Journey to Mars: The Vampire Underground

By Tim Conley

The Vampire Underground is the fourth book in the Journey to Mars series and details the action of Jason Martin and his friends as they seek to find Marcella in the environs of Paris in order to bring her to justice. Marcella has become a scourge on the Earth that needs to be excised. She is a product of an ancient curse that was put on Martian society and has decided to take what she wants from Earth. Read & Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tim Conley
• Release date: Aug 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005367756

Tim Conley

Hi, my name is Tim Conley. I live in Philadelphia, MS with my beautiful wife, Carmela. My son,James (JD) is in the Air Force and has a son Joshua who is 21/2 with another boy on the way. Carmela's son - Enrik just graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in Teaching.I have been writing for over twenty years and have published 67 books so far - two recently with Amazon/Kindle. I'm currently working on a fantasy anthology of 28 books called The Rhumgold Sagas.I have always been interested in publishing via eBook format but just haven't found the venue until now. I'm really looking forward to participating in the eBook experience. There are 22 e-books available now and 16 more that are being prepared for release in 2020. Read, explore and enjoy!

Book preview

Journey to Mars:

The Vampire Underground

TIM CONLEY

Copyright © 2012 Tim Conley

Dragon’s Breath Publishing

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1-4810-6410-X

ISBN-13: 978-1-4810-6410-1

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Other Books by Author

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this book to my son, James David (JD) who inspired the writing of this ‘quadology’, and to my Best Friends, Carmela Santos, Eileen Anderson, and Ron and Christi Davis, who have proof read my writing; providing encouragement for me to complete all the book projects I've spent the past twenty plus years working on.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my wife, Carmela and my two children, Tanitha and JD, for sticking by my writing all these years.

C1 Chapter 1

To London from Paris

Jasmine looked out through the portholes in their cabin above the third deck and sighed. She was tired to her bones from all the excitement of the past several weeks. It seemed they had been thrown into a meat grinder and then put back together in pieces.

She closed the curtain and turned back to a darkened room. Xavier could be seen as a lump in the middle of the queen-sized bed as she tiptoed back to the edge of the bed and looked down at him. She knew that he had been through hell and gone trying to come up a way to successfully contain the scourge that had been unleashed on an unsuspecting world when Marsella had fallen to Earth.

But they had been successful. Marsella was indeed contained and they could get back to their normal lives. She and Xavier had seen their friends off at the airport and had decided to take the slow method of getting back to London. She hated leaving her walk-up in Paris, but there was no way they could conceivably stay there.

Too many people knew about them now. The police had become involved in their lives and they didn’t understand the degree of difference between those aligned with herself and Xavier and those who had fallen under the influence of Marsella.

She wasn’t sure she really understood it fully. That Marsella was an alien creature from Mars she got. That she couldn’t be killed using modern methods was beyond her grasp.

Everything can be killed, she stated softly as she sat on the edge of the bed and reached for the covers. It was suddenly cold inside their cabin and she needed to feel Xavier’s warmth, or she was going to go crazy.

Xavier tentatively raised his head and looked at her with sleepy eyes. Did you say something, Sweetie? he mumbled as he reached out and grabbed her around the waist. She slid deep under the covers and allowed him to snuggle up against her back. His breathing indicated he had already passed out again – so she kept her thoughts to herself and drifted along with the sounds inside the cabin into the realm of deep sleep.

Several hours passed and she awakened with a start. Xavier was standing at the porthole surveying to the right and left. He looked hot standing there in just his boxers, but the tightness in his shoulders told her something was up.

He looked back at her and in a quiet, tense voice instructed. Get dressed and hurry. We have to make ourselves scarce.

What happened? she wanted to know as she sat up and pulled the covers up to keep the chill from gaining undue entrance to her body.

I don’t know but the ship has stopped, and we are not at the Portsmouth dock. We may not have much time. I’m going on deck and see if anyone has any ideas what happened. He rushed over to a chair where his pants were draped from the previous night and slid his legs into them while Jasmine did the same.

She grabbed a shirt for him from one of the carry-on bags and threw it across the room while finding suitable hard-wearing jeans and shirt for herself. She didn’t bother with underclothes – just wearing what she already had on.

Xavier slipped out the door and closed it behind him. He walked over to the observation deck where a group of people had already congregated and tried to casually start up a conversation.

