Vampire War: Fallout

By Jeff Brown

Fallout is the fourth in the Vampire War series. A few months following the conclusion of the previous installment, Dark Nation, the DSA task force has reclaimed the White House and a portion of Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, the new Vampire Master has taken over the city of New Orleans and its outlying areas. They've set up operations in an old school with a plan to destroy Washington and the surviving members of the task force with a nuclear weapon. With more research, the tsak force discovers a possible method for finally ending the war and eliminating the vampire threat forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeff Brown
• Release date: Jun 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393535706

Jeff Brown

Born in New York City, Jeff Brown was a story editor and assistant film producer in Hollywood. He worked on the editorial staffs of The New Yorker and the Saturday Evening Post, and his stories appeared in these magazines and many others. 'Flat Stanley' is a much loved character by many.

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By

Jeff Brown

©2020 by Jeff Brown . All rights reserved. For information on fair use, contact:

Jeff Brown

My Lair Workshop

106 North St.

Enterprise, MS

Additional works by Jeff Brown:

Vampire War: Nemesis

Vampire War: Corruptor

Vampire War: Dark Nation

Dead Time Book I

Dead Time Book II

Seven Wishes

Storm Warning

The New Kid

The Last Mage

Reunion

The Revolt

Campus Crusade

Thirst

Finding Suraya

Second Chances

The Princess Agenda: Revelations

The Princess Agenda: Rescue

The Princess Agenda: Exposition

The Princess Agenda: Development

The Princess Agenda: Recapitulation

Retaliation

Vessels

Refugees

Special Thanks

AS ALWAYS, SPECIAL thanks go to those that have helped inspire and motivate me to complete this book. Their help, each in their own way, has ensured that the process continues. Those people are, in no particular order:

Dorothy Howell, Suraya Birkhoff, Sheli Godbold, Paul Dancsisin, Wanda Faircloth, Sydney Woodson, DeAnna Allen, Magan McClellan, Jodi Albritton, Sean Oliver, Tisha Grayam, Karen Huey, Polly Varnado, Eldon Blalock, Donna Stockton, Kim Chancelor, Tim Rochel Jr., Chris Waller, Penny Slemaker, Kinda Jackson, Reginald Matthews, Dorcas Lumpkin, Jay Allen (Kentwood), Kristy Greenlee, Lynn Greene, Jimmy Carbo, James Wolfe, Louis Barrios, Michele Durel, Braxton Rushing, Rachel Fagan, Jodie Regan, Sharon Laird, Terry Koopman, Steve Vowell, Daniel Bartlett, Summer Tierno, Jennifer Miller, Faith Cooper, Taylor Cooper, Valerie Easley, Dennis Freeman, Amy Baxter, Angela Jones, Jason Marsalis, Angela Dunaway, Cheryl Wurtz, Cleve Langston, Matt Doman, Samantha Cummings, Ray Hamilton

Vampire War:

Fallout

CHAPTER ONE

There is no better place to be stranded than New Orleans, Randy Hopkins thought as he wandered the streets of the French Quarter, slowly approaching the edge of the Mississippi River amid throngs of others, revelers that just didn’t seem to understand that there was a major crisis going on in the country. He knew what was going on and was almost positive that those around him knew as well. They just didn’t care. They were having too much fun, as he’d been doing since being isolated in the city for more than three months.

The city was a lot of fun. There was always something going on, but he was ready to go home to the fairly small town in Texas that he’d called home his entire life. The brief excursion to New Orleans had been the brainchild of his oldest friend, Chuck Foster. It had been a long time since either of them, or the third member of their group, Joe Munson, had taken anything closely resembling a vacation. It had taken a while to get the logistics figured out and the timing hadn’t been perfect. They’d wanted to be there for the festivities of Mardi Gras, but their schedules had them arrive just a few days late. They’d missed the serious party, but in New Orleans the party never really stopped. It just slowed down a little.

Joe was the only one of the three that had been there before, having spent a weekend with his now ex-wife as part of their honeymoon, before going to Pensacola where she’d wanted to go. He’d talked about the city frequently to Randy and Chuck, telling them how exotic different this city was than anything they would find in Buna, Texas. Finally, when their schedules worked out, they’d made the plans and traveled to the city. They hadn’t expected for their three-day vacation to turn into an indefinite stay.

