by D C Young
Alexei’s once beautiful, big, brown eyes were now sunken into dark, hopeless holes, looking more like dried raisins than the wonderful orbs they once were. How? How could this have happened? She took the phone from her pocket and dialed Julia as she stepped away from Alexei’s bed but she succumbed to sobbing even before the Watcher ever answered the call.
“Julia, I found him, but, but… he’s nearly gone. You were right, this is terrible. I can’t believe what they’ve done to him. This is all on me. My fault. I don’t know what to—” She went silent as the ancient Greek exploded emotionally on the other end of the line.
“You have to revive him and get him home. Now!” was all Sam could piece together out of the stream of words that sounded like a mixture of at least three different languages.
“I know that, I do. But I can’t help but feel—” again she paused, again Julia screamed.
“This is not about you, Sam. It is bigger than any of us. What sort of place have they been keeping him in? Can you get him out?”
“No, I haven’t had time to look around at anything. I found him here and couldn’t do anything but call you. If you could only see him. God, I’m s-so sorry! S-so damn sorry!” she ended on a wail that preceded full-out sobbing and at that moment, no amount of Julia’s shouting or reassuring words could stop Sam from crying.
When her sobs finally slowed, she was able to listen and take in Julia’s next instructions. Wordless, she hung up and opened the industrial refrigerator against the wall. Inside she found several bags of blood. She sniffed one and it smelled sour. “Vampire blood. He can not have that.” She picked up another bag from the bottom shelf and sniffed it. “Human blood. Thank God.” She rushed over to Alexei’s bed. “I’m going to help you, so help me, Alexei. And I’m starting right now.” With one sharp claw, she opened the top of the bag and held it to his almost-non-existent lips. He looked like a living corpse.
“Drink, goddamn you. Drink.”
Smack. In one lightening move, his head shot upward, his mouth attached to the bag and he began to drink heavily. As he emptied the bag she removed the restraints holding him down. Then she turned back to the refrigerator and grabbed another bag for him. “That will do you for a bit. Listen, I promised Julia I’d take a look around. Be right back.”
***
Julia hung up the phone and nodded to rest of the Watchers.
“It’s him. Samantha and Veronica have retrieved Alexei and confirmed that this Dr. Mengele is the culprit,” she announced. “He should never have survived the war much less been allowed to have continued this abnormal line of research. He’s gone too far and it must end here.”
“What about Ana?” Petronilla asked.
“She is safe with Marie and the Witch, Petra. I doubt anything will happen at home, if there’s a problem Bridget will be sure that we all know about it immediately.”
They stood on a ridge of the highest hill among the Mount of Olives, looking down at the city of Jerusalem. The evening had just faded into night and its residents were on their way to rest. The Central American horde would be arriving soon and then the fighting would start. The Watchers would have to eliminate the threat completely in order to avoid Mengele’s creatures encroaching upon the city.
“It’s funny,” Marcus Anthonius said, mainly to Julia, “In our day, this peak was called the ‘Mount of Corruption’ and yet it is where we stand in battle against just such malice and evil.”
Julia sighed and looked at the mountains surrounding them.
“I can only hope that we are as prepared as we should be and that they are very surprised to see us,” she replied.
“Shock tactics!” Marcus mocked, “How very Greek of you.”
A sly smile spread across her lips and Björn interjected, “Never mind him. Those Romans were always too soft. I can appreciate a woman who knows how to fight!”
“I’ve been waitin’ so long for a good battle. Tis been centuries since I’ve heard the clash of steel on boon,” Wallace replied, his eyes were aflame with excitement.
“Well it looks like your wait is over, Wolf,” Adelin responded pointing to five helicopters that were landing in the valley below them. “They’re here.”
The Watchers turned their attention to the field of the upcoming battle and each sized up their enemy in their own way. Swords were drawn, shields were hefted and helmets raised. Then their fearless leader shouted the command.
“Kill them all and burn them to ash. But save the German one for me.”
Epilogue
“You never told me how you came to be in America, Björn,” Veronica said. She was sprawled out atop the concrete balustrade on the balcony at Elysium. She resembled a vampire cat who couldn’t fathom the thought that she could fall. Björn ‘Ironside’ Ragnarsson was standing beside her stroking her hair.
“It is a long story Veronica. One for another time. My blood is still boiling with the heat of the battle and there are different ways in which we Vikings like to utilize such heat in our veins.” He smiled slyly and Veronica sat up to him. They’d grown close over the course of her investigation with Sam Moon. They were both very close to Alexei and exceedingly fond of the boy. The looks that Björn gave her as he watched her administrations at Alexei’s bedside had told her she’d awakened something in the Viking’s heart.
Veronica didn’t mind. Rand’s incessant whining and complaining had been boring her for a long time. She liked her men strong and virile, independent and barbaric. In short, they should at least be half as tough as she was.
Veronica wrapped her legs around Björn’s waist and pulled him close to her.
“I will quench that fire tonight, Ragnarsson… many times, in fact. But then you will tell me about all of it. Your life, how you became a vampire and how you made it to America. Then you will tell me of Marcus and Marie as well. Deal?”
