Vampire Manifesto

by Rashaad Bell

  Chapter 23

  How can the other shoe drop if I only have one foot?

  One of the things that don’t come with the Vampire manual is exactly how much abuse your body can take before death. I for one, can testify that it can take a lot. Scratch that, an enormous amount of punishment. I’ve been burned alive, had my chest exploded and was shot in the temple. Yet I’m still alive.

  I think.

  I could hear breathing. It was haggard and rough, but I could tell it was Connors. He was close and he was alive. Everything was black though, nothing but the abyss stretched out before me. I could hear his heartbeat, could sense it. My body was attuned to it by now, I guess. He was, by far, the one person I had spent the most time with as a Vampire.

  Then God said let there be light.

  And slowly enough, there it was. It started off as just a pinprick. Nothing much mind you, just a small dot of white, but it was widening, getting bigger. Wider. I could make out the ceiling. At least I thought that was the ceiling.

  What the hell was happening to me?

  “You do understand that you’ve been talking out loud this entire time?”

  I spun towards the sound of the voice. So I can move! I found myself face to face with Destiny personified. It was a woman, extremely pale, almost to the point of translucency. There seemed to be a crackling of energy, an electric little ball of nuclear fission happening at her core, situated in the middle of her chest. It flared underneath her flesh constantly. Red little lightning streaks of electricity rippling through her skin.

  Her hair was jet black with large bangs, cut reminiscent to a Japanese schoolgirl. She wore a billowy light brown suede jacket, cinched at the waist. Underneath that was a darker brown, V-cut cat suit that hugged her frame provocatively.

  “Who are you?” I demanded, unsure what was happening. How am I speaking? Am I alive? This must be a dream then? A hallucination caused by catastrophic blood loss.

  Maybe I am dead.

  “You reek of pending, Chronal Temporal Displacement.” She said in disgust.

  “What did you just…”

  “Be STILL, soulless orangutan!” She bellowed out with such force that the volume of her words dropped me to my knees, hands covering my ears. “A God SPEAKS!”

  I attempted to stand, to rise up, but it felt like someone had detonated a dirty bomb inside my skull and all my struggles were for naught.

  “Jesus…”

  “The Christ God? Really? His story ended on a Cross.” She petted my head as one might a small animal. “And is that whom you’ve placed your faith in?”

  I found it was impossible to move my head, let alone my body.

  “You are in the presence of Godlyhood, orangutan, knell until instructed otherwise.”

  “Who are you?” I stammered. “Where am I? What is this place?”

  “I am the Final Test, the White Water from the Well of Fate, the Spring of Wisdom, the Feather placed by Maat Goddess of Truth. I am the Shaka Ree, the Broth of Oblivion, the Period of Chaos, Guardian to the Castle of the Joyous Gard. I am the Boatman waiting on the turbulent shores of Eternity where the Sons of the Dark Wisdom pay tribute. I am Thanatos the White Wolf and I am Inevitable.”

  The sky was red, blue bolts of lightning illuminating the blackened landscape. I could somewhat make out forms in the gold rimmed clouds, dark and hideous, winged things of talon, tooth, claw and flame. I was on a blackened beach, the grains of sands replaced by bone and ash, the tide, a sea of blood, slamming against the shores, skulls of the beheaded washing up in its bubbling, white capped froth.

  Withered hands reached out from beneath the waters, outstretched, grasping, clutching, pulling each other back underneath the crimson tide, moaning for release, whispering the secrets of the damned to any who would listen.

  “And you Vampire, are in She’ol, Realm of the Dead, where the Beast rules desire, but it’s not quite your time yet.” She placed her fingers underneath my chin and pulled me to my feet. “Look.”

  Her hand was outstretched towards the sky and I followed her gaze and when I did the clouds spread apart as the lightning struck forth, separating the chaff from the wheat and that’s when I saw him. A vision of another place, of another time, mingled in with the death and malice that surrounded me.

  Connor…

  He was chained to a wall, the shackles around his wrist wound so tight that blood trickled down his forearm. He was awake, yet his eyelids were half-open and drool eased out the side of his mouth, forming a little puddle on the ground where it landed.

