by Resca Rojas
“Okay, now tell me again what you said about Nero.”
Victor repeated everything that he had just said about the Elite vampire who had been working for Kayla for the last fifteen years.
Klayton looked at him straight in the eyes. The whole time that Victor spoke, his heart rate did not change, nor his breathing. He was telling the truth.
“Do you know why he is in Oakhaven?”
“From what I heard, he is visiting his family. Turning his cousin into a vampire.”
“Okay.”
“You believe me?” He asked and Klayton nodded. “Okay, good. Please let me go. I won’t tell anyone about this place or who you guys are. I don’t even want to be a vampire anymore. Please!”
Klayton walked away and headed towards the sofa, where he sat down.
“You promised- “
Victor felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder.
She kept her hand on him as she circled around to face him. He looked up and saw that Lillian had blood on her lips, neck, and it had dripped down to her cleavage. He noticed that her hands looked as if she was wearing red gloves from how the blood had dried up and was now covering her fists.
“Wait” he begged, “Please. I want to live.”
She sat on his lap and grinned. “He did promise that he was not going to kill you.” She kissed his neck.
“Please. I’ll do anything.”
She buried her teeth in his neck and he whimpered in pain as she began to drink and suck his blood from the holes that she had created in his skin with her fangs.
•••
After Victor passed out and died from blood loss, Lillian took a shower, while Klayton was on a phone call with his brother.
“Yeah? He answered.
“Two prospects tried to kill us right now because of the vamps that we killed when we rescued Lillian.”
“Are you two okay?”
“Yeah, but- “
“What’s wrong?”
“I tortured one,” he paused, “ Well, I sort of did. He squealed real fast.”
“Klay, get to the point.”
“He said that one of Kayla’s Elite is at Oakhaven.”
“Doing what?”
“Visiting family. The prospect said that the Elite is there to turn his cousin into a vampire. But, what if Amber is in trouble?”
“Go. I think it’s the right thing to do.”
“Okay, and what about you? Are we going to meet up there?”
“Kinda held up at the moment. I met someone who wants to gain my trust by taking me to one of Kayla’s base of operations.”
“Be careful.”
After Klayton ended the call with his brother, he meditated and analyzed every detail of their conversation. A few minutes passed, and Lillian was now out of the shower. She walked towards him with only a white towel covering her body.
“I left you some clothes in your room.” He reminded her as he continued to lust after her. He felt guilty for staring at her, so he looked down.
“Klayton, I want to thank you for everything that you are doing for me. I overheard you and your brother talking. I want to go with you to Oakhaven. Is that okay?”
He thought about it for a moment. He did not want to leave her here by herself. It was not safe, but he was also aware of the dangers of bringing her to a town full of people as she had only turned into a vampire recently.
“Do you know how to defend yourself? I can give you a gun. I won’t let anything or anyone hurt you.”
“Yes. I trained in Krav Maga, and my dad was a cop. He showed me how to hold and shoot a gun.”
Klayton heard enough to be convince that she was not going to be a burden. “I need to go check on a friend, make sure that she is okay, and I may have to take on another vampire.”
“What’s an Elite?”
“A really strong vampire. I’ve heard that some vampires have been carrying the vampirism for so long, and have drank so much blood, that their bodies are strong and faster than a standard vampire’s.”
5
While he sat on a chair at the hospital lobby, Nero was reminiscing about his life since he became a vampire. Fifteen years ago, he was a homeless Army veteran who was slowly losing his will to live. He had post-traumatic stress disorder and had lost the ability to sustain a job. He kept spending all his money on temporary escapes and had pushed away his wife, to the point where she filed for divorce to protect herself from the emotional and physical pain that he had caused her.
Nero’s pride had made it so that he would decline any offer from friends and family to help him escape the rock bottom that he had fallen into.
He was now remembering the way the night was when he met Kayla. It was a cold Friday evening, and he had been laying down on a self-made sleeping bag.
His eyes opened when he had heard footsteps. It had been Kayla as she was passing by him and entering an alley.
Her beauty had not diminished or aged since that night, and all her features had always made her very attractive to him. That night she was wearing a very revealing black dress that only went down to her knees.
He wanted to tell her to be careful, because the alley that she was entering was not a safe path. But, as he had gathered his thoughts and was going to warn her, she was already disappearing into the shadows, so he let it go.
When Nero laid back down, closed his eyes, and was attempting to go back to sleep, he heard more footsteps. Was she coming back? He opened his eyes and saw two men, Neal and Roy; they were going towards her direction without paying any attention to him.
The moment that he laid eyes on them, he felt a strange vibe, and that was when he quickly realized that they were actually chasing Kayla, and had kept their distance.
He knew that there were no positive outcomes to this situation, and his instincts told him that he had to intervene. That was when he got out of his sleeping bag, boosted himself up from the floor and attempted to stop them.
