The Triskelion Chronicles 1: Devils and Darkness

Chapter Sixteen : A Plague of Locusts

Hazel drew her sword, and pointed it towards Pedro's throat. "By the authority of the Harker organisation, I order you to lay down your weapon."

"Hazel," whispered Jack. "I don't think he can." Pedro reeked of the sweet stench of rot. His mouth gaped open, and what seemed to be flies swarmed around him. Although, they were bigger than any flies Jack had ever seen.

Pedro raised his arm, as the Count grabbed Hazel by hers, pulling her back. Pedro ran the cool metal of the blade across the front of his neck, cutting deep, and drawing a thick river of blood down the front of his chest. He coughed, and blood shot out of his mouth, before he slumped onto the floor, letting the blood pool around him.

He lay on the floor, still as the corpse he had resembled. Julie was covering her mouth with her hands, tears welling up in her eyes, as Chris began to wretch from the stench of it. The flies landed on the blood, seemingly unaware of it, soaking themselves in it.

"Jesus Christ." Trixie whispered to herself. Jack had half-forgotten that the wolf-girl had even been there. The room was silent, only the buzzing of flies filling the void. Hazel sat back down in her chair.

"This is a disaster." She said, burying her face in her hands.

"Come now Hazel, it can't be that bad. Remember that time we tried to train an army of stray cats as spies." said the Count, trying inappropriately to lift her mood. The Count's joke had made Jack think back to Tabs, although, he wasn't entirely sure that the Count was joking.

The sound of buzzing filled his ears. At first, he thought it was just his enhanced hearing, but then the buzzing got louder, and louder, and louder still.

"My God," gasped Nicholai Andersen. "Look at his throat!" He pointed down at Pedro's rotting body, drawing attention to the swarm of flies that seemed to be erupting from the wound in his neck.

Harmony covered her mouth with her hand. "What in the name of-"

The room was suddenly filled with a black cloud of locusts, suffocating everyone present. They covered them, crawling on their faces, burrowing into their clothes. Julie let out a scream, as Jack realised all too soon that blood was dripping down the side of his face. The locusts crawled inside Julie's mouth, smothering the sound of her screams. The locust's teeth buried themselves into the skin of Jack's face, causing pain to shoot through him, up and down his spine. He fell to the floor, clutching his face, desperately looking for his sister in the sea of insects. He couldn't find her. He tried to scream, but he knew they would only crawl inside him. The room was filled with the screams of terror. Julie, Chris, Trixie, Harmony, Bronislava, Bonheur, Andersen, even Hazel, all drowned out by the sound of buzzing wings. Eventually, the pain got the better of him. Jack let out a scream of pain and anguish, as he felt the tiny, pin-prick, legs of the locust's crawl inside his mouth.

Just as Darkness covered the last of his vision, a cloud of black smoke engulfed the room. The locusts fell to the floor, one by one. "They're dropping like flies." Jack thought. Once the air cleared, he coughed and several more locusts fell out of his mouth. He looked around, and saw the Count helping Harmony off of the floor. Her body was strangely unharmed by the locusts.

"What the Hell was that?" she asked him.

"A little something, I picked up a few centuries ago." He replied.

Jack quickly got to his feet, and ran over to his sister. Hazel was brushing the remainder of the bugs off of her armour. "I'm fine, I'm fine." She said. He hadn't drunk any blood since Madame Bronislava gave him the flask, and the smell of blood on her face was driving him crazy. His stomach began to growl, though he pushed his hunger down. "How're you?" she asked him.