  There was someone else in the room, a man, sitting in a chair, his gaze fixated on Connor, his eyes never straying from him as he watched patiently, waiting. He sat inside a broad circle, directly at its center and within this circle was what appeared to be hieroglyphs and runes smeared in blood across the floor, written in some archaic language that I didn’t recognize.

  “Hey, you awake?” The man was trying to get Connor to look at him. “Little boy…”

  Connors head swayed from one side to another, like he had lost all form of motor control in his body.

  The man smiled. “That’s it. Come on now little boy, work through it.”

  Connor hoisted his head somewhat, but it plopped back down, his chin smacking his chest.

  “Yeah, they doped you up real good.” The man said.

  He tilted his head again, high enough so that when he lost control of the muscles in his neck, the skull fell against the wall he was chained to instead of drooping forward.

  “Madi…Madison.” He could barely speak and his tongue flopped around in his mouth.

  “That’s it little boy, fight it. Fight the drugs.” The man said. “Focus on my voice.”

  His eyes fluttered open a little more, as a touch of cohesion in his mind state began to appear.

  “Where…where am I?”

  “You’re in Sanctuary.” The man stated.

  “What?”

  “Last stop before the Eden Complex.” He continued.

  Connor seemed confused, like he didn’t understand what was going on.

  The man seemed to take notice of his disorientation. “I take it you’ve never heard of the place? What’s your name little boy?"

  As the seconds ticked by, Connor was slowing gaining a mastery over his dulled senses. “Madison...” He tilted his head to the left briefly and then the right, a slow building franticness taking hold of him. “MADISON!"

  The man made a face. “Strange name for a guy.”

  Connor tried to touch his head, but found that the chains that held him locked to the wall weren’t long enough. “My…friend…Madison, where is…she?”

  “You mean the corpse they dragged in here?” The man leaned back in his chair. “Body bag in the corner.”

  “NO…not…not dead.” He whispered. “Not dead.”

  The man shook his head in disagreement. “Looked pretty dead to me.”

  Connor attempted to stand, found he didn’t have the strength to try, yet tried again. “Not dead…Vampire.”

  The man leaned forward in his chair thoroughly interested. “Well isn’t that a fascinating turn of events.”

  Connors attempt to stand was thwarted almost immediately due to the shortness of the chains. “Who are you?”

  “Me?” He pointed his thumb at himself. “Jenova Darkstar.”

  “Connor.” He said, trying to take in his surrounds. It was an empty room, nothing special about it at all. Reminded me of a master bedroom, lacking in furniture, turned into some type of holding cell.

  In the corner was my body, zipped up in a black body bag, stretched out on a metal table. Connor was bolted to the wall, the white foam that had covered his body gone. There were little traces of it on his clothing here and there, but it seemed to be dissolving away. In the center of the room, Jenova Darkstar sat in his chair, in the middle of a blood smeared, rune-covered circle.

  Connor shot Darkstar an accusing glare. “You�
��you work for them?”

  “Me?” Jenova seemed offended.

  “Are they government? Black Ops maybe?” Even though he was regaining his facilities, whatever drug they gave him was still taking its toll. He started pulling on the chains, trying to pull them from the wall they were bolted into, but they held fast.

  “Not government.” Jenova Darkstar shook his head. “They work for some guy called the Translucent Man.”

  “And how would you know that?” Connor asked.

  “Because I’ve been running from him for the past six months.”

  Connor gave up trying to free himself. “If you don’t work for them, then help me.”

  “If I could…” Jenova reached towards the edge of the circle that surrounded him, but a bright flash of light sparked off suddenly before he could even get close, forcing his hand back. “...then I would. But I’m as much a prisoner here as you.”

  Connor squinted his eyes, noticing the blood scrawled across the floor. He began to mumble to himself somewhat.

  “You can read that bullshit?” He asked.

  “It’s not bullshit.” Connor stated. “It’s Latin and yes, I can read it.”

  Jenova Darkstar was thoroughly intrigued. “Now why on earth would you possess a talent like that?”

  Connor continued to murmur, his eyes snapping up suddenly. “Because I’ve had to create a Devils Trap once or twice before, demon.”