As Nero got closer to them, he was filled with rage as he saw that the two men had pinned Kayla against the wall. Neal was removing his belt and lowering his pants down to his knees.
Nero sprinted towards them and without hesitating, he grabbed Roy by the back of his shoulders and pulled him back.
As Roy was trying to catch his balance, Nero immediately punched him on the right side of his jaw.
Realizing what was going on, Neal let go of Kayla, and turned his attention to Nero, “You should not have done that, dumb ass. Two to one, and you’re going to regret -”, he stopped to gasp for air. When he looked down, he saw a hand piercing out of his chest.
Before he could react, the woman bit the backside of his neck. The way that he screamed was a sound unlike anything that Nero had heard before.
Confidently knowing that she had incapacitated him, she removed her hand back and let his body fall to the floor. He was already dying from blood loss while never comprehending what had happened to him.
As Roy was attempting to stand up, Nero turned around and kicked him on the side of his stomach; forcing Roy to lay flat on the ground, whining in pain.
When Nero saw that him and Kayla were in control of the situation, he turned around and looked at her, as she was now licking the blood off her hands and smiling at him. “I was playing with my food, but it means a lot. I’m Kayla.”
She extended her hand out of courtesy, but it was too bloody, and Nero refused to touch her. “Right, sorry. I’ll wash my hands.” She then walked towards Roy, stood on top of him, crouched to grab his neck and then snapped it as easy as if it was a dead twig. “At least tell me your name. Who is my knight in shining armor that came to my rescue?”
“I’m Nero, and what the hell are you?” He asked defiantly. “You just used your bare hands to kill him.”
Kayla could tell that he was in a state of calmness as she could hear how gentle his heart was beating. “I can't detect even a small hint of fear in you. How interesting. Why?”
“I serve
d. I’ve seen shit that has kept me up for nights. Once you see your best friend blow up, you start normalizing all the other crazy shit that happens in this world.”
“I’m a vampire.”
He laughed at this. “A vampire,” he smiled sarcastically “sure.”
She gave him a seductive smile as she slowly opened her mouth to reveal her fangs. He was strangely aroused.
Kayla then walked closer to him until he was now leaning against the wall with nowhere else to go. She pressed her body against his and smiled. “You want to join the winning team?” She kissed his neck as she began to imagine how much more attractive she would find him after he would take a hot shower and a clean shave.
“Who are you up against?”
“The world,” she paused to smile at him, “maybe some werewolves along the way.”
“What do I have to do?” He was ready. Part of him was still processing everything that had just happened. But he had not drank or drugged himself in weeks. He believed her now. His mind was as clear as the night sky, and he was tired of being stuck in the lowest point of his life. He had nowhere to go but up.
“Whatever I say. Whatever I want.” She smiled as she ran her hands from his neck to his chest, feeling his muscular body that hid underneath his dirty shirt.
“Deal.” No hesitation or doubt in his voice.
“Just like that, no more questions?”
“You just gave my life a purpose again. I’m not questioning it.”
Since then, anything that Kayla needed from Nero, he would do, no matter how dirty or bloody his hands got. As long as it pleased the woman who saved him from certain death, he was going to do it.
That is why he was at the hospital. Kayla had asked him that while he visited his nephew for his eighteenth birthday, to find a new hospital from where they could take blood bags from.
Everyday, her army grew, and the new recruits were thirsty and inexperienced for blood. Kayla and Nero had learned from trial and errors that having blood bags stored for them was the stealthiest way for the new vampires to feed without drawing the attention of any human or huntsmen while they adjusted to their new lifestyle.
Kayla did not want a trail of corpses that would help lead anyone towards her, thus, whoever became a liability to her plans would be met with certain death.
“Mr. Bright?” A receptionist called out his name, bringing his thoughts back into the present time.
Nero raised his head up, picked up his backpack and then he walked up to the receptionist. Her name tag said that her name was Crystal. “Hello. Doctor Neeson is ready for you now.”
“Thank you.” He gave her a polite smile which made her blush.
“You’re very welcome.”
“I can just go thru those doors?” He made a mental note to ask for her phone number once he came back.
“Yes. I'll buzz you in. Go straight, then make a left. It’s going to be room one-nineteen.” Nero adjusted his backpack strap and then walked thru the doors after they were automatically opened for him.
The vampire had a proposal for the doctor; the same one that he gave everybody else around the States for Kayla’s blood bank operations. He always had her blessing to speak on her behalf to ensure that their organization would blossom. He was the one who had come up with the idea; make deals with people in high places to gain blood bags without raising any suspicion.
As soon as he turned left, he saw the doctor who was waiting for him in front of his office door.
“Hello, Mr. Bright.” The doctor had a kind smile, and he looked to be in his late thirties. When Nero got closer, the doctor held the door open for him to enter first.
Nero walked in and sat on the chair in front of the desk, placing his backpack next to his feet.
After closing the door, the doctor sat on the chair behind the desk. “I’m so happy that I am able to help you with this request.”
