned to Dietrich and ordered him to prepare the Star of Sorrow for the second blast. The target coordinates were 41•53°N, 12•29°E - the center of the city of Rome. “Oh, and Sister Esther. I am afraid I have lied to you before. Your friends I captured this morning and the priest - they are no longer in this world. I had them executed already.”
--
When Father Abel, his wounds barely treated, was pushed, at last, out of the car, it was already nighttime. In front of him were a long runway and a concrete watchtower. It appeared he had been taken to a remote army airport west of Istavan. Also there were Colonel Radcуn, his City Guard troops and about a hundred partisan prisoners. The giant colonel loudly announced to the prisoners, that they were found guilty of many heinous crimes against the residents of Istvбn - including murder, burglary, extortion and arson - as well as of the high treason against the city itself. They were, therefore, sentenced to death by shooting. More specifically, they were to be used as the target practice for the machine guns of the ‘Sarkany’, the huge dirigible hovering in the sky above. They could try to run - but any who crossed the white line before the runway would be shot by Radcуn's people.
The giant was clearly deriving an immense enjoyment out of the proceedings. He told the prisoners that his only regret was that he didn't have time to murder them at length, like he did Mother Vitйz and her churchmen. Father Abel paled. Then a familiar voice had inquired from behind the colonel whether they've begun yet. Tres Iqus, newly arrived, explained to Colonel Radcуn that he came on the orders from Gyula Kadar to inspect the battle-readiness of the ground-to-air artillery unit, stationed at this airport. Which provided him with a fine opportunity to watch the slaughter of the prisoners. The colonel grunted and ordered one of his soldiers to have it transmitted to the ‘Sarkany’ that they could open fire.
The Gatling gun, mounted at the bottom of the dirigible, started to rotate - and little fountains of earth went up, in a line, bare inches before the first row of the prisoners. All the hell broke loose, as prisoners scrambled to get away from the guns, trampling each other in the process. The colonel shouted for the gunners to get that priest first. Just as the priest, and the old man Ignatz he was helping to run, were swallowed up by a fountain of earth, everything suddenly became very bright. Those, who looked up, could see a huge ball of fire blossoming in the night sky above. As they realized that it was emerging from the broadside of the ‘Sarkany’, a second blast had pierced the helium-filled balloon of the dirigible and skewered the hull below. With a deafening thunderclap, the dirigible split into two and fell to the ground in a trail of fire. It crashed onto a small hill nearby and a second explosion shook the air. Flabbergasted, the colonel struggled to make out what happened in the sky. When he finally saw it, he could barely believe his own eyes. A huge dirigible of pure white, sleek and elegantly shaped, was descending towards them from far above. It was both larger and more beautiful than any airship the colonel ever saw. Burning in scarlet red on its snow-white hull were a catholic cross and the words ‟Arcanum cella ex dono dei”.
A Vatican battleship.
A loud female voice announced clearly from the sky: “This is ‘Iron Maiden II’, a battleship of ‘Ax’, the Special Operations Department of the Vatican's Ministry of State. I am Sister Kate, the ship's captain. This is a warning to all the soldiers of the Istavan City Guard on the ground below. This airport had just been brought under our armed control. Please drop your weapons and surrender immediately. I repeat, drop your weapons and...”
As an indication of the full seriousness of the threat, a blast of guns from the battleship's side tore up a few nearby biplanes as if they were paper planes. Trembling with fury, Colonel Radcуn grabbed his wireless operator by the neck. What is the anti-aircraft artillery unit doing!? The giant screamed into the wireless, telling them to shoot that monster down.
“It's no good”, a voice from behind the giant told him, emotionlessly, “they were wiped out, to the last man.” The colonel started to shout for Tres Iqus to stop talking nonsense, but suddenly froze. “...came on the orders of Gyula Kadar to inspect the battle-readiness of the ground-to-air artillery...”
As the colonel stood and boggled, one of the soldiers attempted to take Father Abel hostage - and collapsed with a bullet wound the size of a fist.
“Were you not clearly told surrender your weapons”, inquired Tres Iqus, now holding a pair of huge guns.
“Iqus, you bastard..!”, roared the colonel.
