Dark Creations: Hell on Earth (Part 5) (3 page)

“What?  Um no, not yet,” she fumbled.  “You can if you want.”

“Ask us what?” Alexandra butted in.  “Please don’t tell us this is a shotgun wedding and we’re going to be the Godparents.”

“Alex!” Daniella scolded Alexandra.  “How could you say that?” 

“What!” Alexandra protested.  “What else could they ask us?”

“Uh, a
lot
of things!” Daniella argued back. 

“Well I just want to be sure that’s not one of them!  Missy, are you knocked up?” Alexandra turned to her and asked exasperatedly. 

“You guys are nuts!” Melissa said and felt her temper flare.  “I’m not pregnant!” she said a bit too loudly.

Several people turned in their chairs to look at them.
  Melissa felt her cheeks blaze with embarrassment.  She couldn’t believe she’d just blurted that out at her engagement party. 

“Back to business people.  Nothing to see here.  She’s not preggers,” Alexandra ordered the few who stared. 

“Oh my God,” Melissa enunciated each word and took her head in her hands.  “We were just going to ask you guys if you want to come to Gabriel’s place after this is over; that’s all.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel chimed in.  “A little party after the party seemed in order.”  Then he turned to Melissa and said, “But you can’t drink.  Not in your delicate condition.”

Melissa jabbed him in the ribs playfully and Melissa and Daniella laughed.

“Count us in,” Yoshi said.

“That’s a pretty ballsy move there Y man, answering for
us
,” Alexandra said.  “I like it.  It’s hot,” she said and quirked a perfectly shaped brow at him.

“Get a room,” Daniella quipped and smirked.

“Holy shit.  I’ve lost control of this group.  It’s a mutiny!” Alexandra joked back.  “You’ve all become a bunch of smartasses.  I don’t know whether I should be proud or scared.”

“Probably both,” Melissa added. 

“How about you guys?” Gabriel asked Daniella and Ryan.  “You two coming?”

“Of course I’m coming!” Daniella said.

“I go where she goes,” Ryan admitted.

Melissa couldn’t help but smile
at Ryan’s reaction.  He stood nearly a foot taller than Daniella and weighed at least a hundred pounds more than she did, a solid, intimidating looking man complete with a short neatly cropped beard.  But despite his unapproachable appearance, he was a gentle giant.  Soft-spoken and polite, he even deferred to her.  He seemed like exactly what Daniella needed, and deserved.  

“So it’s set.  We’ll meet at our place after we settle up here,” Gabriel said.

“Sounds great,” Alexandra said.

“Want
us to go on a beer run?” Yoshi asked Gabriel.

“Do you even need to ask, brother?” Gabriel said and nodded in Alexandra’s direction.

“Hey!  I resent the implication,” Alexandra said with feigned indignation.

“Whatever
, Boozey Susie!” Daniella said.

“No, I prefer Count
Drunkula,” Melissa ribbed.

“It’s a
damned mutiny!” Alexandra said and shook her head.

The sound of spoon clanging against glasses froze their banter.

“What’s that for?” Yoshi asked.

“They want Melissa and Gabriel to kiss,” Alexandra told him.

Melissa looked up at Gabriel and watched as his sky-blue eyes dropped to her mouth.  His gaze grew hungry and his tongue slid across his lips.  Her heart began to race wildly and butterflies teemed in her belly.  She’d kissed him countless times before, yet each time felt like the first.  He reached out and placed his hand on her cheek then tilted his head and inched toward her.  Goosebumps arose on her skin when finally his lips met hers.  Applause erupted, as well as a few catcalls.  She supposed their kiss should have ended there, but Gabriel’s lips tasted like chocolate and licorice and his cologne smelled like leather and another spicy note she could not place.  He smelled as enticing as he tasted, sexy, masculine.  She contemplated tracing is lips with her tongue, but knew it was neither the time nor place.  She started to pull away and, as if reading her mind, Gabriel dropped his hand to her elbow and pulled her closer.