Randy knew about the vampires, had watched the news carefully once things started seeming a little screwy, but hadn’t given it much thought, other than to think that a city like New Orleans would be the perfect breeding ground for vampires. Like practically all the others in the city, he had no idea that it had started there a few years earlier.

The trio had been practically inseparable since their arrival, wanting to experience as much of the city as they could during their brief stay. They’d done all the typical tourist things and were ready to go home to their lives, albeit quite reluctantly. Then, the day before they were to depart, the quarantine had been put in place and they weren’t allowed to leave. However, there were no restrictions within the city and, at Joe’s urging, opted to see the real city and find out what was really beneath the tourist trap surface.

After nearly three months of wandering around and finding a number of interesting things, they’d grown bored with that idea and had returned to the unceasing party.

That night, a warm night in early May, had started out with the three of them just trying to get drunk and have as much fun as possible. The first stage had been Bourbon Street, an area they’d grown too familiar with, and became a sort of pub crawl from one end to the other, finally ending in the block that was predominantly occupied by strip clubs.

Randy had never been to a strip club before. They weren’t a thing in the town of Buna, but he knew there was several in the nearby town of Beaumont. With his reputation as a decent, stand-up guy, being seen in one of those wouldn’t be good for business. As a respected rancher in the town, a prime supplier of cattle to both dairy and beef farms, he didn’t want to lose any of his business because of such an indiscretion. So, he waited until he was in New Orleans and well away from the prying eyes of his friends and neighbors.

There was nothing quite like the sensation of a nearly naked woman writhing on top of you, as Randy realized the first time he received a lap dance in a small seedy club near the end of Bourbon Street. There was the suggestion of sex, but he wasn’t ready to go that far. He had no commitments back home, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Chuck, on the other hand, had no such compunctions. He’d latched onto one of the girls, spent an inordinate sum on her services; on stage, lap dances, and the expensive back room dances where Chuck claimed all sorts of things happened, but he didn’t give them details. They’d remained at that club until just before closing time. The girl Chuck spent most of his time with, Chantal, had agreed to go with him to a nearby cheap hotel for the remainder of the night, leaving his two buddies on their own.

They’d wandered the streets for a while, drinking a little bit more, but Randy restrained himself. He didn’t want to be the one passed out or throwing up on the sidewalk. Joe, though, had quite a few more and they soon wandered into the wrong area and Joe found a prostitute to his liking. After a brief negotiation, Joe had left with her and Randy was on his own.

He hadn’t been ready to return to the hotel, knowing it would be just another day of boredom once he awakened, and decided to wander through the French Quarter and the area surrounding Bourbon Street, eventually making his way toward the river. He had no idea where he was, the name of the street, just that he could smell the somewhat fishy odor coming from the river and felt almost drawn to it.

As he drew closer to a massive building beside the river, the Jax Brewery, he had a better sense of where he was, but he still wasn’t sure how to get back to the hotel. He would need a cab and he could probably just tell the driver the name of the hotel and would get there with little problem, but it still worried him a bit.

The crowd grew thicker as he neared the Brewery. It seemed to be the center of activity for the night. He didn’t understand that, though. It was close to three in the morning, maybe past it, and most places in the city closed around two. He knew the strip clubs had closed at two and the Brewery, essentially a mall now, should’ve closed much earlier, but the lights were on and people were moving in and out of the place as if it was the middle of the day and the tourists were shopping. Shrugging, he assumed that the quarantine had allowed these businesses to stay open later to accommodate the desires of the residents. Either way, he had something to do and followed the crowd toward the entrance.

Once inside, he found himself surrounded by people, moving from shop to shop, more or less browsing. No one appeared to be buying anything, but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. At that hour, he thought it most likely that everyone was strapped for cash after having visited the bars, clubs, restaurants, and souvenir shops. He still had some cash in his pocket and a debit card that held quite a bit more, but he wasn’t yet willing to part with it for a cheaply made t-shirt or some ceramic knick knack. All he needed to recall that trip was his memory and the few photos Joe and Chuck had taken with their cell phones.