“0•44 seconds too late”, replied Tres Iqus and fired. Radcуn collapsed to the ground clutching his stomach.
“Switching the battle program to the ‘Genocide’ mode. Commencing combat.” Four of the City Guard exploded in a shower of blood.
“Major Iqus, have you betrayed us!?”, shouted one of the officers.
“Negative. I was never your ally to start with”, replied Iqus and shot the officer's head off. When, eventually, his guns ran out of bullets, Major Iqus had to pause to reload. While he did so, he calmly told the remaining soldiers that they were guilty of an assault on the St. Matthias' Church and would be questioned at Castel Sant'Angelo in an appropriate fashion.
“Castel Sant'Angelo..? So you are a Vatican's dog, you bastard!” Father Abel's warning shout came too late. The bionically-enhanced colonel managed, even after taking a 13mm bullet to his stomach, to grab a machine gun off one of the fallen soldiers and stand up. And now he emptied the whole clip at Major Iqus, who was still reloading his guns.
“Hah! Serves you right, you traitorous bastard! Did you really think Vatican scum could kill someone like me!?”
“Negative, Colonel Radcуn. I never had any intention of killing you. You will be taken to Rome alive.”
The voice from the cloud of dust raised by the machine-gun blast rung with coldness of the tempered steel. And when the dust settled down, Colonel Radcуn's eyes popped out of their orbits. Standing before him was Major Iqus, arms crossed in a crucifix, a gun in each hand:
His uniform was torn to shreds, but there wasn't a drop of blood on his body. The bullets pierced the polymer-made skin, but were stopped by the artificial muscle below, made out of the shape-memory plastic. “You ain't human!”, shouted the colonel.
“‘Ain't human’? Positive. Certainly, I am not human. I am HC-ⅢX (Tres Iqus), codename: ‘Gunslinger’, a field operative of ‘Ax’, the Special Operations Department of the Vatican's Ministry of State”, the android killer introduced himself in a colorless voice. With a howl of rage, Colonel Radcуn charged himself at him.
“Die, you robotic bastard!”
“0•25 seconds too late”, calmly replied Tres Iqus. He then slid the fresh magazines into his guns, neatly side-stepped the colonel's fist and fired eight shots. Elbows, shoulders, knees and hips. “Like I said, Colonel Radcуn, you are to be taken to Rome alive. A special interrogation cell had already been prepared for you in Castel Sant'Angelo. There you will tell us everything you know. This body of yours can withstand a lot.” Without sparing the collapsed giant another look, Tres Iqus turned around and informed Father Abel that, regretfully, the Star of Sorrow had been fired two hundred seconds ago. An earcuff in Father Abel's ear suddenly spoke with Sister Kate's voice, relaying the orders of Caterina Sforza. Father Tres was to stay with the partisans and help them to take possession of the city. Father Abel was to board the ‘Iron Maiden Ⅱ’ immediately and, through any means necessary, prevent the second blast of the Star of Sorrow.
--
In Varhegy, the thick glass of the windows designed to block out the ultra-violet rays shook audibly. The Marquis looked outside and saw a tall pillar of fire rising towards the sky to the west. Something must have happened at the airport. Dietrich said that he would go to investigate it and left, hurriedly. Meanwhile, Esther sat still at the table and contemplated her plight. All whom she cared for were dead. The only thing left to her, it seemed, was to slay the vampire responsible for this horror - or at least to die trying. Her only hope lied in the silver rosary she always carried with her. Its bottom end was sharpened, so were she to get one lucky strike in, it might prove out to be enough. The silver had an extremely adverse effect on the Methuselah. Seeking to distract the Marquis, Esther asked who was the lady on the painting which hung on the wall. Perhaps the Marquis was more in a state of mental turmoil than it appeared - for his answer was more than the girl had bargained for. He told Esther that his wife was a human who was lynched by the Vatican priests for being a wife of a vampire. But the bitter irony was that at that very time he and his wife together were working to better the lot of the humanity. The Star of Sorrow was originally an energy-relay satellite, designed to receive the energy gathered by a solar-battery unit on the Moon and relay it to the power stations on Earth. Were it to be restored to a fully-operational state, many of the dead cities, abandoned since the Armageddon, could become inhabited again.
