by Jason Tucker
Nicolette! What had happened to her? He leapt to his feet and leaned over the hole into the bunker. He could see her at the bottom, twisted and broken.
“Robens, follow me,” Vincent said, and then he dropped inside. He landed near the fallen Nicolette. Her small body contorted at a strange angle, and the flash of the explosion had singed off much of her hair. Shrapnel had torn through her legs, and great chunks of flesh were missing. If she was healing at all then it was slow. He actually felt sorry for her… sorry and angry at Del and Joey for doing this to her. The other two, Hester and Freddy, were just small pieces, well beyond any healing ability.
He felt Robens drop beside him.
“Muh, muh, muh,” Robens ruined face could not utter the word, but Vincent knew that the big vampire was trying to say mother.
Nicolette spoke slowly, painfully. “Find him for me. Bring him to me.”
“Yes,” Vincent said. He would have his vengeance and help to get hers, if she lived long enough. If not, then Vincent would kill Joey and the others and then try to make his own way, maybe start his own gang or, what was it that she called it… a cabal? It was time that Vincent was finally on top, a king rather than a peasant.
“Come here,” she said, and they did. She reached out a hand and touched Roben’s dirty white shirt and then ran her fingers across Vincent’s forehead.
“Go now!” she said, growling the words. “Find him.”
Vincent obeyed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The storm drains were a maze, and even though he’d been through them plenty of times, he’d never done it under the threat of death from vampires. Del was pretty sure he knew where he was going, but there were more turns and turnoffs than he remembered. They were either going to be coming up on an exit that led into a large basin in half an hour or so, or they were going to go deeper into the bowels beneath the city. The rain from the night before had made the going even more difficult. They were already ankle deep in dirty, flowing water, and in some places it was a bit deeper.
How long had it been since they heard the explosion? Five minutes? Twenty? How many of the vampires had it injured, if any? Where were they now? Shit, he thought. Thinking like that wasn’t going to do them a damned bit of good. He was a veteran, he’d been in firefights, and he’d had to kill. This should be easy… easy! He actually chuckled.
“What the hell’s so funny, Del?” Rachelle whispered. “You get us good and lost yet?”
“Whole fucking situation’s funny,” Del said. “You brought this on us, Rachelle.”
“Correction, Joey brought this on us,” she said.
“Think I don’t know that,” Joey said. “I still don’t know why the thing’s so pissed at me.”
“Jesus,” Carlos said. “Let’s sort out the blame when we get the hell out of this place.”
“Hush,” Caroline said. It was the first thing she’d said since they entered the drains.
Everyone stopped and listened. It was faint at first, but they could hear the things in the tunnels sloshing through the water at a quick pace. The vampires were hunting them and it sounded as though they were closing in quite fast.
“Shit,” Carlos said. In the purple light of the UV lights, Del could see Carlos crossing himself. He doubted prayer was going to do much good against these things. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“We aren’t going to be able to outrun them,” Joey said.
“I’m sure as hell going to try,” Carlos said. With that, he took off running down the tunnel. The light from his light vanished as he turned down one of the passages.
“You idiot,” Joey whispered. He turned to Rachelle. “That guy was my replacement?”
“Let’s keep going. Maybe some of them will follow that idiot,” Del said. Shuffling around and arguing wasn’t doing a damned bit of good. He put a hand on Caroline’s waist and guided her alongside him.
“Not likely,” Rachelle said. “If he thinks he can save his own skin, he’ll lead them right back to us. He’s only brave when his guns can do the talking, and they can’t help him here.”
As if on cue, the bouncing and bobbing purple light came back into view. Carlos was coming back, and as got closer, Del could hear him gibbering and shrieking. The words were unintelligible, but he knew well what they meant.
They were coming.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Joey could see Carlos running directly toward them, and he thought he could see the forms of the vampires following him. Carlos was getting closer quickly by the looks of that little bobbing purple UV flashlight that cast strange shadows along the tunnel walls. Joey pushed his way in front of Del and Caroline, and even Rachelle. Maybe he would be able to slow the vampires down a bit. Maybe he was the only one they actually wanted anyway.
“You get them out of here,” he said to Del.
“Don’t leave me,” Caroline said. She grabbed hold of Joey’s shoulder and squeezed, digging her fingers into him. “Don’t leave me.”
Damn it. Why would she choose now to try to reconnect?
“We’ll stand here,” Del said. “Together.”
“I really hate you, Joey,” Rachelle said. “I’m glad I took your fucking finger.”
“Run, you idiots,” Carlos screamed, as he splashed through the water toward them.
Joey and the others all shined their lights toward Carlos. The purple light was scant, and it was difficult to see much at all. They watched as Carlos stumbled and then dropped his own light into the water. Behind him, they could see two forms growing closer and closer. The lights were too dim from this distance to do anything to the vampires that were closing in on them, and they were moving fast. Joey noticed that even though they were fast, they were nowhere near as fast at that little girl had been.
Carlos was about twenty-five yards away when the vampires overtook him. Joey watched as two of the creatures tackled Carlos and brought him down.