After a few moments, he began to feel almost hemmed in, like the crowd was somehow focused on him and was crushing him. He’d never been claustrophobic, but he’d also never been in a situation like that before. Having been there before, during the daylight, he sort of knew his way around and knew that there was a sort of patio, a deck, at the back of the building that faced the river. He pushed his way through the crowd, still feeling that practically all eyes were on him, and finally made his way to that deck overlooking the river.

He stepped outside and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and feeling the tension flow from his body. Within seconds, he was back to his normal self and felt better being alone on the wide wooden deck.

But he wasn’t alone. He realized that after just a few seconds.

She stood against the railing off to his right, at the point where it angled back toward the front of the building. She was dressed entirely in black leather and her long hair, a thick mass of chestnut brown curls, was enough to almost blend in with the surrounding darkness. She was short, not much over five feet tall, and leaned forward with her hands on the old, rough railing as she stared out at the river.

He paused after taking a couple of steps away from the door. Once it closed, the sound of the interior, muted music with the steady drone of mingled conversations, faded away to little more than a minor reminder that he wasn’t really alone. He stopped and stared at the woman for several seconds, almost holding his breath, not wanting to alert her to his presence just yet. He saw that her head was turned slightly to the right, looking downriver, and he looked that way as well, frowning as he saw nothing but darkness and a few lights reflected off the dark surface of the muddy river.

After a moment, he drew in a deep breath, a little too sharply, and it alerted her to his presence. She first turned her head and looked at him then straightened up and turned completely around to face him.

The sight brought a low gasp from him. He’d never seen anyone like her and the reaction he hadn’t really been able to get from the nearly naked girl on his lap suddenly hit him at the sight of her. The long hair framed a pixie-like face with soft lips that gleamed in the light coming from the dim lights strung across the roof of the patio more than ten feet above her head. She was fairly slim and stood with a confident posture that told him she could be a threat, but the soft expression on her face, her dark eyes wide and somewhat inviting, made that threat seem almost meaningless.

She took a step forward, a little more into the light, and that elicited another light gasp from him. The black leather jacket she wore was fastened at the bottom, but was otherwise completely open, showing quite a bit of pale skin and the smooth curvature of her breasts. He knew instantly that she wore nothing beneath that jacket and assumed there was nothing beneath the tight leather pants either.

Um, hi, he said, feeling the blood rushing to his face in embarrassment.

Hi, she said softly, her voice rich and smooth. Who are you?

He shrugged, I’m Randy Hopkins. I’m just one of the stranded, you know, just looking for something to do.

I would say you found it, she said and started slowly toward him, her hips shifting sinuously with each stride. My name is Suraya and I will be the answer to everything you’ve ever wanted to know.

His eyes opened wide, light dancing across them as he trembled slightly at the thought of possibly beginning his own sexual encounter. Her eyes, a bit darker than his, narrowed slightly as she neared him, unblinking as she looked up into his. He was nearly a foot taller than her, missing that mark by a couple of inches, and he tilted his head forward slightly to match her gaze.

When their eyes met, he was lost. He was hers.

She walked up to him and placed her hands on his arms, just below the short sleeves of the t-shirt he wore. She ran her fingers down his arm slowly, until she reached his wrists. Those fingers closed gently around his wrists and gently lifted his hands until they were even with her breasts. He drew in a short, sharp breath and she placed both of his hands on her bare skin. It felt cold to him, but he attributed that to her having stood on the deck for a while with the breeze blowing in off the river.

She then shifted his hands slightly outward, his own fingers sliding beneath the leather until his hands covered her small, firm breasts. He couldn’t believe it, but he followed through with it. He began gently kneading those breasts as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, smiling slightly as she moaned slowly.

That feels good, she said. Don’t stop.

He smiled and said, I don’t plan to.

Then her eyes opened, narrowed just a bit, and she released his wrists as she reached up and linked her fingers behind his neck. She shifted a little closer to him, reaching up as if to kiss him. He didn’t mind that at all. He leaned forward, ready to return that kiss. As she pulled him closer, she shifted a bit and the potential kiss turned into something of a hug. He didn’t mind that either, but he knew that he wanted more. She pulled herself closer and forced his hands away from her breasts with the motion, pushing open her jacket to fully reveal them. As he looked down, trying to get a good look, she pulled him even closer, her mouth just below his right ear.