His wife was originally a ‘Programmer’ whom he invited to work on the project. Very few such people existed still, who possessed the skills necessary to communicate with probably the most arcane artifact of the lost civilization - the ‘Electrical Intelligence’. Before long, his wife had become the chief enthusiast of the project. But in Rome they thought that the Marquis and his wife had been restoring some fearsome ancient weapon - and had the wife killed. Without a ‘Programmer’, the Marquis could no longer carry on with the project. And so he wallowed in self-misery, until one day they had contacted him. The Orden. Even now he still wasn't sure who exactly they were - but they consisted of both the Terran and the Methuselah and they claimed to oppose the Vatican. They had sent him a new ‘Programmer’, Dietrich von Lohengrin, to continue with the restoration of the Star of Sorrow. Thus he gained his chance to wage a war on Terrans. To gain his revenge. But maybe... The Marquis paused, lost in a labyrinth of his memories. Maybe it was a mistake...
It was then, that Esther swung down the rosary from behind, aiming at the back of the vampire's neck. The Marquis' story threw her into a turmoil - but still she had found it within herself to strike. The vampire's last words, however, caused her to falter for an instant - and that instant proved fatal. The vampire had time to turn around and block the improvised weapon with a palm of his hand. An acrid stench filled the air. The enraged vampire grabbed the girl and threw her across the room so hard that she almost had broke her spine slamming into the opposite wall. Cursing all the filthy Terrans in this world, the Marquis strode over to where Esther had collapsed. Grabbing the girl by the chin, he bared his fangs... and with a deafening noise the anti-UV window behind them shattered. “Miss Esther!”, cried a familiar voice. And the Marquis of Hungary went flying to the floor with a silver bullet lodged in his shoulder.
--
Without sparing the collapsed vampire a glance, Father Abel ran over towards Esther. The girl was unharmed. Hurriedly, she explained to the priest that they must stop the Star of Sorrow before it destroys Rome. Half-way through her explanation, the priest whirled sharply around, having seen something reflected in her eyes. Advancing on them from behind was the Marquis of Hungary. The vampire had extruded the bone-blade from within his palm and used it to carve the silver bullet out of his body. Along with a better part of his shoulder. Cursing Father Abel for a rotten Vatican dog that he was and inviting him to feast his eyes on the destruction of Rome, the vampire charged. The two of them fought. Marquis Kadar turned his other hand into a second bone-blade and was able to vibrate the pair of blades, each composed of many razor-thin plates extending one from under another, in such a way as to produce between the blades a high-frequency high-energy sonic wave which shredded anything that came near it. In particular, it shredded all the priest's bullets, rendering his gun useless. But the priest threw the gunpowder flask he kept on his belt to refill his gun with into the air and shot it. This created a small explosion and the Marquis ran straight into it. The shock-wave of the explosion had interfered with the sonic shield for long enough to allow the priest to shoot off the Marquis' right arm. The vampire couldn't use the sonic shield anymore and Father Abel fired his last shot, almost regretfully, straight between the Marquis' eyes. But the one who collapsed in a shower of blood was the priest himself. At the last moment, the vampire managed to kick his torn-off arm, sending it towards Father Abel's stomach and skewering the priest with the bone-blade. The silver bullet whizzed harmlessly by the vampire's ear and buried itself, with a thud, in the portrait of the Marquis' wife.
Right between the eyes.
It was over. The Marquis glanced at the holographic display which hovered above the dinner table. There was ten seconds left until the second blast. Behind him the girl rushed over to her collapsed friend. Seven. A stream of blood spurted out of the priest's mouth. Five. Somewhere high above the surface of the Earth, the Star of Sorrow, rushing at the speed of near to 4,000 m/s, began to concentrate the charged energy. The energy which Gyula Kadar and his wife meant to present to humanity as a gift. Three. It really was all over now. One.
And then the air exploded.
--
Even after the blinding flash of light had subsided, it took a considerable length of time before either the Marquis or Esther could see anything. And when the vampire had finally regained his sight, he lost his breath instead. Out of the shattered window he could see that, on the opposite shore, a large part of Pest was simply no longer there. In its place was a giant smoking crater. The waters of Danube were pouring into it with a roar.