What’s going on? he inquired of a rather chubby tycoon type who looked sadly out of his element.

No one has said anything, but I think we might have hit something. There’s a boat down there in front of us. I walked down to the front of the ship and saw some men standing on the deck. Our crew shooed us back to our cabins and told us to stay put. That’s all I know, and they haven’t come across that intercom thing to inform us of anything. What do you think?

Xavier tried not to show his teeth as he weakly smiled. Don’t ask me, sir. I just woke up to find we had stopped. He looked up at the stacks and saw that the engines had been shut down. They weren’t going anywhere in quick fashion. It would take at least a couple hours to generate enough steam to get back underway.

He moved over to look over the rail and glanced back along the starboard side of the ship. Crewmen were already readying lifeboats – some were already swinging outward on their divots, ready for launch. Xavier went through several scenarios in his head and nothing came up with it being good for himself and Jasmine.

He turned and hurried back to their cabin. She met him at the door with two backpacks that he recognized as their survival gear. He unzipped one of the pockets and retrieved his Glock and several extra magazines – which he put in his back pocket.

They shut the door to their cabin and proceeded aft. Xavier reached back for her hand as they came down the first ladder leading to the deck where the lifeboats were being made ready for passengers. They were about halfway to the next ladder when gunfire got their attention.

Xavier turned around and noticed that passengers were being herded toward the aft helo deck. He then noticed for the first time that there was a black helo occupying the deck. Exhaust fumes still spilled out of its tail pipes – indicating that it had just landed. Dark suited men were spreading out around it and he saw one of them open the door on the side of the aircraft.

Shock took over his entire body. Marsella stepped down out of the interior and looked around the deck. Even at a distance Xavier could make out her haughty attitude. He had to close his mouth with an effort and looked back at Jasmine who was paler than he had ever seen her.

That can’t be her, she hissed. We locked her up for eternity. Xavier, tell me that is not Marsella. She grabbed his arm and he looked into a set of very scared eyes.

I’m afraid it could be her, he swallowed hard and tried to get his mind to engage in anything other than disbelief. He looked back at the helo deck and saw that Marsella had left the deck. He wanted to get a closer look at her, but he also didn’t want to be anywhere near the bitch.

Hurry. We must get off this ship, he stated emphatically. She can’t find us here. Follow me. He didn’t have to give any further instructions as she stayed on his shoulder as he led them down to the boat deck where sailors were now standing around with their hands in the air.

Xavier knew that motion and accepted the fact that they would have to find another way off the ship. He led them through a passageway – intent at first to go to the other side of the ship. However, ladders leading down into the bowels of the ship gave him an idea.

He continued to lead the way as they dodged around anyone who might remember seeing them later. Finally they reached a room in the very rear of the ship. A landing led down to the water’s edge from a boat deck that allowed egress in times when the crew had to launch something to help rescue persons overboard.

Xavier looked around the machine shop that led out to the water for anything he could possibly use to get them off the ship. Jasmine stood at the door – listening to sounds coming from the interior of the ship.

Finally, his brain kicked in and Xavier conceived of a makeshift vessel that would use a couple of the barrels in the corner. He rapped his knuckles on them and was glad to find them empty. He rolled them into the center of the room and placed them on their sides on a couple sets of casters that would help him roll them into the sea.

Help me get something to lash these together. He picked up a couple iron bars that appeared to be the right length as she dragged the spot welder over from its perch in the corner. He placed a shielded helmet on his head and walked the welder over to the door.

A few minutes later and they didn’t have to worry about interference from outside. He had spot-welded the hatch shut. Then he turned his attention to the barrels.

Jasmine was almost biting her lip as he finally stepped back and surveyed his work. It will hold for a while. I’m going to put that netting over there as a sling down between the barrels so we can be out of sight. If someone sees them, they will hopefully think that it’s just some flotsam and will ignore us.

He looked at her and she smiled as he continued working on their escape contraption. He placed the netting and their backpacks down between the barrels. There was perhaps a clearance of maybe two or three feet between them so it would be a close-quarters for a while but should provide them with a way off the ship.

Xavier looked at her. You ready to take a swim?

Never so ready, my prince. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him quickly. Then they pushed their vessel out on the landing and tried to get it into the water without making too much of a splash. Xavier tried to crane his neck to see if anyone was standing on the fantail above them but couldn’t see around the curvature of the hull.

They slipped into the water and settled