Björn hoisted her slender body up onto his hips and lifted her from the railing. He was already headed down the corridor to his rooms before he replied, “Yes, Miss Melbourne. I promise I will tell you the long tale of my life…tomorrow.”
The End
The Chronicles of the Immortal Council returns in:
Vampire Exodus
by D.C. Young
(coming soon!)
~~~~~
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Mother, wife, private instigator... vampire!
The first book in Amazon’s #1 bestselling vampire mystery series:
Moon Dance
Vampire for Hire #1
by J.R. Rain
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Return to the Table of Contents
Also available:
Burning
Brotherhood of the Blade #1
by Eve Paludan
(read on for a sample)
Chapter One
Samantha Moon could have killed me. In fact, she should have killed me. After all, three days ago—hell, thirty minutes ago—that had been my own deadly intent:
To kill her.
I’d tailed her to a mid-priced hotel after her husband 86’ed her from their home for being a vampire.
Stalking her relentlessly—like a paparazzi after a Kardashian—I’d finally gotten a chance to pull off what I thought was a clear shot. But she’d been too fast for me.
Vampires are like that, dammit.
Missing the kill shot to her heart, I’d instead shot her shoulder with a silver-tipped arrow bolt. She’d holed up in her hotel room for a day or so to lick her wounds, but apparently, she was a quick healer.
Again, vampires are like that.
Tonight, she was out and about. I smelled her nearby, that earthy, mushroomy scent of a healthy female vamp. No, not everyone can smell a vampire. I can. I guess I’m a born hunter. I couldn’t see her, though. Wh
ere the hell was she?
Having lost sight of her near a Von’s grocery store, I purposely fell for the bait when she parked her minivan in a dark alley. I knew where it was because I’d installed a tracking device.
I suspected it was a double setup—that she knew about my Apple combination tracking/bugging device that texted me her locations and, with remote silent dialing into the sim card, let me listen to her running monologues. They mostly consisted of her swearing at the sun, spewing hurt, angry words at Danny the cheater, or saying the kids’ names and sobbing. Otherwise, she just listened to K-Earth 101 while she sat in traffic and sighed.
I figured that if Samantha Moon was trying to flush me out by playing it this cool, I’d play along. Then we’d duke it out with fists and fangs until I could fire off another crossbow shot and put her out of her misery.
At least, that was the idea.
Then again, I kind of felt sorry for her, and yet, I was propelled further into the dark side by my manifesto of the last five years: to kill every vampire I could find in the hopes that I would run across the ones who had killed my brother and parents.
Anyway, I looked all over the neighborhood for her. I got more and more frustrated because I could smell her, but couldn’t see her.
What I didn’t know was that Samantha Moon could fly.
While I was dressed as a homeless man with a hump and pushing a shopping cart full of junk, the vampire jumped me.
From above.
Chapter Two
“Son of a—”
Before I spit out the last word, she whomped me with a leathery wing, knocking me to the ground—knocking the wind out of me, too.
Gasping, I could hardly believe what was looming over me: a creature right out of my freaking nightmares. Samantha Moon had transformed herself into a cross between a giant fruit bat and a small pterodactyl.
This isn’t happening.
Not only did she get the drop on me—literally—but she was so much stronger than me that I might as well have been fighting Dwayne Johnson.
I scrambled to my feet, fought like a maniac and dropped my crossbow. It skittered across the asphalt.
Within seconds, Samantha Moon overpowered me and took off with me clutched in her unholy talons. At first, I screamed bloody murder, bicycle-kicked my legs into the empty air, and nearly wet myself.
However, I gradually became fascinated as she flew toward the twinkling lights of the beach cities, the wind in our faces. When the city lights slipped away and we were over the dark Pacific Ocean, my childlike wonder again gave way to dread...and fear.
I tasted salt on my lips from either my own tears or sea spray—but what did it matter now if I wept in front of a giant vampire bat? I figured it was the end for me. Curtains, as they say in old Hollywood black and white movies. If this had been a movie, the violin soundtrack would be playing the rising crescendo to when the hero dies at the end, beaten by evil, despite all of his best efforts. It would have been a real tear-jerker ending, too.
Except I didn’t sense anything malevolent coming from Samantha Moon, aka, the giant vampire bat. If anything, I sensed her compassion.
Yes, this confused me.
I’d always been the worst-case scenario type because that was what I came to expect from my life, so I was calm about my impending demise. All she had to do was drop me and I would quickly get hypothermia and drown. I didn’t want to die, of course. I loved my family. But my fate rested in her talons.
I turned my eyes to the vampire’s eyes. They seemed strangely empty of malice. In the air, she was more of a monster than a human-shaped woman vampire, but it was her sentient eyes that moved me to speak.
“How’s your shoulder, Samantha Moon?”
Her strange eyes looked startled, as if the last thing she’d expected from the tall, slender, spiky-haired blonde guy in her grip was an inquiry about her health.