Flabbergasted, the Marquis checked the data on the holographic screen. Indeed the coordinates for the second blast were nothing like what he had specified. While the Star of Sorrow was already preparing for the third blast. Dietrich! He needed Dietrich! As if answering to the Marquis' thoughts, Dietrich's face appeared on the holographic screen above the dinner table. The Marquis told him that something went wrong with the coordinates they had entered, so Dietrich needed to return re-program the system.
“Wrong? No, Your Excellency, these coordinates are exactly right”, the youth smiled back from the screen. “The second blast was centered on the City Guard headquarters. The third blast will hit the very center of Pest. And the last blast will be aimed at Varhegy and Your Excellency's palace. My program is in perfect order.”
“Dietrich!? You've... betrayed me..? You've used me!?” The Marquis made the only possible conclusion.
“No. I haven't used you. I've used the Star of Sorrow. Of what use could a one stupid monster be? You flatter yourself, Your Excellency.” Dietrich proceeded to explain that the goal of his Order here was to escalate an armed conflict between Vatican and the True Human Empire. The last major skirmish between the two occurred 270 years ago, when the 11th Crusade, summoned forth by Pope Sylvester XIXth, was massacred near Debrecen. Not the least reason for this long-lasting peace lied with the neutrality belt of free domains like Istavan, which humans thought was ruled by humans and the vampires knew was ruled by a vampire. An occupation of Hungary by Vatican, therefore, was certain to be followed by an armed retaliation from the Empire.
“But why would the Orden want that?”, cried the Marquis. “What is your game!? Who side are...”
“We are not on anyone's side”, Dietrich interrupted him. “We are contra-mundi. ”
Leaving the Marquis to gape, the youth turned his attention to Esther. He apologized at length for what he had done to her, claiming that he always quite like her beneath it all. As a token of how sorry he felt, he would teach her a magic spell: “IGNE NATURA RENOVATUR INTEGRA.” At the sound of this words, the eyes of Father Abel, whose limp body Esther held in her arms, flew wide open. Unmindful of that, the girl asked what were these words. Dietrich replied that they were the self-destruction code for the Star of Sorrow, which he programmed in, unbeknown even to the Marquis. She only had to enter them using the keyboard on the table and the Star would explode. Provided, of course, she could enter them without someone interfering first... The stares of Marquis Kadar and Esther collided, almost striking a spark. Dietrich laughed and wished Esther good luck. That done, he vanished off the holographic screen.
The girl and the vampire raced each other to the keyboard. Esther stood closer at first - but the Marquis was significantly faster. He overcame Esther and slammed her away from the keyboard, projecting the girl halfway across the room. He then took up the keyboard and looked desperately for a way to regain the control of the satellite. But Esther took hold of the priest's gun and, threatening him with it, demanded for the vampire to step aside and let her destroy the Star. Cursing, the Marquis extended the bone-blade out of his palm. He'd have had to kill her anyway - no one who knew the self-destruct code could be allowed to live. He advanced on the girl. Esther fired - and immediately realized her mistake. The gun was out of bullets. “Die, Terran!” The bone-blade swept down in a flash... and it was then that a tall cassock-wearing figure suddenly stepped in between the girl and the vampire.
--
Father Abel caught the descending blade in between his palms and held it there, few inches above his head. The Marquis tried to aim a kick at the priest's mid-stomach - but went flying across the room himself. Having crashed onto the floor, the vampire stared in disbelief at the man before him. The man, who still had a bone-blade protruding from his stomach. The man, who had so many injuries he should have been dead twice over. “What are you!?”, cried out the Marquis.
“The humans feed upon the cows and the chick”, replied Father Abel. “The vampires feed upon the humans. Don't you think that there should be something, somewhere which feeds upon the vampires?”
The priest pulled the Marquis' hand out of his stomach and brought it to his lips. Sharp fangs, the vampire fangs, bit into the dead flesh. The hand started to shrivel... to wither... until it became no more than a bone clad into a thin gauze of the flesh. A deep dark voice, which sounded as if it came out of the bowels of the Earth, boomed:
“Nanomachine ‘Crusnik 02’ initiating the operation at 40% limit. Acknowledged.”
