There was an almost tangible fear inside the SUV.
"They won't come," an officer whispered to himself over and over again. "They won't come. They won't come."
I reached out and put my hand on the young man's knee.
"Stay in the car," I whispered. "It's alright. You don't have to do anything. You can stay in the car. We'll be fine."
"I can't do that, Ma'am," the officer said. "I have a duty."
"We'll take care of him," another officer added. "It's nothing you need to worry about."
"They're right, Selma," Glen added. "You need to focus on saving yourself right now. Everything else can wait until you're safe in the air."
"I'll come back someday," I promised. "I'll come back and finish what I started with, Lorcan. I'm not afraid of them."
"I believe you," Glen said. "I believe that you'll have your vengeance, but it won't be tonight. Tonight we flee."
I looked back out the window. The pink in the sky had darkened greatly. Derry was probably already awake. I could just imagine him waiting impatiently in a cellar somewhere surrounded by the wet bodies of his victims.
I wasn't afraid.
The sun had finally set by the time we pulled off the freeway. I had no idea where we were going. Surely it was discussed at some point, but I wasn't paying attention. I was tired. I couldn't remember when I'd last slept.
The night was moonless. A truly black sky hung over our heads. It was a vampire night, and Derry was already looking for me. He might have even made it to Betty's house already.
A part of me wanted him to find me. A part of me wanted to scream and curse at him, but that was ridiculous. Derry wasn't human. My pain meant nothing to him. A vampire is under no obligation to listen to a teenage girl whine and moan. If I truly wanted revenge, I'd need to destroy him, but that was very unlikely under the current circumstances.
I hated that.
I had too much anger in my heart. I didn't want to flee; I wanted to kill and dismember vampires. If I had my way, I'd wipe them all from the face of this earth.
The thought made me smile.
And I knew right there in my heart that, that was how vampire hunters were made. When we're pushed too far, we finally push back with nothing but hatred. The vampires had subjected me to unspeakable horrors, and they took the people I cared about. There would be no forgiveness. In me, they'd created a killer just as dangerous as they were.
I only needed to learn how.
The vehicles entered a rather forested area and slowed down considerably as the road began to curve and wind into the fog-enshrouded landscape.
"I think we're getting close," Glen said.
"I don't like this," I said. "There's too much fog rolling in. Visibility will be limited."
"That won't matter much when we're in the air," Glen said.
"I'm not talking about when we're in the air," I said. "I'm talking about what we'll be walking through once we exit the vehicles."
"That's not a problem," the officer driving our SUV said. "I'm going to take us right to the damn airplane. That way, we can avoid the fog altogether."
"That sounds good," Glen said. "Drive into the hanger if you can. Maybe the bright lights will work in our favor."
"How do you know there will be bright lights?"I asked.
"Don't all airports have bright lights?"Glen asked in return.
The SUV in front of us, the one carrying my father, Betty, and the remaining members of Glen's team, began to slow down. They were searching for something, probably the correct road.
"I wonder what kind of people use an airport like this," Glen wondered.
"They wouldn't be people you wanted to meet," I said. "My father's clients aren't known for their kindness and generosity. Hell, this all started when one of them kidnapped me and held me for ransom."
The SUVs turned onto a narrow road hidden behind a thicket of trees. I listened to the tires crunch on the gravel as we bumped along all the way to an empty gatehouse and iron fence.
There was a moment of quiet, and then everyone watched as Mark and Donny exited their SUV. Donny was armed with his flamethrower, and Mark had a long and menacing spear. I watched the two of them cautiously approach the blackened windows of the gatehouse, and peer inside.
Mark turned back to the waiting vehicles, and gave us all a thumbs-up sign, as Donny kicked at the wooden door. Mark entered the small structure quickly and hit the switch for the gate to swing open.
I breathed a deep sigh of relief, and Mark and Donny quickly jumped back into their vehicle. I noticed the worried look on Glen's face as he kept an eye on his teammates. How terrible to lose so many in such a short amount of time. Poor Glen had lost so much. How often did that happen?How long had he known them?
The dirt road was long and winding, and the trees grew denser and denser until we were in an honest to goodness forest. We couldn't drive fast; the dense fog prevented that.
"This has the making of a fucking horror film," one of the officers complained.
"I think we're going to be okay," Glen said. "I think we're going to be okay."
"Why do you say that?"I asked.
"They would have attacked while we were stopped at the gatehouse," Glen said. "That would have been the smartest thing to do."
"No," the officer in the horror film argued. "The best thing would be to wait until we're in this forest where we can't travel fast, and we can't see a damn thing. Keep your eyes peeled and be ready for anything."
"They'd need to block the road," Glen said.
"That wouldn't be hard," the officer said.
"Well," Glen said. "There's no reason to panic until the road is blocked."
A few moments later, a dark shape dropped out of the sky. I caught only the barest glimpse of it right before it punched through the hood of the lead SUV in an explosion of glass, metal, and engine parts.
Everyone around me started moving, and in the chaos, somehow, my head smacked hard against the window. The window didn't break, but my bell had been rung. I was climbing out of everyone's way, with my hand gripping the rapidly growing lump on my head as I tripped and fell onto the gravel road.