  The eyes of Jenova Darkstar solidified to all black. “Guess the cats out of the bag.”

  Connor tried to pull back, scramble further away from the demon, but there was nowhere left for him to go.

  “Oh, don’t be afraid of me little boy, we’re both in the same predicament here.” Jenova admitted, his eyes turning back to normal.

  The demon was right and with that slight acknowledgment of fact, Connor stopped his struggles. “How did they catch you?”

  “Fucking Wolf Pack caught me slipping, same as you.” Jenova admitted. “They picked up our trail last year...”

  “Our?”

  “Me and my friend. They killed him. Shot him in the head, then transported his body off somewhere. They would have gotten me to, but I escaped. Thought I lost them in Rome, but six months ago, those fucking Wolves picked up my scent...”

  “You mean the Werewolves?” Connor asked.

  “Yeah, that’s them.” Said Jenova. “The Translucent Man uses them as his bloodhounds, his trackers. Once they locate whatever it is he wants, he sends in his Marauders, that’s what they call themselves. Far as I can tell, there are four of them, two males and two females. Amastacia, she seems to be the one in charge…”

  “Amastacia?” Questioned Connor.

  “Cipher Codes.” Jenova said. “Fake names. Second in command is this guy, Graul. Next is Theodore, he seems to handle weapons. Holiday, the other woman, she does all the…demon stuff.”

  “We need to find a way to get out of here.” Connor insisted.

  “Your proficiency at stating the obvious is magnificent.” Jenova said sarcastically. “Bravo, little boy.”

  “Where are they taking us?”

  “Far as I can tell, some place called the Eden Complex.” Darkstar said.

  “Sounds biblically nice.”

  “You don’t understand.” Jenova Darkstar said. “We do not want to go to this Eden Complex.”

  Connor just laughed off his warnings. “The humans don’t frighten me. I will endure.”

  “You don’t get it.” Jenova explained. “This guy, this Translucent Man, he’s up to something and whatever it is, it’s big. For the past year he’s been either tracking people down or killing them outright. The ones that he doesn’t murder, they get sent up to the Eden Complex and are never seen again. Trust me, that is the one place you don’t wanna end up. That’s the end of the line, man.”

  Connor didn’t seem to be paying any attention, instead staring at one of the links in his chains, lost in deep concentration.

  “Are you even listening to me?” Darkstar asked.

  “Honestly, no.” Connor replied.

  “Great. Fucking awesome.” Exclaimed Jenova Darkstar. “Just what the hell are you doing?”

  “I can start fires.” He stated.

  The demon seemed utterly unimpressed. “Well I can do that.”

  “With my mind.” Finished Connor.

  “Oh.” Darkstar seemed to reverse his opinion somewhat. The demon rose from his chair. “If you’re a fire starter, then burn some shit. Burn it all down. Get us the hell out of here.”

  “What do you think I’ve been attempting to do since I woke up?”

  The demon sat back down. “Get on my nerves? Fill me with false hope? Should I continue?”

  “Whatever drugs they pumped in me, it’s suppressing my ability to generate a flame.”

  The door opened and a woman walked in. She was decked out in the same type of black body armor Amastacia and Graul wore earlier. She held a modified M-16 with a laser scope and grenade launcher attachments.

  “Holiday.” The demon rose again, walking as close to the Devils Trap as he dared.

  “If the two of you don’t shut the fuck up in here...” Holiday began.

  Jenova Darkstar did not appear intimidated in the least.

  “What are you going to do?”

  Holiday began to mumble something in another language and within the circle, the floor began to shake and hiss. She continued her chant as steam and ice rose up from the ground. The ceiling seemed to blacken within the circle and peel back, revealing a red hued sky.

  I witnessed this all from my place upon the Shore of Eternity, where the Realm of She’ol merged with the land of the living and from the blood ocean I could see the hands reach up from their watery graves, torn and battered, reaching into that room from the ceiling, pulling at Jenova Darkstar, gripping at his clothes and hair, trying to bring him into the depths where the devils sleep.