Now, he thought. Get at them while they are distracted with Carlos. He surged forward, UV light in front of him like some kind of holy symbol. He held the machete in his other hand, poised to strike. Rachelle and Del must have thought the same thing, or they saw him move, because they were right alongside him doing the same. His sister, wisely, stayed back.
Once they were close enough that the light was illuminating them better, several things seemed to happen all at once. The vampires hissed and growled, letting go of Carlos, who had great chunks of flesh torn from his arms and back. He was still alive but whimpering. As they vampires stepped away from the UV light, Joey could see who they were.
Robens and Vincent.
Son of a bitch. He could see on Robens’ grubby shirt the word:
THREE
And on Vincent’s forehead was the word:
FOUR
More people that he knew. More people dead. Undead. Same damn thing. His fault, even though he wasn’t sure how or why. Didn’t matter now. As the vamps backed away, Carlos turned and swung the machete, slicing deep into Robens’ gut, spilling blood and gore into the dirty water.
The vampire roared and leapt onto Carlos again, even though the UV light sizzled his skin. Del stepped forward and raised his hatchet while Robens was busy eviscerating Carlos. Vincent shrieked a warning and Robens looked up just as Del brought the hatchet down on his head. The hatchet cleaved into the top of the skull, but it wasn’t enough to stop the vampire. It stood and started to come after Del.
Vincent was on the move too, although he seemed more wary of the burning light. He circled and lunged at Rachelle. Rachelle was quick enough to bury her hatchet into Vincent’s ribs as he rushed forward, but the momentum he had was enough to knock them both into the water where they fought and wrestled.
Joey kept looking for another one. The girl. She was out there somewhere, probably watching and waiting. Or maybe they’d actually been lucky enough to kill her in the blast. No time to hesitate, he started to move to help Del, but he saw that someone else was already there. Caroli
ne rushed toward Robens and brought her machete down onto Robens’ head, severing it from the body. It dropped and stopped moving.
Joey turned his attention to Rachelle. Vincent was holding her underwater, and she was struggling and fighting a losing battle. He watched a few seconds more, almost willing to let one of his enemies kill the other. Almost.
“Hey, you stupid SOB,” Joey said, shining his light directly into Vincent’s eyes. He growled and raised his hand to shield them. Joey promptly cut off the hand, and that elicited a shriek. “I’m not afraid of you, Vincent. You were a piece of shit before, and you are piece of shit now.”
Vincent clutched at his stump, and Rachelle slithered out from beneath him, gasping for air.
“I’m am strong now,” Vincent said. “I am on top.”
“You’re crawling around in the storm drains because a little girl made you. You aren’t anything.”
“Fuck you, Joey,” he said. With an impossibly fast swipe from his good hand, he tore out Rachelle’s throat. “See, even Rachelle Giovanni can’t stand up to me.”
As much as Joey hated Rachelle, it was hard to see her die like that, so fast and brutal.
“Where’s the girl now?” Joey said.
“Doesn’t matter,” he returned.
“You’re gonna die here tonight, Vincent.”
The vampire growled again, and he showed his teeth. Before Joey could move, Vincent was on top of him, teeth bared and pulling him down onto the watery ground. Joey was able to shift position press his light right up against the bottom of Vincent’s chin, and he could hear it crackle and he could smell the burning flesh. Vincent pressed his bleeding stump and the jagged bone into Joey’s chest. Joey could feel the sharp bones pierce his skin. He didn’t let up with the light, and instead pushed harder.
A second later he heard a solid thunk and felt cold blood splash his face. He could see his sister standing above him, her machete buried partway into Vincent’s neck. It hadn’t severed the head, but it had gotten his attention. Joey heard Del hollering at Vincent and taunting him too. Vincent turned his head, and Joey could see that the blade had nearly severed the spine. With every bit of strength that he had left, he pushed Vincent off of him and swung with the machete, completing the job and cutting off the vampire’s head.
Vincent’s body collapsed on top of him, and the cold liquid that served as blood oozed out onto Joey’s own neck and chest. Del grabbed the body and hauled it away.
“It’s done,” Del said.
“You think so?” Joey said.
“The explosion must’ve killed the girl. She wouldn’t have let all that go down otherwise.”
“Can we get out of here now?” Caroline asked.
“Hell yes,” Joey said, and they started to follow Del toward what they hoped would finally be an exit from the hell they’d been through.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Officers Palmer and Lee were first on the scene, and the first to enter the building, guns drawn. The place smelled of blood and smoke. Backup was already on the way, but both swore they could hear the sound of a little girl crying from inside the building. With the dead and headless men on the ground outside, and the possibility of a child in danger, they sure as hell weren’t going to wait around for others to get there.
They slipped into the house, following the sounds of the mewling child through the interior of the home. They found the heads right away and pushed forward as one, getting ever closer until they found the source of the crying.
They shined their lights to the bottom of a shaft that led into the earth and found her. She was just a small girl, dirty and covered in grime. From where they were, the child looked burned and seemed to have several broken bones.
What the hell happened here?
“Help,” the girl pleaded. “Come down and get me.”