From the ground, I looked up, and in the harsh glare of the headlights, I watched as what was left of the front of the SUV shifted and bent. Derry rose up in the mess of twisted metal and roared at all the enemies that faced him.
I screamed as he screamed, and then I watched as his head turned in my direction, and his predatory eyes locked in on my location. Derry didn't look right. Somehow he looked gaunt and weakened. Had he been injured? What had happened?
"ATTACK HIM!"I shouted out."BRING HIM DOWN!"
Guns began firing, more than one flamethrower shot out a burning jet of fire, and grenades were thrown, but Derry only rose farther and farther into the dark sky until we lost sight of him.
"Group in close!"Lieutenant Morris shouted. "Stay back to back, and keep the civilians in the middle."
I was lifted by my arm and dragged into the group of police officers. My father was there, and he seemed drunken and dazed as he was bumped and shoved to safety. I tried to approach him, but Derry had reappeared behind the last SUV, grabbed it from behind, and twisted and shoved until the vehicle flipped over on its side.
More gunshots rang out, and more grenades were thrown. The SUV went up in a muffled sounding explosion, and Derry once again vanished into the fog and darkness.
"We need to reach the hanger!"Glen shouted. "We can't stay out here like this."
Some of the officers began to argue. They didn't want to move. They thought they were safe enough watching each other's backs.
Derry showed them just how wrong they were.
Without warning, Derry simply appeared on one side of our defensive cluster and slashed out with his claws. In the blink of an eye, four of the officers were eviscerated and bleeding out onto the gravel road.
Derry vanished before anyone could start shooting.
"This can't be real,"
an officer I wasn't familiar with complained. "It didn't even seem like he was moving all that fast."
Glen and Lieutenant Morris were doing their best to help the injured men, but they were hemorrhaging blood. Nothing could be done for them.
"Glen's right!"I shouted. "We need to move. We need to reach the hanger. He'll just keep picking us off if we stay out here."
Another officer screamed as Derry rushed by him. Blood sprayed up into the air and splattered wetly across my back. Three gunshots rang out, but Derry was long gone, and another officer was dying on the gravel road.
"Fuck this," Glen said. "Move out down the road."
"We can cut through the forest," Dad said. "The ranch house is just past all the trees. It'll be quicker if we avoid the road."
Everyone looked towards my father, including myself. I looked into his watery eyes and saw that he was with us, at least for the moment.
I grabbed my father's hand, and I rushed into the trees with everyone following behind me. We did our best to stay in a group, but Derry began to pick us off as we ran blindly towards a ranch house only my father had ever even seen.
The officer running next to me with the long spear screamed out as he was grabbed from behind and yanked into the fog. I screamed as well, but the man was already gone. I slowed down as if I could help, but I was grabbed and pulled along by Glen, who had the body bag carrying Lorcan thrown over his shoulder.
There would be no stopping. Those that made it to the ranch house were going to be the only survivors.
I heard another three rapid screams echo through the forest, but I couldn't see where they were coming from. That's when one of the officers began to beg for help. He pleaded with us to come back for him, but we couldn't. A few moments later, and we heard him begging for mercy before he began to scream out loudly.
I saw a light through the trees and fog.
A beacon in the distance.
Hope sprang into my breast, and I pointed the proper direction to Glen.
"It's just ahead!" Glen shouted. "Keep moving."
Explosions rang out as grenades were thrown, and we could hear more screams as Derry picked off more and more of the officers.
We broke free from the forest at a dead run, raced past the large parking area, and burst through the front door of an immense ranch house with a vaulted ceiling in the front room. We were safe. We switched the lights on, one after another. We were indoors, and safe. Derry couldn't enter without an invitation.
Looking around, I saw Glen, Betty, Dad, Donny, and Lieutenant Morris. Mark was missing, and Glen was looking worried. With us were the two officers that led us through the forest.
I pushed my way to the door, trying to see into the trees, despite the poor illumination coming from the solitary lamp shining obligatory over the parking lot. Five officers were doing their best to reach us.
From the parking lot, they were firing and throwing grenades into the forest. Glen started yelling at them to run, but they were locked into ineffectual combat, and they couldn't understand why their enemy refused to fall.
And then the world went quiet. Small fires littered the forest, but the battle was over. Glen started screaming for the officers to run once again, and this time they actually listened.
My heart threatened to explode in my chest as they neared the house. I started to calm down as they reached the front porch, but I screamed out loud as the dark shape of Derry broke free from the trees, rushed across the parking area, ran up the porch, and grabbed hold of the final officer trying to enter the front door of the ranch house.
Everyone was screaming, and I was shoved away to the background. I went to the window as Derry backed off the porch, dragging the officer behind him. He was facing the doorway the entire time and watching us hungrily as we huddled safely inside the ranch house.
"Let him go, Derry," Glen said. "Let him go."
"Make me," Derry taunted.
Outside, the parking lot lamp was still the only source of illumination, and in the fog and darkness, Derry was beautiful to a fault. His movements seemed like poetry. His skin was made of moonlight.