  “NO!” I cried out, my scream reverberating throughout the universes so loud that it appeared that Connor himself caught a faint whisper of it on the wind.

  “Watch.” Thanatos the White Wolf was as beautiful as she was horrifying, yet I did as I was told. “Prepare yourself, Vampire. The time is almost upon us now.”

  Holiday ceased her recital and when she did the ceiling collapsed in on itself, returning to normal, Jenova Darkstar falling to the ground, released from the hands of oblivion.

  “I know your real name demon.” Holiday said. “If I have to come back here again, I’ll banish your ass back to whatever hell spawn dimension you managed to escape from.”

  Darkstar stood, brushed off his clothes somewhat and sat back down on his chair, very calm like. “At first I was just going to kill you Holiday, but I think I just changed my mind.”

  Holiday took a step closer. “Then I guess I should be grateful.”

  “Trust me.” Jenova appeared extremely calm. “There are fates much worse than death.”

  They both locked eyes for a moment, neither blinking, neither looking away.

  The earpiece Holiday wore crackled to life. “Holiday, its Theodore. Graul and Amastacia are in transit from sanitizing our last location. Transport to Eden in ten.”

  “Copy that.” Holiday replied. “On my way.” She held the demons gaze for a second longer, then walked out the room.

  “I’ve got a surprise for that bitch.” Jenova uttered under his breath before turning his attention towards Connor. “You said you couldn’t generate a flame because of the drugs they gave you right?”

  “Yeah.” Connor whispered. “It’s wearing off, but I don’t know how long it will take.”

  “What if you didn’t have to generate the flame?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Like I said before, they caught me slipping. Tricked me into this Devils Trap is what did. I thought I was buying this house, was going to retrofit it as a pending… headquarters, so to speak. They set up a bogus open house meet and greet. Even ha
d food. So when they showed me this bedroom, I just walked in, then BAM. Locked in the Devils Trap.”

  “That sucks.”

  “Tell me about it. But the thing about a Devils Trap is, there are no in and outs. Once I’m in, I can’t leave and they can’t come in, not unless the seal is broken.” Jenova motioned towards the circle scrawled in blood on the floor.

  “I know how a Devils Trap works.”

  “Good to know.” Jenova said. “Good to know. Anyways, from what I can tell, they weren’t supposed to keep you here, they were supposed to keep you contained at your place, but that Vampire…”

  “You mean Madison?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one. Well she really screwed up their plans. They shot her through a wall, did you know that?”

  “Yes. I was there.”

  “Yeah well, your place was too hot, too much attention drawn, so they brought you here with me.”

  “We only have ten minutes demon.”

  “Well you said you couldn’t generate flames.” Jenova reached in his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He put one in his mouth then lit the end with a match, inhaling deeply, savoring the moment, before exhaling a puff of smoke. With the lit match, he set the entire book of matches on fire. A large burst of flame flared up as all the matches caught ablaze all at once. He tossed the burning little pile next to the binding circle of the Devils trap.

  Connor concentrated on the fire, molding it with his mind, bending it to his will. The flame straightened itself out into a line and from that line it grow little fire legs and arms. A tiny little flame head began to appear, a small four-inch man composed of fire. Connor pushed his thoughts as hard as he could, fighting back against the drugs, blood trickling down his nose as he did.

  The Matchstick Man got down on its knees, rubbing his little flame hands back and forth against the circle, yet as he did, his size began to diminish. Connor was losing control, unable to keep the form, unable to control the flame, the drugs in his system specifically designed to do just so. Faster and faster he rubbed, his little flame hands burning away at the blood until all at once he burnt himself out.

  Jenova Darkstar began to grin ear to ear, clapping, harder and harder, louder and louder, rising to his feet, giving Connor a standing ovation.

  Holiday burst into the room. “What the hell did I just tell you about the…”

  She paused suddenly, sensing something was wrong. The seal of the Devils trap had been broken, only just a scratch, burned away by the Matchstick Man, but a scratch was all it took.

  A Devils Trap was ineffective if the seal is broken.