The color of the priest's eyes changed from its usual pale-blue of a midwinter lake to the scarlet of the blood. “I am Crusnik”, he told the Marquis, “The vampire who drinks the blood of the vampires.”
The two of them fought.
The Marquis split the bone-blade in his left hand into three and was able to vibrate them so as to create a miniature version of the sonic wave he employed earlier. Father Abel's hands burst - and the dark liquid which flew out instead of the blood solidified into a giant monolithic two-bladed scythe, which the priest used to fight with.
In the end, the vampire used his blade to dead-lock the priest's scythe and then his sides burst open. Eight bone-spears, eight ribs, sped towards the priest from all sides like giant snakes... and bounced off, shattered, as something dark enveloped the priest's body, something tough enough to withstand the diamond-like bone-spears. A pair of huge jet-black wings sprouted from Father Abel's and enfolded him completely.
“What... what on Earth is ‘Crusnik’!?”, cried out the Marquis.
“I am...”, said the priest and whispered something into his ear.
“It can't be..! Then you... no, thou art our...”
Giant black wings fluttered, unfolding with a rustling noise. The black scythe swept down and the bone-blade shattered in its wake, depriving the vampire of his last weapon.
“This is the end.”
The shining jet-black blade swept down once more.
--
“Is he dead!? Who... who are you!?”
Esther had many questions to ask. But Father Abel, whose body returned to its normal state and whose eyes were once again the pale-blue of a midwinter lake, silenced them all and told the girl that first of all they had to enter the code. He pointed towards the holographic screen, where the countdown to the third blast of the Star of Sorrow was still running. Esther hesitated. But there being no better option left, she walked over to the keyboard and entered the code. “Igne Natura Renovatur Integra.” The girl checked it over once more and pressed the return button. Nothing happened. The countdown continued to run. The priest walked over to her. Together they were staring, puzzled, at the screen when suddenly Dietrich's face appeared on it.
“Dear Esther. If you are watching this, then you've done as I'd told you and entered the code.” Dietrich proceeded to explain that, firstly, this was a pre-recorded video file and that, secondly, he needed to apologize her once more. The code which she'd just entered wasn't the self-destruct code. It was a target-change code, instead. Yes - the target of the next blast was no longer Istavan. It was now Byzantium. The capital of the Empire. The nest of the vampires, whom Esther hated so much. Of course, their capital attacked. the Empire would retaliate. There would be a war. The last, the ultimate war between the vampires and the humans.
“How does it feel, to have pressed the button which would trigger off the Armageddon? You really are an idealist, Esther, to have believed me once more, after being deceived so much already. But then it was, perhaps, this very naïveté that I always found so attractive about you... Bye-bye, Esther. Hope we shall meet again some day.”
The image vanished. Esther kept standing there, gaping at the screen, until the blood-splattered fingers of Father Abel hadn't touched the keyboard in front of her. The girl tried to protest... but was firmly told to step away and not interfere.
For a little while Father Abel just stood there and stared at the screen. Then he started to type. Hesitantly at first, but then faster and faster with each click of a key. Once more Esther tried to warn him that it was dangerous to experiment with such a technology. She was plainly told to be silent. The finger of the priest were now flying up and down the keyboard as if they belonged to a virtuoso pianist. A mechanical voice continued the countdown: “39... 38... 37...” Finally, the priest stopped typing and looked at the screen. In a clear voice he spoke out:
“Voice input to the super-user program. Requesting to switch the system to the administrator mode.” For a moment, the countdown stopped. The numbers on the screen froze up. A soft female voice, quite unlike the mechanical voice the computer employed before, replied:
“Acknowledged. Switching the system to the administrator mode. Welcome. All tasks are running normally. The time remaining until the next blast is 30 seconds... 29... 28... 27...”
“Give priority to all the emergency-use commands. Freeze all the ordinary tasks.”
“The command file has been erased by the administrator. An error at the address R200055, the...”
“Unnecessary. How many commands are available in the system-freeze mode? There is not the time, so don't quote the addresses.”
