by Philip Henry
Ramone and the four men pulling were outside now. Risk was at the doorway and he felt the heat of the sun and a deep, primal instinct brought his fear to a peak. He renewed his effort to get back inside. Risk wedged a hand at either side of the door and braced himself. Nicholl swung at the huge fingers that were almost claws. The blow would have easily taken anyone else’s fingers clean off but not Risk’s. Two of the soldiers joined the attack on Risk’s grip while the other two jabbed and swung at his face. Nicholl stepped back from the fight and lowered her sword. She knew how to zap Risk’s strength. She reached up to her neck and felt for her necklace. It was gone. She had lost it. The most powerful poison the Ministry had ever created was in the pendant of that necklace. It would have weakened him for sure. She scanned the floor quickly, looking for the missing piece of jewellery but couldn’t see it.
Nicholl turned back to the fight and saw Risk’s claws digging into the wall and the plaster crumbling in his grasp. She raised her sword and ran forward. She swung hard and hit the wall just above Risk’s fingers. A chunk of plaster came off in Risk’s hand and he fell backwards out the door and landed on his back. The sun attacked him in an instant and his face burst into flames. He screamed an unearthly noise that grated in everyone’s head. The soldiers holding the rope took up the slack from the fall and kept the pressure on him. Risk was kicking wildly, trying to get to his feet again. The rest of his body was now beginning to crack with the heat. The soldiers that had been attacking were now standing back and watching in an awed hush.
Nicholl saw that even the sun was going to take time to kill Risk. She strode forward and took a grenade from one of the soldiers. She walked to Risk’s head and hooked her finger around the ring that held the grenade pin in place. Risk let out a long scream and she yanked the pin out and stuffed it in his mouth. Risk’s face was still aflame and Nicholl got her hands burned as she made sure the grenade was firmly wedged in his mouth. She got up and quickly walked back to Ramone and his men. The other soldiers had seen what she was doing and had moved to a safe distance. Risk made one more muffled yell and then his head exploded with a loud crack. The rope went slack in Ramone’s hands. Risk’s headless torso twitched for a few seconds before becoming still.
The helicopter pilot had witnessed the execution and landed. Nicholl spoke hoarsely, “Bag him up before he burns.” Two soldiers reacted immediately and got a body bag from the helicopter. Nicholl turned to Ramone, “Ministry policy. If you kill something you’ve never seen before, bring it in. So that they can examine it and figure out how we might fight them better in the future.” The soldiers rolled Risk’s body into the black plastic bag and zipped it up. With some difficulty four of them lifted him and carried him back to the helicopter. “I think they’ll let us store it in the hospital mortuary until this is over. Colonel Ramone, I hope you weren’t planning on getting any sleep tonight.”
“Don’t worry, my men are trained to go without sleep in an emergency situation. What about you? You look tired.”
Nicholl smiled. “Part of the job.”
They had flown back to the hospital and put the remains of Risk in the mortuary. Nicholl had told Ramone and his men to be on stand-by. She would have to find the vampires first, then she would call him. She urged him and his men to get some rest if they could. Ramone had offered to help track the vampires but Nicholl knew this was something she could do better herself. The helicopter sat lifeless outside the hospital and the soldiers were given an empty counselling room to wait in. Nicholl went back to Casualty and found Rek – with a large square bandage on his neck – full of energy and ready to go. He said he knew someone who might be able to help them track the vampires down. Someone rich, with an interest in vampires and experience fighting them.
The sun had gone down. The people of the area were in danger. Nicholl and Rek left. Nicholl gave Rek the keys and told him to drive.
Lynda looked at the delicately painted figures on the ceiling of the hallway. The house was opulent. She felt underdressed, even in a wedding dress. Frank was similarly awestruck. When they had gone back to the burned-down house the two guys, both called Dave apparently, had told Lynda that their “good bud” Chloe would be able to help them find the vampires. Though the two Daves argued about where the house was and sent Lynda up the wrong road a few times, they eventually made it. Lynda and Frank stood awkwardly in the hallway while the two Daves sauntered off to find Chloe.
When they brought her back, Lynda and Chloe instantly recognised each other and ran to hug each other.
“It’s you. You changed your hair, I like it,” Lynda said.
“Yeah, too old for traffic-light-red hair now. But never mind my hair, you’re wearing a wedding dress…or most of one.”
“Oh, yeah,” Lynda shrugged. “Damn vampires call at the most inappropriate times. So what happened? How’s the leg?”
“Oh, it’s fine now. What about you? I never saw you again after you went racing off to the Arcadia.”
“To tell you the truth I’m not quite sure what happened that night either.”
“We’ve got a bit of catching-up to do,” Chloe said. “But I’m not sure this is the time. We’ve got a bit of a problem.”
“I know. I met him earlier on,” Lynda said. “Plus Xavier, that vampire I thought was dead, isn’t. I just had a chat with him.”