Now, you will forever be mine, she said softly.

He frowned, wondering what that was all about, thinking that she might be one of those psychos he’d heard about before arriving in the city. But he didn’t resist her. She may be a crazy person, but she was hot and he thought he might get laid before she went too nuts on him.

Tightening her grip a bit, Suraya turned her head slightly and her lips parted to reveal the long, dripping fangs that protruded from her upper teeth. Randy couldn’t see them, but he felt them as she first raked them slowly across the skin of his neck, finding the perfect spot, then carefully plunged them through the skin.

Randy let out a low grunt and his eyes opened wide, just in time to see the massive tanker moving slowly upstream as it angled toward the shore. He didn’t know what Suraya was doing, but it felt great, after that initial spot of pain. He liked it and he wouldn’t have a problem with it if she decided to continue that. After a moment, just as the prow of the ship slammed into the rocks separating the building from the river, his vision started to blur and quickly faded to black.

Once the last drop of blood was pulled from the body of Randy Hopkins, Suraya let him fall to the floor. He fell onto his side, his eyes closed, and she looked down only once. A small smile played across her blood-covered lips as she knew that she’d found the mate she’d been searching for since becoming a vampire.

CHAPTER TWO

The sound of the ship crashing against the rocks loudly reverberated through the area. The hull buckled as the prow rose up slightly with the force of the ship’s engines driving it forward a second longer. It was beached, the hull cracked and ripped open in several places, but the engines died quickly as Suraya stepped back to the railing and watched, shrugging her jacket back into place.

Within seconds, hatches sprang open along the ship and the occupants began flooding out, leaping over the ship’s railing and crawling down its crushed sides likes cockroaches fleeing a sudden infusion of light. Suraya watched with a warm smile on her face and scanned the swarm of her kindred as they spread out and started their sweep of the city. She searched for a particular face, one that she’d never seen in person but she’d watched a bit of video featuring the man and had committed a photo to memory. He would not be one of the swarm. He would move with a bit more grace and confidence. He wasn’t a soldier. He was the leader.

After a few moments, she spotted him as he exited the command bridge at the top of the ship’s superstructure, rising nearly a hundred feet above the main deck. The ship had been an oil tanker at one time, but had been cleaned and prepared to transport over five thousand vampires from Europe to help her take the city and make it her new capitol.

General Nathan Patterson had been in command of the United States Army’s European Command and had been converted during the first wave of what they’d been referring to as the Continental Takeover. With her previous commander having been destroyed, she’d needed leadership for the military and Patterson was the perfect choice. It had taken three months for her to prepare the invasion of New Orleans, a city she was very familiar with, and for Patterson to muster enough troops in Europe to make it happen.

He’d finally arrived, along with more than twenty thousand troops that would disperse along the Mississippi River through the southern half of the state, and the new plan could finally begin.

As General Patterson made his way to the shore, Suraya saw another man trailing him, a slightly shorter civilian, and that brought a respectable nod. She knew who the man was and that he was integral to their plan. His name was Craig Steinman and he had been a terrorist known as The Lamprey for his ability to infiltrate, take what was needed, and get out without being captured or killed. Now, as a vampire, he would work for her and his skills would be used to finally destroy the remnants of the DSA task force along with the Nemesis.

Without Jonathan Cardwell to lead them, the task force had been hindered, completely stalled, and had done little more than barricade themselves in the White House. Suraya had to shake her head at that. Lorena, the Corruptor, had finally gone over the edge and had done what she thought was appropriate to stop the Nemesis and continue the foolish plan she’d started. When the forces she’d gathered had tried to invade the community known as Sanctuary, the Nemesis had arrived with reinforcements and kept them from entering the town. It was at that time Suraya had seen the folly of her own actions in raising the Corruptor from the near-dead, the stasis she’d been placed in by other Masters centuries before. She had been responsible for bringing her back and allowing her to control the entirety of the vampire race. Suraya saw it as her duty to remove Lorena from power and the only way she knew to do that was to surprise her in the midst of combat and take the power from her. She’d done that and was still trying to adapt herself to that power.