  She went to raise her weapon but it was already too late for her. The body of Jenova Darkstar collapsed on the ground, as if he was just struck dead on the spot. Holiday went rigid, arms straight at her side; palms open wide as her body arched back. She rose up from the ground, levitating in the air, eyes stark white, wide open.

  She stayed like that for a moment as Connor looked on, helpless, unaware of what was happening. Holiday dropped to the ground, landing in a low crouch as Connor waited, not sure what to do, unable to do anything even if he wanted to. Holiday began to stand, looking at her hands, opening and closing them repeatedly.

  Closed fist. Open palm. Closed fist. Open palm.

  She turned her head towards Connor, paused, then looked at the body of Jenova Darkstar who lay crumbled up on the ground like some discarded rag doll. Holiday strode towards the body of Darkstar, stripping him of his jacket, his wallet and keys as well, then began walking towards Connor, who pulled away instinctively.

  “Get away from me!” He yelled.

  Holiday crouched down low so she could look Connor in the eye. “Calm down little boy. Looks like Christmas came early for the both of us.”

  “What?”

  Holiday’s eyes began to swirl as they changed, becoming jet black.”

  Connor couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Jenova?”

  Holiday grabbed the chains that bound Connors left hand and ripped the bolted portion from the wall in one pull. He did the same with the other, then broke the shackles that were wrapped around Connors wrist. “I always repay my debts.”

  Connor stood, swayed once and had to balance himself against the wall for support. “I don’t understand. What did you do?”

  “Flesh of my flesh.” Holiday stated. “This body is mine now. Permanently. I told that bitch there were things worse than death.”

  Connor put the pieces together. “Demonic possession.”

  Jenova nodded in agreement. “Of the permanent sort. Holiday is gone, her soul burned away in the watery fires of Oblivion.” She squeezed her own breast. “I’ve never possessed a woman before. Does that mean I’m a lesbian now?”

  Connor didn’t bother with a response, instead running over to the body bag, unzipping it open, then nearly collapsing from what he beheld. My body was inside, lifeless, skin withered to the skeleton. There was a whole in the side of my head from where Graul shot me in the temple, the exit wound on the other side of my skull. My chest was torn open, dense metal coating most of my insides.

  “Oh my God.” He whispered.

  Jenova Darkstar in his/her new body ripped open a window frame, tearing the security bars off. I had never seen or met a demon before, but apparently they seemed stronger than a Vampire. At least Jenova was by any accounts.

  Connor saw that Darkstar was about to crawl out the window. “Where are you going?”

  “Getting the fuck out of dodge.” She answered back. “If I was you little boy, I’d do the same.”

  “No.” Connor refused to leave. “We can’t leave her.”

  Jenova looked at the corpse of a thing in the body bag. “Dead is dead.” She proclaimed. “And she looks pretty damn dead to me.” She was halfway out the window now, one leg in, one leg out.

  “Please.” Connor pleaded. “Help me.”

  Jenova paused a little longer then climbed the rest of the way out the window and was gone.

  Connor didn’t know what to do. He was just standing there, looking down at my body, unmoving, unflinching.

  “Run.” I whispered to no one. “Get out of there.”

  The White Wolf watched me with morbid curiosity, but didn’t speak.

  “Consider us really, really even.”

  Connor looked up and saw Darkstar climbing back inside through the window. She came over to the body bag.

  “Move fire starter.”

  She shoved Connor out the way and took everything in, examining my body fully, determining her next move. “In my history, I’ve met a Vampire or two. Killed maybe three or four. Five to six times out of seven I’ve found them to be extremely resilient.”

  “What do you mean?” Connor asked.

  “Well everything seems to be here, body pretty much intact, more or less.” Jenova started ripping the metal out of my chest, organs and everything else coming out along with it. “First thing we need to do is get rid of all this bullshit here.”

  Pieces of metal coated lung and kidneys clanged on the ground. “Isn’t she gonna…need that?” Connor asked.

  “Eh…” Jenova continued pulling out every bit of metal she could find. “I have an idea.”

  A big chunk of my heart struck the floor.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Not particularly.” The demon took a step back, admiring her work, double checking if all the metal was gone. My chest was almost all hollowed out, chunks of organs scattered about here and there.

