Vampire Virus Read online

  She pointed to a rock shelf overlooking the battlefield. The man drac was protected by a crowd of war wolves and bat dracs. His eyes blazed with fury, his arms outstretched as he directed his horde of beasts towards the battlefield.

  ‘I have an idea,’ said Napoleon. He banked hard to the left. ‘Come on, BG!’

  Napoleon landed on the edge of the cliff and called for Atticus. The boy ran to his side.

  ‘Build me the biggest bonfire you can, down there in the valley. Fill it with logs, twigs, branches, anything that will burn.’

  Atticus gathered his army of peasants and set to work at once.

  ‘What’s the idea?’ BG001 said as she landed.

  Napoleon grabbed her hands and squeezed them hard.

  ‘Skin, Skinella,’ he said. ‘This is really big. You have to work together on this. Understood?’

  ‘With respect —’ Skinella began.

  ‘No,’ said Napoleon. ‘No respects. Nothing! I want a hologram from you guys. I want the biggest, meanest, most powerful man drac you can give me. And I want it ASAP, which in my dictionary spells NOW!’

  The two SimulSkins whirred at top speed, communicating back and forth with each other. A moment later, BG001’s Helping Hand began to glow.

  Affirmative,’ said Skin. ‘Hologram processed.’

  ‘Likewise,’ Skinella added. ‘Ready to launch.’

  ‘Take it away,’ said Napoleon.

  Napoleon let go of BG001’s hands. Her HH glove throbbed at once and a man drac at least ten times the size of the real one rose from it.

  BG001 gasped. ‘Uh … Battle Boy? What next?’

  ‘Nothing,’ said Napoleon, and quickly slipped the glove from her hand onto his. ‘He’s mine.’ He handed her the ThumbGun. ‘This is yours. Fair swap?’

  ‘You bet! I’ve been longing to pow zap bapapap!’

  ‘I want you to attack the man drac. Give him as much grief as you can. Take his mind of those other dracs out there.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  Napoleon grinned. ‘You’ll see.’ He sucked the hologram back into the HH glove and swept up into the air.

  As Napoleon headed for the battlefield, he didn’t like what he saw. War wolves and bat dracs were already among the soldiers, attacking their necks, legs or arms, instantly sucking the energy from their victims.

  He positioned himself above the battle.

  ‘Okay, Skin. Let that super drac loose. And give him the loudest, most terrifying roar you’ve got in your audio bank.’

  The hologram loomed into the sky, peering down at the battle, and opened its mouth. The roar that came out was frightening. It silenced everything.

  Romans and Carthaginians stopped fighting and looked up. So did the bat dracs and war wolves. They cringed when they saw the huge man drac glaring down at them.

  ‘So far, so good,’ Napoleon said, relaying his message to BG001. ‘You okay?’

  She was dive-bombing the man drac like an angry hornet.

  ‘A-OK,’ she relayed back. ‘But this finger is really hot. I’m starting to smoke!’

  ‘Hang on a bit longer. I’ve just got to do a Pied Piper act.’

  Napoleon swooped down on the dracs, hiding behind the hologram. ‘Here, nice dracs,’ he muttered to himself. ‘Fall for it, you suckers. Follow me!’

  At first nothing happened. He swooped again, making the hologram growl and grimace. And this time a few of the dracs howled up at the man drac in the sky, accepting it as their master. Then some more. Soon, all of them were baying at the sky.

  ‘GREAT!’ Napoleon yelled, and began pulling away from the battlefield with the hologram. The dracs followed.

  ‘I’ve got them. I’ve got control of their minds. I just hope Atticus has that fire blazing.’

  The entrance to the valley was one huge wall of flame reaching to the sky. When Napoleon saw that he sped up. So did the dracs, keen to keep up with their new master.

  Napoleon flew as fast as the HoverVest and Boot Boosters could go. He zoomed close to the ground, too – war wolves and bat dracs right on his tail – heading straight for the flaming mouth of the valley.

  ‘Activate ShieldField,’ he yelled when he was a few metres from the firewall.

  ‘Affirmative,’ said Skin.

  A moment later Napoleon slammed into the wall of flames. Even with the ShieldField he could still feel its scorching heat. But in a few seconds he was through the fire and out the other side.

  He hung a radical 180, turning round to face the fire. Then he slipped into Hover-mode and waited.

  Almost immediately dracs came hurtling through the firewall, mindlessly following their master like lemmings. But they didn’t have heat shields, so they were fried, roasted, baked and toasted.

  ‘You’ve done it,’ BG001’s voice crackled over Napoleon’s Battle Watch. ‘They’re all following you to their doom. We’ve won. Hear me? We’ve . . .’

  Her voice stopped.

  ‘BG!’ Napoleon shouted. ‘Are you there? Come in, BG001. I said, come in!’

  But there was no reply.

  Something was seriously wrong.

  Napoleon sucked the hologram into his HH glove and shot up out of the valley with maximum thrust.

  His heart was thumping. Where was she? What had happened?

  Then he saw her – walking towards the man drac.