She’d understood the process well before she’d sought out the Corruptor, but she hadn’t fully realized what it meant to drain a much more powerful vampire. The draining transferred the abilities of the vampire and added to the power that the draining vampire already possessed. She just hadn’t considered that draining someone as powerful as Lorena would give her a power far greater than she’d ever imagined. She’d realized quickly that she not only had Lorena’s power of corrupting the minds of others and forcing them to her will, she’d also gained the power of the Master that allowed her to mentally communicate with other vampires and direct their actions and the ancient power that had been raised in a small Mississippi town. Those things, combined with her own strengths from her years of growing as a vampire, made her the most powerful vampire to have ever walked the face of the planet.

Another thing she hadn’t expected was that she’d also gained the knowledge that had been acquired by all of the previous Masters. If she focused on a certain memory or period of time, she could mentally relive the experiences of a particular Master. She just wasn’t yet well-versed in the history of vampire Masters to reach the history of certain Masters without knowing their names. She was determined to work on that and had been for more than a month.

Now, though, she had other things to focus on and would worry about the history lessons once her plan was completed.

She watched as General Patterson, dressed in all black, walked confidently toward the narrow staircase connecting the patio to the narrow sidewalk that ran along the rear of the building with Steinman walked beside him in hurried little steps where Patterson moved with the confident grace of a trained soldier. Her eyes remained focused on them, doing her best not to exert too much control over the two men. She wanted them to think for themselves and use the knowledge and experience they had to further the plan, perhaps generate some useful additions rather than blindly following what she ordered them to do.

As he started up the stairs to her right, she stepped back and turned to face them. She was alone on the patio, except for the body of Randy Hopkins, but she expected no trouble. Patterson was too newly involved and too recent a convert for him to have gained enough knowledge or power to try and stage a coup. He’d been loyal to the United States military and she assumed that he would be loyal to the new regime as well.

Steinman followed him almost obediently, like a dog cowed by its master, and the blank expression on his face gave away nothing. Suraya considered trying to read their thoughts, but she preferred to let them make their own way without her interference.

As Patterson reached the top of the stairs and took a single step forward, enough to make room for Steinman, Suraya moved toward him and said, General Patterson, I’m glad to finally have you here.

Thank you, he said and nodded curtly. It has been a long voyage cooped up in that ship and I’m ready for some action.

She smiled wryly and said, You will have your chance. Tonight we take New Orleans and declare it as our new stronghold. It is too easily defended, especially considering that we control the surrounding areas, the bayous.

Good, he nodded once. I trust that you are now in control of the troops.

Yes, Suraya said and returned the nod. I’m not in direct command, but I have given them their orders. They know where to go and what to do. The city will be ours before sunrise.

Excellent, he said. And I have brought this one with me, as per your request. He meets the criteria you established.

Even better, Suraya said and looked at the smaller man. We’ll discuss his role in the plan once we have returned to our new base of operations.

And where might that be? Patterson asked.

An old school, she said. It’s far from the center of the city, in a suburb roughly ten miles from here. I know this one well, General Patterson. It is more ideal for our purposes than anything within the actual city limits.

Good, he said and nodded once again. I am at your command.

Before she could respond, the door behind her opened and her personal assistant and former tracker, Yvette Sheldon, walked out quickly. She was dressed in black, much like Suraya, with her own jacket of somewhat lighter material open as well. The swell of her larger breasts stretching the fabric taut across her chest and threatening to slide even farther to reveal more of her pale flesh. Her long, dark blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her sea green eyes were wide as she walked out quickly and strode across the patio toward Suraya.

As she did, Suraya looked at her and frowned, What is it, Yvette?

Yvette stopped a few feet away and replied, We are all in position within the building. The humans are sequestered and we’re ready to commence.

Good, Suraya nodded and pointed at the body of Randy Hopkins. You may begin, but first send someone to take care of this one. He will be going to the base with us.

Yvette frowned, Is that the right thing to do? I mean, he’s just another human.

No, Suraya shook her head slowly. "He’s not just another human. He will turn and he will be mine. No one is to harm him. Is