  “But it can’t get much worse than what it is now. Most of the heart is there. Very important that part is. Majority of the body is intact.” He examined the gun wound in my head, sticking her middle finger in the wound as far as it would go, moving it around a bit before pulling it out.

  “Good portion of the brain is still there. Head still attached to the body.” She turned to look at Connor. “We got lucky on that. If they would have decapitated her, I doubt we could have reattach
ed it at this stage.”

  “If they cut her head off?” Repeated Connor. "She could have lived if they cut her head off?”

  “Oh for a good twenty, thirty minutes.” Jenova walked over to her previous body. “Learned that the hard way about ninety years back.” She stared at her old self sprawled out on the floor. “Such a handsome devil I was, wasn’t I?” Jenova hoisted the body up over her shoulder.

  “When I possess a body, I burn the soul completely out. The body becomes mine.” She explained. “But when I leave a host, the body doesn’t die; it’s just…what’s the word? Catatonic? Yup, that’s it. The body remains in a catatonic state. Stand back.” Jenova gripped his old body from the back of neck, hoisting him up in the air with one arm. She reached down and pulled out a black stainless steel bayonet from its sheath from her leg.

  “What are you doing?” Connor asked.

  “Well she’s a Vampire right?” Jenova jammed the knife into his former body’s stomach, then slit it open from gut to collar bone, dropping the body on top of me. “She needs blood.” She grabbed his old body by the back of the head, slit the throat, then positioned it so the wound was directly over my mouth, then took a couple of steps back.

  Connor just watched, unable to speak, not knowing what to say even if he wanted to. Blood oozed down my throat, so much blood I could taste it, even here, standing on the shores of She’ol, I could taste the blood. I could feel it trickling down my throat, the sweetness of it, warming my body, working its way into my cells.

  “Prepare yourself, Vampire.” Thanatos the White Wolf placed her hand on my shoulder. “The hour is upon us. Chronal Temporal Displacement has been initiated. ”

  My chest was damp. I could feel something inside of it, mixing with my soul, overpowering my senses. I stumbled back unto the rocky shore, falling to a knee, my hand coming down on the crushed bones and ash that made up the beachhead. My body was becoming cold, oh so very cold.

  I screamed as I began to freeze over from the inside out.

  “What’s going to happen?” Connor asked staring at the two dead bodies on the table.

  Jenova shrugged. “Either something really interesting or absolutely nothing at…”

  I sat up suddenly, the dead body that was on top of me crashing to the floor, nothing but an empty husk. All of the organs that were in his chest had oozed out, transferred into mine. My breath was coming fast and hard, the hole in my chest weaving itself to a close. I raised my hand slightly, touching the side of my temple with my finger, feeling the bullet hole literally healing underneath my fingertips.

  “Holy shit.” I said.

  Jenova Darkstar was in a state of total shock and awe. “You can say that again.”

  Connor didn’t say a word, instead, letting his actions speak volumes, running over almost immediately, wrapping his arms around me. I hugged him back, just glad to know that he was okay. Jenova gave me his old jacket.

  “We have to get out of here.” I managed, slipping into the old battered leather coat. It reminded me so much of the one I used to paint with at home.

  “What in the fuck is going on?”

  I turned towards the door. There was a man there, someone I’d never seen before. It wasn’t Amastacia or Graul, but he was dressed the same.

  “Hello Theodore.” Jenova said in welcome.

  “Holiday, what the hell are you doing?” He demanded. “Why is Hostile 32 and…”

  Jenova reached for her weapon, the modified M-16 that was strapped to her back and began to fire, the rounds catching Theodore square in the chest, knocking him backwards through the door.

  “Behind me.” She demanded. Connor pulled me off the table just as Jenova cocked the grenade attachment and fired at the wall. The explosion was deafening as brick, wood and plaster went flying. Smoke was everywhere, yet my Vampiric eyes cut through it, my senses kicking in. There was a massive hole in the wall and that was our ticket to freedom.

  “Move it Vampire, now!” Jenova yelled, gripping me by the shoulder and shoving me through the hole. Gunfire erupted from behind us. It was Theodore, leaning in through the doorway, letting off shots, the body armor he wore apparently saving his life, same as the woman, Amastacia, when I kicked her in the chest at the safe house.