“I can’t wait until tonight,” he whispered in her ear.

Melissa needed to remind herself to breathe again and took several deep breaths to calm her speeding pulse.

“Me neither,” she mouthed and winked and she swore she saw a hint of color touch his cheeks.

“We have to go mingle,” Melissa said to her friends.  “We’ll see you at Gabriel’s house later.”

Three hours, two sodas and one
very large entrée later, Melissa chewed on four antacids and wanted to go home, put on sweatpants and flop on her couch in the family room.  But she wasn’t going home.  In fact, “home” wouldn’t be home for long.  Soon, Gabriel’s house would be home.  The thought was bittersweet.  She smiled as she watched the crowd that had dwindled down to four people besides her father, Gabriel and herself.  The bill had been paid.  Her friends had left to get snacks, wine and beer.  Her father was chatting up one of his friends from work a few feet from where Gabriel had been cornered for the second time by her Uncle Steve.  She slid a glance at Gabriel who looked as though he were being tortured and decided it was time to go.

She strode over to him and Uncle Steve and said, “Gabriel, I’m so sorry
but we have to get going.  We have that appointment first thing in the morning, remember?”

Gabriel brought his hand to his head and said, “Oh yeah.  I almost forgot about it.”

He was a terrible liar. 

“Take care, Uncle Steve.  It was good seeing you.  Thanks so much for coming,” Melissa said and walked him to the door. 

Her father’s friend left behind him. 

“How the hell did you get rid of him so quickly?”
her father asked as he gathered his sport coat.

“I learned from the best,” she said and curtsied.

“Thanks Melissa,” Gabriel said as he joined them.  “No offense, Mr. Martin.”

“None
taken.  My brother is a bit of a jackass.  He can’t help it.”

“Ready to go?” Gabriel asked her.

“Uh yeah, I think.”

“Are you staying at his place?” her father asked.

Though she was twenty years old and engaged, she still felt funny about telling her father she was spending the night with Gabriel.  He knew what would happen, that they did not sleep apart chastely. 

“Yes,” she said and couldn’t meet her father’s eyes. 

“All right then, I’ll see you tomorrow,” her father replied awkwardly.  “Love you, Missy.  See you, Gabriel.”

She watched as her father left.

“Alone at last,” Gabriel said and kissed her neck.

“Not for long.  We have people waiting for us at your place, remember?”

“That seemed like a much better idea this morning, didn’t it?”

“Yes, yes it did.”

“Let’s go then,” he groaned.  “But you better have coffee or something tonight, ‘cause I can’t wait to get you alone later.”

He was getting better at flirting and Melissa felt her heart lurch again.  “I’ll be sure to brew a pot when I get there,” she said attempting to flirt back.  She was awful at it.  She knew it.  But she tried, nevertheless.

The drive from the restaurant where they had the engagement party to Gabriel’s house took a little less than fifteen minutes.  When they parked in his driveway, they scanned the street for Alexandra’s car or Daniella’s.

“Maybe they forgot,” Gabriel said and placed a hand on her leg.  “You think?”

“I doubt it,” Melissa answered and as she did, headlights lit up the rear window of his car.  “See, Alex and Yoshi are here.” 

They were about to climb out of the car when a second set of headlights rounded the corner.  “Daniella and Ryan are here, too.”

Gabriel pulled his keys from his front pocket and took Melissa’s hand with the other.  With their friend’s giggling behind them, they walked together up a small flight of stone steps to his front door.  Ryan carried a case of beer and Yoshi carried a bag from a liquor store, as well as a bag of goodies. Melissa was certain their after-party would continue into the early morning hours.  Gabriel opened the front door and they stepped inside.  He felt along the wall for the light switch.  When finally he found it, the living-room area was bathed in light, and they learned they were not alone.  Jack Downing sat in a chair in the far corner of the room. Neither Gabriel nor Melissa had seen or heard from him in nearly two years.