“Acknowledged. Search in progress... completed. Found 1 item matching the query.”
“What is it?”
“The self-destruction command, based on the security directive #3090.”
“Inputting the self-destruction command. Carry out the self-destruction, as per the security directive #3090”.
”An input of the self-destruction command requires a security level clearance of the Special-A class and higher. Please present your administrator pass.”
“My administrator pass is...” Father Abel took a deep breath. “...UN Air and Space Force Commander Abel Nightroad. Affiliation: The “Red Mars” Program, Administrative Department, Security Section. ID#: UNASF 94-8-RMOC-666-02ak.”
“Security clearance confirmed. The system shall carry out the self-destruction according to the security directive #3090. This will also entail the destruction of all the satellites on the orbit 9982. Thank you for using this system.” The voice went silent. All the numbers disappeared. Father Abel stared at the dark screen and sighed. Glancing through window to the skies above, he said, to no one in particular:
“Thanks for all the hard work all these years...”
Esther watched the scene, which played out in front of her, with a puzzled expression. What happened..? The Star..? “The Star is gone”, spoke a voice from the floor, “It's finished now. Or rather, it has been finished. So I've guessed right about you, Father Nightroad...”
His right arm had been torn off at the shoulder, his stomach had a deep gash through it, but Marquis Kadar was alive. Father Abel told the vampire that his purpose was not to kill the vampire, but to stop the Star of Sorrow. The Marquis replied that if he were to be taken to Rome, he would die there anyway. And if he were to die, he'd rather it wasn't in a torture cell of the Inquisition. The vampire asked for Esther to be permitted to exercise her right of revenge. He did, after all, kill so many people dear to her. For a moment, the priest was silent. Then he took his revolver gun, handed it over to Esther and told her it was loaded with the silver. A shot through either the head or the heart - and the vampire would die. The girl took the gun, aimed... but in the end didn't find it in herself to press the trigger. What was the difference between her taking revenge for Mother Vitйz and Marquis Kбdбr taking revenge for his wife? Was there a difference?
With an expression of relief Father Abel took the gun back from the girl. In the city below the Castle Hill the shooting and the explosions had begun to die down. A familiar figure appeared in the doors of the dining hall. Tres Iqus walked in and reported that 97% of the City Guard forces have been subdued. After their HQ had been blown up, most of them lost any desire to carry on fighting and surrendered. At present, the partisans were sweeping up those few who chose to fight to the bitter end. By the time the Vatican forces arrived, it would all be over. Father Abel heard the report out and nodded. Then it was the time for them to withdraw as well. The rest could be left for the partisans to handle.
Unfortunately, at that point they were interrupted by Colonel Radcуn. The bionically-enhanced soldier managed to overcome his near-fatal injuries, avoid the partisan patrols and come all the way out to Vбrhegy. In his eyes only one thing still remained - a thirst for revenge. He aimed Esther's own crossbow at the girl. Tres, in one smooth motion, drew his M13 out of its holster and fired it over his shoulder. Without even turning around. The bullet hit the colonel between the eyes and went clean through, bursting his brains out of the back of his head. But not before the giant managed to press the crossbow's trigger. The arrow sped towards Esther - and buried itself in the Marquis of Hungary's chest as the vampire stepped forth to protect the girl. The arrowtip was full of silver nitrate and the vampire's end was swift. Within a few seconds, the convulsions had started. Crying, the girl dropped down on the floor and lifted the Marquis' head into her arms.
Why did he do it, Esther cried. The vampire replied that he didn't know himself. Really, why would he care to save a Terran..? A nun..? Half-delirious, the Marquis rasped: “Really. Where did it start to go wrong... All I wanted to see was your smiling face, Maria... When did it suddenly become...” Esther understood whom was the vampire seeing before him and spoke in the stead of the woman who for decades now lived only within the Marquis' memories: “Thank you, dear... You can rest now. Thank you for everything...”
The last expression on the face of the Marquis was that of a smile.
Tears streaking down her cheeks, made the sign of the cross over the dead body.
“Lord, have mercy upon this poor soul. And let him meet once more those he loved so dearly. Amen.”