“We’re coming, sweetie,” Palmer said. “I’m Officer Palmer and this is Officer Lee. I’m going to hop down there with you, and Officer Lee’s going to make sure that we get some more help out here.”
“Okay,” she said, sniffling.
“Honey,” Palmer said, trying to smile as wide as he could. “Is anyone else down there with you?”
“Not anymore,” the girl said. “They’re all gone.”
Palmer started to lower himself into the hole. He whispered to Lee. “Get more people out here ASAP. This feels like a weird one.”
Palmer eased down beside the girl. He could see what looked like chunks of people all around them. He tried not to let his own fear and disgust show. He brought up that charming smile again and looked down at the little girl.
Only it wasn’t a little girl anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
They were getting closer to a way out, Joey could feel it. The air was fresher and the breathing easier. He knew that they would all have to find a secret way out of the city, and they would have to go into hiding. The rest of the crime family would blame them for what happened, and who knew if other vampires had a grudge against him too. If anyone knew how to go into hiding, it was Del, and Joey was thankful that they were together. He was thankful for Caroline too, and he was about to say as much when he heard something in the distance behind them.
It was a familiar, echoing sound of someone slogging their way through the drains. The steps sounded somehow lighter, smaller. The girl. It had to be the girl. Why would he figure getting out would be easy? Nothing in this life was ever going to be easy. The nightmare was never going to end, at least not until the girl - or him - was dead.
“Del,” he whispered.
“I hear it, son,” Del said.
“What is it? Another one?” Caroline asked. “I can’t take much more of this.”
“Del, I need you to -” Joey began, but Del cut him off.
“I know. I’ll get her out,” Del said. “We can’t wait, you know. We gotta get out of this town.”
“Yeah, I know. Get out and keep going. I’m going to kill that little bitch and then I’ll catch up. Head to that place I mentioned yesterday. I know folks there.”
Del nodded, almost imperceptible in the low light.
“We’re supposed to stand together,” Caroline said to Del. “That’s what you just said not fifteen minutes ago. We aren’t leaving my brother!”
“Yes you are,” Joey said. “I’ll find you. I swear.”
“Come on,” Del said, touching Caroline’s shoulder lightly.
“Goddamn it, Joey,” she whispered. “I hate you.”
“I know,” Joey said. “Now get out of here so you can keep hating me for many more years.”
Del led Caroline down the passage and out of sight. Joey watched them go and then turned back toward the sound of the girl coming toward him. It was time to end it.
“Do you remember yet?” The sound of the girl’s voice echoed through the passage.
And no, he didn’t remember.
“I have something else for you,” the girl said.
“It’s not my birthday,” Joey said.
The girl chuckled. “Here.”
The sound of something striking the wall and then splashing into the water to his left caught his attention. It was Rachelle’s head, and on it was carved the word:
FIVE
“It’s easy to believe that you don’t know what you’ve done,” she said. “As I said, you are a monster worse than me.”
“I’m not like you,” he said.
The girl laughed and again it echoed. “I said worse.”
Joey could not see the girl, but he knew she was close given the sound of her voice, probably just outside the edge of the UV light.
“You got me,” Joey said. “Just kill me and end it.”
“Don’t you want to know why?”
“I don’t care anymore.”
“That’s your problem, Joey. You never cared, and you were human. You don’t have an excuse.”
“You do?”
“Even I can control my baser cravings when ne
cessary. But you did things not for an addiction. You did them for money.”
Joey was going to respond, but the girl shot out of the darkness with that preternatural inhuman speed once again. Only this time he was expecting it and was able to bring up his machete and impale her, although it did nothing to slow her down. She pulled out the machete and threw it down the passage. Joey heard it clatter against the wall somewhere in the distance.
She grabbed one of his wrists in each of her hands and snapped them. He screamed. She forced him down to his knees. She placed a foot on his leg and used ungodly strength to snap a femur. He screamed again and knew then that he was going to die. Death did not matter though. He just wanted to stay living long enough to distract the girl from Del and his sister. They needed time to get out, and he was going to do his best to make sure they had it.
“Tell me,” Joey said through gritted teeth. He was shaking and could feel his wrists and leg begin to swell. “Tell me what I did to you.”
“I can do better than tell you. The elders of my kind have the power to take information from the minds of others and to place information there as well. I will show you.”
She grabbed the sides of his head, and even though it was pitch dark, Joey could feel her looking at him, staring into his eyes. He felt his lids grow heavy. She was in his mind. And then he knew.
The past flooded his vision, colors muted and almost faded somehow, but he recognized it. Sitting in Mr. Giovanni’s office, talking about a hit down in Louisiana. Boarding the plane, a goodbye kiss to Rachelle. Traveling through the swamps by boat to a large, hidden home in the bayou. It was the home of a man who owed Mr. Giovanni a favor and who refused to pay. He needed more than a lesson. He and his wife needed to die. Joey saw himself slipping into the home in the middle of the night, a sharp knife in hand. Blood, fear and a moment of chaos. Then it was over. Joey cleaned his knife, ate their food, and left at first light.