“Jack!  What the hell!”  Gabriel exclaimed.  “What are you doing here?”

Jack turned his head and eyed them all, his face etched in stone.  In his deep, gravelly voice he spoke. “There’s a war coming.  I know you thought it was over, but it’s not.  It’s just begun.”

Chapter 3

It had taken
Franklin Terzni a while to figure out who he was.  But not before deciding who he was not.  He was
not
the late Dr. Franklin Terzini.  He was not interested in slowly edging out the human species little by little through the gradual introduction of gentle creations and the eventual procreation that would birth more like them.  He believed subtlety was for cowards.  He intended to take humankind by brute force. 

He also took exception with idiotic designations such as the one his predecessor had maintained. 
Doctor
, what a joke!  He did not and would never possess a title as pedestrian as “doctor.”  He did not understand the esteem associated with an accolade earned at an educational institute run by lowly humans.  It seemed contradictory really, higher learning for humans.  What was the point?  They could only go so far, learn so much with the sliver of brain mass they actually utilized.  That, and the flood of tiresome emotions they compelled themselves to muddle through endlessly, made for an utter waste of time in his opinion.  He was not medical personnel, a university degree holder, a Roman Catholic theologian, a teacher or a fixer of things broken.  Therefore, he would
never
call himself
Dr
. Terzini. The thought revolted him, in fact.  No, he was something far grander than a doctor.  He was the lord of the new human race, and therefore would be known from now until the end of time as Lord Terzini.

Lord Terzini was a veritable
God on Earth, and his name needed to reflect it.

As he watched his drones decimate the small town of
Taft in Cook County Minnesota, his thoughts centered on his master plan.  Of course he was enjoying the show before him, relishing in his finest team sacking a house in a remote neighborhood near Lake Wellington.  It was the first house they’d attacked in the sleepy town.  He had to be present for the first, adored the shock and the horror that accompanied it.  This one would be no different.  He and his team had picked a family of four, a mother and father with their two sons, one of the many families in Taft that had been chosen on this night.  They would be the opening act.  And from the sound of it, the inaugural entertainment had just begun. 

Several screams tore through the otherwise silent night.  Most would have shivered at the bloodcurdling sound, would have instinctively felt the urge to help their fellow man. He did not want to help.  The tortured cries aroused something indescribable inside of him.  He wondered whether it was pride that had surged, pride mixed with excitement and euphoria.  He wished he could be there
, inside the house, and see the family suffer.  He wished he could watch them beg and plead for mercy, only to be denied it.  But he knew he was far too valuable to risk on the front lines of their war.  So he was forced to remain, perched as he was, high on a hill sitting on the hood of his Hummer, and watch as flashes of light inside the darkened house signified the end to one human life at a time. 

When the fourth burst of light flashed, he assumed his creations had possession of the house.  He was about to climb back inside his vehicle, but paused at the sight of something unexpected.  A boy slid from a second-story bedroom window then down the rooftop beneath it to the ground below.  He knew he and his group had brought along their Hunters, that they prowled the perimeter anxiously awaiting action.  They circled around him, stalking and threatening, until a beam of light sliced through the darkness and illuminated the boy’s features.  The light poured from the window he’d slid from.  Dark silhouettes crowded it and another cry sounded.  He guessed the cry belonged to the boy’s mother and he had to stop himself from breaking into applause for his team’s penchant for new and unique ways to
torment humans.  After all, what better way was there to strike fear in the hearts of a civilization than to threaten its offspring?  A thrilled tremor quivered through his core as he watched the team’s leader nod her head and order the boy’s death while his mother watched.  The beasts descended and tore the boy’s flesh from his body.  All the while, his mother stood, powerless to help her beloved, and died her first death.  The sound of a final gunshot killed her body.  But her spirit had been killed already.  A second rush of gratification flooded him, a reflexive reaction to the boundless talents of his team and the Hunters.