  ‘What are you doing, BG?’ he screamed into his Battle Watch. But she didn’t reply. She didn’t even look up. Her eyes were fixed on the man drac.

  And his eyes were fixed on her.

  ‘Situation Level 10 serious,’ said Skin. ‘The man drac has taken control of her mind. All his mental energy is focused on her.’

  ‘What about Skinella?’ said Napoleon.

  ‘She has been shortcircuited by the man drac’s energy,’ said Skin. ‘Attempting circuit breaker now.’

  ‘If only I had the ThumbGun!’ said Napoleon. ‘I’d finish him off with one good blast. Would the laser work?’

  ‘Negative. He is too strong.’

  The man drac reached out to BG001. Napoleon watched in horror as she drew closer and closer.

  ‘No, BG,’ he flew as fast as he could, shouting. ‘Keep away from him. He’s deadly.’

  ‘She cannot hear,’ said Skin. ‘The bond is too strong.’

  ‘Then we have to break the bond. Give me TurboTrust and hold it as long as you can. Add ShieldField in Cone Mode, while you’re at it.’

  ‘Affirmative on all counts,’ said Skin.

  The TurboTrust took Napoleon’s breath away. He was rocketing straight at the man drac.

  ‘Course locked in,’ Skin added. ‘Collision in

  5

  4

  3

  2

  1’

  The man drac didn’t know what hit him.

  The cone of the ShieldField slammed into him just seconds before he was about to suck the life from BG001, and he was swept off his feet.

  ‘Bullseye!’ Napoleon yelled. ‘Now take us up, Skin!

  Up! Up! Up!

  I want to dump this drac once and for all.’

  Suddenly Napoleon was on his back heading straight up into the sky, the man drac on the nose of the ShieldField, glaring down at him with his evil red eyes.

  ‘Don’t try your mind games on me,’ said Napoleon as they climbed higher and higher. ‘I don’t play with creeps.’

  But the man drac began to morph, changing from the human form into a hideous monster. It scratched and clawed at the ShieldField, trying to get at Napoleon.

  ‘Forget it,’ Napoleon said. ‘You don’t scare me.’

  That wasn’t really true. The creature was terrifying. Its mouth had opened so wide that it was clamped over the cone, and its sharp teeth were gnawing at the ShieldField. Tentacles had sprouted from its hide and were wrapping around the ShieldField.

  Skin let out a warning beep. ‘Pressure building on ShieldField to unacceptable level. Must remove creature . . . ASAP.’


  Napoleon flipped around so that he was pointing straight at the ground. ‘Drop off, you drop kick,’ he shouted.

  But the monster didn’t fall off, even though Napoleon bounced and bumped about in the sky trying to shake it free. It clung even more tightly to the cone. Cracks began to appear in the ShieldField, and a moment later, one tentacle slithered through.

  Then another.

  And another!

  Before Napoleon could do anything, the creature was all over him, its tentacles grabbing at him. He tried to cry out, but one tentacle clamped over his mouth and began sucking.

  Then, just when he’d given up all hope, he caught a glimpse of BG001. She had flown up and was now right next to him. And she was pointing the ThumbGun straight at the monster’s massive head.

  She fired.

  A blade of blue light sliced through the sky. The creature stopped sucking at once. It shuddered all over, threw its tentacles in the air, and screamed.

  Napoleon gasped with relief as the beast tumbled backwards and fell. It howled all the way to the ground . . .

  AAHWOOOOooooo . . . where it was swallowed by the real battle raging down there.

  ‘Good riddance,’ Napoleon shouted. Then he turned to BG001. ‘You saved my life.’

  She grinned and gave him a big thumbs-up.

  ‘Mission accomplished. Excellent work, you two.’

  Napoleon and BG001 listened to Professor Perdu over their Battle Watches. They were with Atticus and the other peasants.

  ‘The vampire virus is eradicated thanks to both of you,’ she said.

  A shaft of light appeared only metres away at the edge of the cliff. The peasants stumbled back from it.

  ‘Omega Phase activated. Your Exit Beam is in place. You can leave immediately.’

  ‘In a minute, Prof,’ said BG001. ‘We have to say goodbye first to someone very special.’

  She turned to Atticus. ‘I’m sorry you didn’t learn any magic.’

  ‘Do not be sorry,’ he replied. ‘I learned many other things.’

  ‘I reckon you did,’ said Napoleon.

  ‘And anyway,’ Atticus went on. ‘Perhaps you will teach me some of your magic next time we meet.’

  ‘Who knows?’ said Napoleon. ‘In our world anything is possible.’

  Battle Boy and Battle Girl walked towards the Exit Beam. At the edge of it, Napoleon stopped, picked up a stick and scribbled something in the dirt. She glanced down at what he’d written and smiled.

  The two of them then stepped into the shaf of light and vanished from sight.

  When the mysterious beam had gone, the peasants crept closer, led by Atticus. He pointed to the word scratched in the dirt.

  ‘I knew it,’ he said, staring at the sky above. ‘They have lef us one of their magic words.’