The Kin

  ***

  Marius waited by the gate of the fort with the first cohort, the pick of the men in the thirteenth Gemina. The men were silent, staring ahead in military formation, ready to move once the command was given.

  The general strode towards Marius, his face set and determined.

  “You ready?” he asked, peering closely at him.

  “Yes, sir, I’m ready and so are the men,” he replied. The general nodded and looked around at the eight hundred or so men waiting by the gate.

  “Do you think we’ll find any?” he asked suddenly.

  Marius wasn’t sure. “They might have gone already once they noticed the fort was closed. But it’s not too unusual, so they’ll probably still be here. No one could have told them what we were planning.”

  Sulpicius Rufus grunted. “I hope we get the bastards. Right. Open the gate,” he called to the sentries. Instantly the two wooden gates were pulled apart to reveal the vicus beyond the stone archway. A few people milled around looking curious and several tradesmen were waiting ready to go in.

  The centurion of the first century of the first cohort gave the command to march and like a mechanical creature the soldiers began to move in one seamless unit out of the fort and into the main street.

  Marius and the general went with them, but as they neared the perimeter of the settlement, each century filed out into the various streets and began to prepare the people for evacuation. As the last unit of the first cohort disappeared amongst the houses, the second, third and fourth cohorts began to march down the main street, finally dispersing into the countryside to gather wood to build the new walls for the outer barrier and spears for killing the Kin.

  The men knew what to do and soon enough families were being moved with as few belongings as possible into the fort, where they would stay until the new barrier was built. The air was filled with protests and questions from the bemused residents, but little violence as these citizens were linked to Rome and many were families of the soldiers stationed there.

  The orders were simple. All residents were to walk out in the sunshine and go into the fort and not to leave it again unless permission was granted from Sulpicius Rufus.

  Any person who was affected by sunlight was to be covered and removed to the cells and the soldiers knew that they had to call Marius if they found any unconscious and slumbering people who couldn’t be wakened.

  As the sun moved across the sky, the soldiers removed family after family with very little disruption, but when Marius was beginning to believe that the Kin had taken fright and left, a loud cry went up from a street deep inside the viscus.

  Marius glanced at the general then they both began to jog towards the commotion that was breaking out. As they ran they were met on the way by a young legionary who was pale and gibbering about teeth and black eyes.

  Marius nodded grimly, and told the soldier to direct him to the place. He wasn’t surprised when they turned into a narrow street and found several men gathered outside a brothel. Marius pushed through the group, who stood aside when they saw that their general was with him, and then raced up the stairs where he could hear shouts and yelps of alarm. As a precaution he removed the stake from his belt and crept across the landing to the open door from which the cries were coming.

  Inside were three soldiers who were terrified and rooted to the spot by a woman kneeling on her bed and snarling at them with bared teeth. Marius wasn’t surprised that the men were horrified, this was a nightmare come to life and though they’d been told what to do and how to proceed, the sight of it had driven the commands from their minds. When he entered the room, the Kin turned her attention to him and it was obvious to everyone that she recognised who he was.

  Marius knew that it was impossible, as she’d most likely been a local girl, but the shared memories gave her all the past knowledge of her kind. But he didn’t have long to contemplate that, because she startled everyone by springing forward and changing into a skeletal hag as she did so.

  Around him, the men yelled their surprise and he heard the grunts of shocked disbelief from the general behind him. Marius waited for the right moment, and as she was almost close enough to touch, he thrust the stake forward as he’d seen Nasir’s men do in Parthia. Instantly her face registered shock, then it crumpled in on itself and the girl became a pile of dust and bone on the wooden floor. But moments later a shriek emanated from another room in the brothel.

  The hardened warriors in the room stared in horrified bemusement as they tried to take in what they’d seen.

  “She was already dead,” Marius told them. “That’s what it does to you. You have to do the same if you see any more. That cry…” Marius said, looking at each of them and the general. “That means there’s another in here somewhere. They’re all connected. You kill one and they all know. But in daylight they’re asleep and they’ll only wake if disturbed. So we’ve just woken another one.”

  Sulpicius Rufus looked at him and answered grimly, “We’d better kill it then before it infects us. Tullius Varens, I had no idea what we were fighting, and I still wish I didn’t.”

  Marius bowed his head in understanding. “You get used to it.” He handed the stake to the general. “You can do the honours. They can’t infect you, only over time by exchanging blood. I’ve seen them hurt people but rarely kill. In many ways they’re an inferior predator whose main asserts are stealth, strength and speed, but only at night. They’re defenceless during the day. Do you want to kill the creatures that have infected your army?”

  Rufus grinned, holding the stake. “It would be my pleasure.”