Seven Deadly Sons by C. E. Martin Page B

like, or where they come from or how they made them? We need to know how to kill them."
    "She's right," Phillips said, breaking the awkward silence. "These are tough bastards. Their regeneration is off the scale—I'd have to maintain a continuous current through them for Lord knows how long to completely kill their cells. Assuming that would even work."
    Kenslir looked around the room, finally settling his gaze on Dr. Olson. "Doctor?"
    "They're part vampire," Laura said, putting the lid back on her bottle of nail polish. "And part werewolf. The weaknesses each of those normally have were suppressed—but that doesn't make them invincible."
    She blew on her nails, making everyone wait. "Fire will work. Curses or no curses, they're living tissue, and a hot enough fire will destroy their cells. No tissue, no regeneration."
    The people around the table looked at each other, some mumbling under their breath as they considered the Doctor's suggestion.
    "Or we could just cut their heads off," Laura said, smiling. "That usually works on most monsters. Separate the heads from the bodies and even if they can grow a new body from the head, it'll take time. Time we can use to incinerate them."
    "What if they grow a new head?" Alvarro asked.
    "Let's find out," Colonel Kenslir said, standing.
     

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
     
     
     
     
     
    Colonel Kenslir was wearing a sidearm now, and his tactical glasses. Laura Olson was in a labcoat, over her green blouse and black slacks. She walked beside the Colonel, down a long hallway in the sub-basement. Behind them, Phillips and Hornbeck walked along in full combat gear, cradling M60 machineguns. Both the stone soldiers were in black uniforms with assault vests, sidearms on one leg, large Bowie knives on the other.
    "He might not be an überwolf," Laura said.
    Colonel Kenslir paused at the door to a vault. "I thought you said-?"
    "He's different—not a pure vampire, not like the überwolves that visited us. Maybe transitional—not yet all the way there."
    "What are you trying to say?"
    "I'm saying we can't trust these results," Laura said. "Those big nasties are stronger than a werewolf or a vampire. Meaning they're stronger than your boys." She nodded toward the two soldiers standing at the ready.
    "They might be stronger than you. Faster too."
    "What about you?" Kenslir asked.
    Laura smiled. "Well, I've always been faster than you."
    Kenslir pressed a palm against the scanner mounted in the wall beside the large blast door. Hydraulics in the walls could be heard working, then the door slowly cycled open. White fog poured out of the room, flowing across the floor.
    "Watch your feet," Kenslir said, looking to Laura.
    Laura leaned a hand on his shoulder and slipped off her bright red, stiletto heeled shoes. "Good call, I love these." She tucked one shoe in each pocket of her labcoat.
    Kenslir walked in first, looking around the room quickly out of instinct. The concrete room had a single operating table in the middle, equipped with metal shackles. Several rolling carts full of medical instruments sat nearby. Along the back wall, spaced a few inches apart from each other, were open drums of liquid nitrogen. White fog hung over the floor, several inches thick, attesting to the frigid temperature of the room.
    "Fries are done," Laura said, crossing to the first drum and pulling on a handle sticking out of the top. A wire mesh basket came up out of the drum of liquid nitrogen.
    Laura turned and carried it to the surgical table and dumped the contents out.
    "Leg bone's connected to the foot bone," she said, almost singing.
    The door to the chamber began to cycle shut.
    ***
     
    Josie and Jimmy were in the third floor cafeteria of Argon Tower, eating burgers and chatting as they sat by the windows looking out over nearby Biscayne Bay.
    "Mind if I join you?" Dr. Guerrera asked, walking over with a tray.
    "Sure," Jimmy said, moving his tray closer so the doctor had room at the four person table.
    Josie