“Yeah, his wife and kid just left a few minutes before you got here.”
“What?” Lynda almost screamed. “What the hell were they here for? Did you invite them in? Could they come back if they wanted?”
“Calm down,” Chloe said softly. “I think we better go compare notes and bring each other up to speed.”
There was a knock on the door. Lynda drew her sword and looked at Chloe solemnly. Chloe went to the door and looked out the peephole. She turned and motioned Lynda to put away her sword and opened the door.
“Miss Knight, do you remember me?”
“Yes. Rek, isn’t it? You worked for the Ministry didn’t you?”
A pretty but grubby and very tired looking woman stepped up from behind Rek. “We both work for the Ministry.” She smiled at Rek. “We thought you might be able to help us find Kaaliz and Sheridan. If Rek here is telling the truth you’ve probably been monitoring all the communications and know what’s going on.”
Chloe looked back at Lynda and then to her new guests. “I think we all better have a sit down.”
Rek put his hand on Nicholl’s shoulder as she moved forward. She stopped and turned to him with a questioning look. Rek looked like a shy pupil plucking up the courage to ask the teacher if he could go to the toilet. He took a deep breath and said, “Do you mind if I leave you here for a while?”
Nicholl was surprised and then smiled. “It’s OK, Rek. You’ve done more than is expected of any novice. It’s all right if you want to…”
“No,” Rek interrupted. “I’ll be here for the fight. You couldn’t stop me. It’s just…there’s a lot of bad things out there tonight. I’d just like to make sure my family is safe.”
Nicholl was relieved. “Of course. Go and check on them.”
“I won’t be long. I’ll meet you back here.” Rek nodded to her and ran to the car. He drove quickly down the driveway as Nicholl went inside.
The elevator at Project Redbook would only hold ten people at a time. Kaaliz was above, herding them inside and Sin was down below getting them out and into separate cages. Running and screaming was a feature of both locations. Kaaliz imagined himself a rancher and easily caught any of the cattle who decided to run for it. A few punches later they were thrown back into the crowd with the other huddled, terrified Country & Western fans.
It was another one of Sin’s brilliant ideas. Instead of catching people by ones and twos she said the best way was to hijack a bus and bring them here. This particular group were on their way to the Ho-Down Showdown. A place where Country music would be performed long into the night and people could openly line-dance without fear of bein
g thumped. It was an annual event and the local Coleraine Line-Dancing Club had been looking forward to it for months. They were confident about bringing home the trophy this year. At their club headquarters a strange man and woman had approached as they were leaving. The driver had tried to throw them off his coach and the redhead had torn his throat out and stuffed him into a wheelie-bin. The man then drove the bus while the woman walked like a lioness eyeing her prey, up and down the aisle. Some of the braver cowboys asked “Where the hell are you taking us?” and expressed other feelings of outrage. The woman’s answer was to break their noses, and question time was over. When they reached the isolated area that housed Project Redbook a fresh wave of panic hit the dancers and when they learned they were to be taken underground they became hysterical. Kaaliz kept them in line above ground and bathed in their fear.
Below ground Sin had similar fun. Some scattered like rats when the lift doors opened underground and she had to catch them individually. Others refused to leave the lift and had to be dragged. Both types of people ended up the same way: in one of the empty cages next to the Che’al. The Che’al was becoming ever more excited. The smell of fear and all that innocent blood was making it crazy. When the last of the cowboys and cowgirls had been locked up, Kaaliz came down in the elevator and joined Sin.
“Have you got the juice?” Kaaliz asked.
Sin held up the little bottle. “GR281, to be used sparingly because it takes a hell of a long time to make a batch of this shit and I’ve got better things to do with my time.” She pulled Kaaliz close and kissed him deeply. “OK, do you want to find a mouse, I’ll inject it and we can feed it to chuckles over there.” The Che’al jumped violently around his small cage.
“We don’t need to do that. Fill a syringe with as much as it’ll take to put the big fucker to sleep.”
Sin did so with a curious smirk on her face. She handed Kaaliz the syringe. “Don’t lose your head, lover.”
Kaaliz took the syringe and walked to the Che’al’s cage. The Che’al’s arms reached through the bars and tried to grab him. Kaaliz stayed safely beyond their reach and stared into the Che’al’s eyes. His theory was that because this thing seemed to have about as much intelligence as your average coat-rack, he might be able to use his influence to control it, if only for a few seconds. He stared at it intently. He tuned out all the other noise in the room: the crying, screaming, and shouting of the new inmates. Sin watched and marvelled as the creature calmed. When it was perfectly docile, the Che’al leaned its face against the bars of the door. A few seconds later it’s mouth dropped open like a toddler waiting for the big aeroplane to fly into the hanger. Kaaliz raised the syringe and squirted its contents down the Che’al’s throat. The bitter taste released Kaaliz’s hold and the Che’al thrashed about violently, spitting. Kaaliz smiled and turned to Sin, who gave him light applause. A few minutes later the Che’al was safely asleep.