Nero smiled. “How may I address you?”
“Alexei is fine.”
“Alexei, I am so grateful that you have agreed to do this with me. I promise that you won’t regret it.”
“Of course. Plus, you already delivered to my doorstep half of the money. How could I say no to a meeting with you?” He was talking about the twenty five thousand dollars that Nero had given him already.
“Yes. I wanted to make a proposal thru a face to face conversation with you. And, don’t worry, I have the rest of the money inside my backpack.” Nero placed the backpack on top of the desk gently, to not intimidate him. “Twenty-five thousand dollars cash and untraceable.” He slid it closer towards the doctor.
Alexei was in shock. He was already happy with the first deposit of twenty-five grand that Nero had one of his soldiers deliver to him, and he was not expecting anymore. “Please, tell me how I can help you. You said that you were going to tell me in person exactly what you needed from me.”
“I need access to this hospital, more importantly, for the room where you keep all the blood donations. No questions asked. I will do everything in my power so that nothing will ever be traced back to you. You can trust me. Once a month, either me, or someone of my choosing that works for me will be coming to collect blood bags.”
“All this money, for blood bags? I would have thought that you wanted me to get you hardcore medicine or something.”
As if the doctor had not said anything, Nero continued, “I want you to use your influence and make me and a man of my choosing a badge that would give us access to the hospital at any time of the day. You can tell the staff that we are the hospital’s new health inspectors.”
The doctor was curious. “Should I be concerned? Are our patients going to be affected by this?” Nero admired that he cared about his patients.
“No, I am doing you a favor. You must restock blood bags every- what? Twenty-one to forty-two days? All I want is access to the blood that you will soon have to dispose of. You will receive twenty-five thousand dollars cash, every month if you can do this simple task for me. That is three hundred thousand dollars a year, all for you, and you don’t have to report it to the IRS. Tell me, is that something that you want?”
The doctor was lost for words. He did not feel as if Nero was going to be causing any harm to anyone, and he wanted to benefit from the extra cash to live comfortably with his wife.
“I’ll do it. Whatever you need for as long as you need me for.” The doctor extended his hand out for a handshake and Nero gave it a firm grip. His judgement was being clouded by the ridiculous amount of money being offered to him. “And you promise to be as discreet as possible? I can’t have this backfiring on me.”
“Of course, doctor. Could you lead me to the room? I would like to make a withdrawal today.”
“Yes, and if you give me a few minutes, I could have a badge ready for you.”
“That would be perfect.” Nero then unloaded the stacks of dollar bills onto the doctor’s desk, who then took them and placed them inside a safe that he had in his office.
After notifying the receptionist to make two ID badges, the doctor led the way to the blood bank storage room and opened the door with his ID badge. Nero entered the room after him and set his backpack on the table.
“How many blood bags would you be needing today?”
“I understand how sudden this is, so for now, just what you can spare please.”
The doctor nodded. He gave Nero a total of thirteen bags, and then after quickly thinking over it, he added five more to the backpack.
He was overjoyed with how much cash he had just earned for this and he wanted to prove to Nero that he was one hundred percent on board. “Okay, that’s the last of what I can give you today.”
“Thank you for this.” Nero zipped up his backpack and then he held it with one strap on his right shoulder. “Oh, and this is for you.” He reached into his pocket and took out a folded piece of paper, which he then handed to the doctor.
When the doctor opened the paper to see the contents of it, he was
stunned. It contained a list of his wife’s work location, her phone number, the name of the schools in which their children went to, and even their social security numbers.
“What the hell is this?” He was angry and felt threatened.
“Please, don’t be alarm. It’s just an a little reminder.” Nero said in a calm and gentle tone.
“The hell it is!”
“Look, no one finds out about what I am doing here, and what this paper implies would mean absolutely nothing to you. All you have to do is not screw us over and we could have a healthy relationship for so many years to come. You are going to be filthy rich.”
“You can trust me. Just, please, leave my family out of this.” He begged.
“I do trust you. I just want to make sure that I put the fear of God in you so you never doubt us or feel the need to betray us. I don’t enjoy threatening you.” He sounded sincere, which intimidated him even more.
The doctor said nothing else. His mood had changed from being excited, to fearing for the safety of his family. He was drenched in guilt. He tried to play the part that he was okay, so that Nero would leave him. “I think that your badge should be ready by now. The front desk will have it.”
“That’s great. We are done for today. I will have one of my men reach out to you in a few days, so that you can start planning ahead of time and be ready for the next batch of donations. Remember, twenty five k’, and untraceable. Be happy.” Nero smiled as he exited the room first, leaving the doctor behind for a moment, as he analyzed what he had just gotten himself into.
As Nero walked back to the reception room, Crystal was happy to see him again. “Nero, I have your badge.”
“Thank you, Crystal.” He smiled at her and she bit her lip.
“I’m having a party for my nephew, taking him to a club. Think you could make it?”