“I suppose you can’t speak in your changeling form. That’s fine. I know you’ve had a hell of a week. I saw your children get taken away. And the last thing you needed was my arrow bolt in your shoulder. I’m trying to say...I’m sorry.”
Inside of this winged creature was the brain of a human. She sent me a mental telepathy message: Apology accepted.
I got choked up. I was communicating telepathically with a vampire in her most primitive form!
Samantha Moon kept flying and I kept talking. “I’ve never seen a vampire with a family. You have two beautiful children. At first, I thought the family was a façade until I realized that the little girl is your spitting image.”
She kept flying further out to sea. Okay, so it was going to be curtains for me. I shivered. She seemed to clutch me tighter to her leathery skin, as if to keep me warm. I was in the bosom of the vampire—her great wings beat like a huge, black leather butterfly.
“I’m Randolph. Rand for short. Maybe you call yourself Sam, short for Samantha.” I sighed. “Years ago, my brother, Rudolph, was killed by vampires. And before him, my parents were killed by vampires. Since the day Rudolph was murdered, I’ve spent my life hunting them down...killing them. I have an innate sense that alerts me when they are near. It’s easy for me to get close, you see. And when I do, I kill them. Not that I know anyone to compare myself with, but I have pretty good kill stats.”
I heard the vampire’s thought in my head: Ambitious for you. Problematic for me.
“You’re safe, Sam. Obviously, I don’t have my crossbow now and even though the arrows in the quiver are part of the hump disguise on my back, I’m not going to try anything. I have holy water in a flask in my pocket and garlic around my neck. Does that stuff even work? But we’re over the ocean.” I paused, thinking. “Where would it get me to try some lame, last-ditch struggle to get away? I mean, the sharks are probably all waiting for me to drop in like The Man Who Came to Dinner.”
I could swear I felt mirth bubbling from her.
Do you watch Shark Week on Discovery? I heard her say in my head.
“I never miss it. Sam, I’m already a dead man flying, so I’m going to do what any decent human would do with his last words. Long after you drop me, I want you to remember something redeeming. Maybe it will help you. Maybe it will help your children and give you more time with them. Away from this business of kill or be killed.”
The sentient eyes looked at me with curiosity.
“While I was seeking my brother’s killer, I found a very old vampire in a mansion in Fullerton. I killed him with an arrow bolt through the heart.”
The leathery creature shuddered and stared intently. What else? I heard her ask.
“I found some papers among his things and came across your name. He had the names of his victims in some of the papers. My brother wasn’t on the list. I don’t think he killed my brother. But he definitely turned you into a vampire.”
I paused.
“I killed him, Sam. I didn’t do it for you. I did it for me. But if you were looking for him, look no further. He is no more.”
A shriek burst from her. She soared up toward the moon as the clouds broke. Her flight path was suddenly like the arch of a rainbow and she was flying about twice as fast. I could feel the G-force and managed to eke out a small gasp against the pressure of my cheeks flapping.
The vampire creature realized my discomfort and cradled me in her arms. When she slowed down to her previous speed, I was moved by her compassion.
Tears coursed down my cheeks and the wind streaked them away. I felt her joy, her relief, and even her sorrow as she got back on a regular flight path.
“He’s dead. Your creator has been iced. But he was not my brother’s killer. I still have unfinished business.” I paused. “You are not like other vampires, Samantha. May I call you Samantha?”
I felt her nod. “In your hotel room, I found packets of cow and pig blood in your refrigerator. You are not a killer. Not like the others.”
Her gaze was fearsome and beautiful. I heard her ask in my head: Then why did you try t
o kill me, Rand?
“I’ve been in the revenge business so long that it never occurred to me to wonder if I should discern whether a vampire was good or bad. I just killed all that I found.”
I looked down at the dark water. “Maybe if there was such a thing as a vampire hunter school, I could find out who the bad ones are, and leave the rest alone. Leave the ones like you alone.”
I don’t know how long it was before I snorted myself awake and was shocked to discover that a) I had fallen asleep and b) we were heading for lights floating out in the vastness of the sea.
“You’re taking me to a big ship.”
Smart boy.
“I get the hint. You want me to stay away. Thank you for not killing me.”
She slowed down and set me down on the roof of the control cabin. I found a set of ladder-like stairs to descend.
I looked up at her. A creature of the night, she perched unafraid on the top of the control tower.
“Have a safe flight home, Samantha Moon. Where am I headed?”
She didn’t reply, but I sensed her smiling, and I might have sensed her thinking: beggars can’t be choosers. I smiled, too. Within a moment, she blended in with the night sky and I had a serious problem: I was a stowaway on a cruise ship.
It was with equal parts of elation and fury that I found myself dumped on a cruise ship that was apparently bound for Hawaii on a fifteen-day turnaround cruise, according to all of the posters. My frustration was at a fever pitch and my confusion was utter.
I had failed to kill her, yet I lived because she’d let me live. I was not attending a jellyfish convention and I was not shark kibble. I was alive and so was Samantha Moon, who was, as far as I knew, the only good vampire on the planet.