Kaaliz drove the bus back to Coleraine and out the other side. He took it out into the country and left it just outside the town of Bushmills. The bus was far enough away from Project Redbook so no one would find his lair. He turned and faced his one passenger, who was bound and gagged in the front seat. His name was Simon Leary. He had only recently joined the line-dancing club and the irony was that he hated it. He had always hated it. He had only joined because there was a girl he liked who was into it. His mother had supported him and told him it would do him good to get out of the house. He was only twenty-four and he imagined for a second that the cause of death on his death certificate should be line dancing. He tried again to wriggle free of his bindings as the vampire – because let’s not fuck around here, that’s what this guy was – came towards him. He couldn’t get free. He tried to scream but only a muffled grunt was heard. As a last ditch attempt he tried to use his eyes to convince the vampire to let him live. He pleaded with his eyes. Kaaliz grabbed his hair and pulled his head to one side. He bit into his neck and the boy’s blood began to fill his mouth. As Kaaliz was standing and the boy was sitting he was looking down and he saw the crotch of the boys jeans darken. This seemed funny to Kaaliz and it made him laugh while he was drinking and blood shot up his nose. He released his bite and coughed out the blood in his nose with another laugh. He looked at the boy, barely alive, still trying to struggle. Leaving him like that would mean he would just slip asleep, calmly and peacefully, and never wake up. Kaaliz took the boy’s hand and ripped his wrist open and made sure the boy spent his last seconds screaming in pain.
Kaaliz stepped from the bus wiping the excess blood from his chin and saw a woman with a small dog. He pointed backwards at the dead boy in the window and said, “End of the line.” The woman screamed and ran off with her dog being dragged behind her. Kaaliz smiled and flew off into the night.
They all sat around Chloe’s kitchen table. Everyone had told their story and between them they had filled in the blanks in each other’s knowledge. There was silence now as they all digested the information and tried to figure what their next move should be.
It was Lynda who spoke first. “So he turned human that night. Christian turned into a vampire and Xavier was the one who got me out of the Arcadia. He saved me.”
Chloe, who had told the story, answered, “Yep, according to Claire.”
Lynda seemed hopeful. “So, should we trust him, then? Agent Nicholl, do you think we can count on my fath…on Xavier to fight with us?”
“We can hope, but I wouldn’t advise anyone to bet their life on him.”
“Now we all know what a dhampir is, too,” Frank added. “Don’t you think it’s sort of stupid for the Ministry to keep things like that classified, Agent Nicholl, considering what’s happened?”
“You’ll get no argument from me. I sure as hell didn’t know what a dhampir was before tonight. The Ministry does love their little secrets.”
“This female vampire, Sheridan, the Ministry agent gone bad; is there anything else that you can tell us about her?” Chloe asked.
Nicholl thought for a moment. “Only that she’s smart, and obviously knows our Standard Operating Procedure. She’s probably the reason that we can’t find Kaaliz. He’s dumber than shit, but Sheridan…I couldn’t possibly second-guess what she’s going to do. But she is dangerous. Don’t think that just because she’s a new-Made or because she used to be a Ministry officer that she won’t kill you if you hesitate for a second. She will.”
The two Daves looked totally freaked out – more than usual.
“Now, to business,” Nicholl said, standing up and addressing the others like they were in the War Room in some old movie. “I think we should spread out in a search pattern to find Kaaliz and Sheridan. Do we have a map?”
Chloe got up and went into the other room. She came back quickly with a map. The phone rang as she handed the map to Nicholl. Chloe excused herself and went to answer it. Nicholl unfolded the map and spread it out on the table.
“OK, first I need to know how many of us are actually going out there tonight. Is it just Chloe, Lynda, Rek and me?”
One of the Daves said, “We’ll stay here.”
“And keep the home fires burning,” the other Dave added.
“Well, maybe, I should, erm…” Frank dottered.
“You’re not coming, Frank,” Lynda said sternly. “You stay here with the Daves.”
“Now wait just a minute…” Frank protested.
“No arguments. This is my arena. Next time some drunk grabs my tits in a bar, you can hit him and reassert your manhood, but you’re not coming out there with us tonight.” Lynda fixed him with a glare. No one spoke.
Nicholl broke the silence. “It’s probably better if you stay here. You’re a doctor, we might have wounded by the end of the night.” Frank still didn’t look happy but nodded reluctantly.
Chloe rushed back into the room. “They found a bus out by Bushmills. There’s a guy in it. Dead of a vampire bite they reckon. The police are out there now. They said they’d wait for us to l
ook at the scene before they let their forensics people in.”
Nicholl refolded the map and put it in her jacket. “OK, let’s get out there and see what’s what.” Everyone filed out of the room except the two Daves, who remained seated. Nicholl approached them when everyone else was out of earshot. “Hey. You guys wouldn’t have anything that could keep me awake and give me a little energy buzz, would you?”