  Jenova pulled a sidearm that was on her waist and tossed it to me then began giving cover fire. “Now damn it!”

  I scrambled through the dust and smoke making my way through the crater in the wall, Connor in tow. Jenova was moving slowly, taking small steps backwards as she continued to fire, keeping Theodore pinned down. In an instant I was outside. We were in some random little neighborhood, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The sun was in the sky, shinning bright, no cloud cover in the sky to speak of.

  My body burst into to flames.

  It was immediate, all-encompassing and spread like wildfire across every inch of my body. I dropped to my knees, screaming. The sun was merciless in its punishment and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. Suddenly I felt a cool hand on my shoulder.

  “It’s okay, I got this.” The voice belonged to Connor and as he spoke, the fire died down into nothingness, evaporating altogether. He grabbed my arm, put it around his neck and hoisted me up to my feet, taking the gun from my hand. He half walked, half dragged me across the front lawn towards the street.

  “We need an exit strategy.” Connor said, lowering me down gently on the grass. There was a car driving past slowly and he stepped out into the street directly in its path.

  He cocked the nine millimeter and started firing at the windshield as he walked around the front end of car towards the driver’s side door.

  The car swerved, popped the curb and hit a fire hydrant, water shooting up into the sky, the horn on one continuous blow. Connor opened the car door and pulled a bullet ridden dead body from the driver’s seat, dumping it on the ground.

  He looked up at me. “Get in.”

  I made my way towards the car as fast as I could. About sixty percent of my body had healed, but the other forty was still covered in third degree burns and an extremely charred leather jacket. I could still hear gunfire from behind me as Jenova and Theodore went at it. I opened the car door and fell into the back seat. Darkstar was close to us now, almost at the car.

  “Connor!” Jenova yelled. “Help!”

  Theodore was at the center of the room we had just escaped from. He took a knee, hoisted an RPG on his shoulder, aimed at the car and fired.

  Time seemed to slow down for everyone involved.

  The rocket flared out the house, through the hole in the wall and across the lawn, on a collision course with our vehicle.

  Connor threw both of his arms out, everything from his elbows down erupting in flame.

  A wall of fire sprung up from the ground directly in front of Jenova.

  The rocket slammed into the wall of flame and exploded.

  The force of the explosion lifted Jenova Darkstar off her feet, propelling her body backward, slamming her into the car, shattering both passenger side windows.

  The ball of flame increased in size, expanding, growing larger in diameter, heading towards the car, threatening to envelop us in is fiery madness.

  The fireball slowed, then came to a stop, reversed direction and crashed into the side of the house.

  Connors eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed.

  Everything was hectic, insane craziness all around us. The entire house exploded. Jenova scrambled, coming around the car, picking Connor up and shoving him in the back seat. He was unconscious and his breathing was shallow.

  “Vampire, up front now!” Jenova Darkstar was already behind the wheel, putting the car in reverse. There was a thump as the front wheels came down from the curb and hit the blacktop. She put the car in drive and peeled off.

  I didn’t want to leave Connor, but I did what I was told, climbing into the front passenger seat.

  Jenova Darkstar tossed her M-16 on my lap along with
an ammo clip from her waist. “You know how to work that?”

  In an instant, my Vampiric mind was at work, replaying every movie scene I had ever witnessed that involved a M-16. I pulled the empty clip out, inserted another, gave the bottom of the new clip a tap, pulled back the guard and did a check. There was a round in the chamber. “Yeah, why?”

  The back window exploded in a hail of gunfire.

  “That’s why.” Jenova made a sharp turn and we were speeding along the on ramp, merging with oncoming traffic on the freeway. I could hear Connor moan softly in the backseat. He was starting to come around, the strain of what he did, of somehow controlling the exploding RPG and redirecting its course slowing wearing off.

  More gunfire. This time hitting the trunk of the car.

  “You ready for this Vampire?” Jenova asked.

  I leaned out the side of the passenger side window and began to fire.

  “Good, cause shits about to get real.” Finished Darkstar.