Glen put his hand on my shoulder, and I realized Derry and I had locked eyes. A quick shake of my head and I was free, but I was also shaken. That's when Glen motioned towards what was probably the outside light switch. The two of us locked eyes and nodded.
"We're at an impasse, my friend," Glen said. "You can't reach us in here, and we'd like that officer back unharmed. What do you think we should do?"
"We shouldn't fight," Derry whispered in his scratchy voice. "There's no reason to fight. I'm not evil. I'm a part of nature. You don't need to fight me, Glen. I'm not your enemy, and you've lost so, so much already. I know what happened to your family. I know how many teammates you've lost. Let me put an end to all the death."
I spun Glen around and slapped his face as hard as I possibly could.
Glen groaned from the blow, took a few steps away from the door, and looked up at me sheepishly.
"I locked eyes with him," Glen said.
"It's that quick, everyone," I said. "Don't lock eyes with him."
"Selma," Derry whispered, allowing my name to linger on his tongue just a little bit too long."Are you leading this band of misfits now? It wasn't enough for you to turn on me. It wasn't enough for you to kill my brother?"
"Your brother killed my brother!" I shouted as I pushed my way back to the open door. "And you! You invaded my mind. You corrupted my thoughts. I thought you loved me, but you're a plague. You destroy everything. You even destroy those that love you."
"I destroy everything?" Derry laughed. "You haven't seen anything yet, but you will."
"I'm sure there's something we can do," Lieutenant Morris said. "There must be some kind of arrangement we can make. This doesn't need to end in—”
Derry threw his hostage straight towards the open front door. I managed to get out of the way, only because the poor officer's body collided with the door frame on its way into the house. The officer was dead upon impact, and Lieutenant Morris was left clutching a broken arm.
Derry began to plead with other officers. He knew their names. He could tell which ones had families. The fog drifted around him like a living thing, and he called out to all of them.
We were shaken and injured. If only one of us broke, we'd all be dead. Derry only needed an invitation, and I just knew someone was going to cave in and give him what he wanted. Instead, I hit what Glen and I had been hoping was the outside porch light.
It was!
The porch light burned brightly and melted the shadows away from Derry. No longer was he a beautiful and mysterious creature. I'd removed his camouflage, and all that was left was the monster.
Derry still looked sunken in, but now his body was marked by puckered bullet wounds, and his face was also damaged as if a bullet entered through the side of his jaw, caused plenty of damage, and then exited out the other cheek.
His black eyes were darting back and forth, and for the very first time, I saw the barest hint of emotion etched upon his dead face.
Rage.
"Selma!" Derry hissed.
"I'll kill you!" I shouted. "I know what you are! I know what you did to me! Because of the pain you've inflicted on the people I care about, because of the horrors you put me through, I promise you that someday I'll take your life."
Derry didn't respond. Instead, he took a backward step and melted into the fog that whirled around him.
The room collectively breathed a sigh of relief the moment he was out of sight. Glen was chugging from a water bottle.
"Where's that pilot?" Lieutenant Morris asked through teeth gritted with pain.
"Nobody searched the house," an officer answered."And he hasn't exactly come out to introduce himself."
"Then go find him," Lieutenant Morris ordered.
"The pilot lives in the hanger," Dad mumbled.
"Do what?" Glen asked. "What did you say about the pilot?"
&nb
sp; "If he's here," Dad said. "He'll be in the hanger. There's an apartment on the second floor."
Glen turned as white as a sheet.
"Who lives here in the ranch house?" Glen asked.
"Nobody," Dad answered. "It's only for guests."
"Fuck," Glen whispered harshly. "Fuck, fuck, and fuck."
I put my hand on his arm to calm the man down, but he recoiled instantly.
"You don't understand," Glen said. "We are fucked. I mean, royally fucked."
"How so?" I asked. "Tell me what's going on?"
"No one lives in this house," Glen said. "That means there is no protection. Someone actually needs to call this place home to invoke its protection."
"Son of a bitch," Lieutenant Morris exclaimed."Are you telling me that, that thing can get in here anytime it wants?"
"Yes," Glen answered.
"Maybe he doesn't know," I said hopefully.
A teenager's laughter could be heard from outside the house as if Derry had been listening to our conversation, and found our words amusing.
"He knows," Glen said. "That's why he seems like he's having so much fun. This is a game to him. The night is young, and all of us are trapped."
"We could call for help," an officer suggested.
"We won't," Lieutenant Morris said. "We'd be sending anyone trying to help us straight to their deaths. We can't call for help."
Saddened beyond belief, and near my breaking point, I looked around the room for anything that could possibly help us. All I saw were frightened people, weapons, and Lorcan's body bag, that had been tossed carelessly onto the coffee table.
The body bag.
Lorcan's body.
The burnt and twisted remains of the vampire that killed my brother were not five feet away from me. I crossed the room, pulled at the heavy zipper, and the disembodied laughter from outside the house stopped instantly.
The smell of burnt vampire filled the room.
"What are you doing?" Glen asked.
"I don't know," I answered. "Why are the bullets wounding his body?"
"I don't know," Glen answered. "Vampires grow weaker when they've turned someone; maybe he turned someone last night."
The Forgotten: A Vampire Story Page 28
