by J. Thiele
Pearce looked at his team; Casey was nodding, urging him to say yes. “Well then, get on with it then, you’d better saddle up and go with the rest of them.”
Ray extended his hand and shook Pearce’s “Thank you sir, you won’t regret it.”
“I’d better not, or you’ll find my foot so far up your arse they’ll have to send a search party in to look for it.”
“I’m gonna need a bigger car.” Casey said as the four of them left the room.
Pearce watched them leave and shook his head, “God help us all.” he said out loud.
* * * * *
The team headed straight for the warehouse, Casey was hoping they could find a way in. Without a key the only way in was through the windows out back. It was small and she doubted that the men would fit through. “No problem.” Rick assured her as he reached into his pocket for the fanciest looking set of lock picks she’d ever seen in her life.
“Do you know how to use it? Or is it just for show?” Ray asked.
“I’ve got some experience,” he laughed and went on to explain that his forgetful wife had a habit of locking their keys inside the house, after paying copious amounts to the local locksmith, (who later became their friend, he’d been called out so often) Rick decided to buy a set for himself and get the locksmith to teach him how to use them.
“You’re full of surprises aren’t you?” Casey smiled.
* * * * *
The roller door flew up, and Casey led them along the mock wall and around a corner to another locked door. “There ya go, MacGyver. Get your trusty toothpick out and get us through this one as well.”
They entered the massive living area and stood staring in awe of how much work had gone into the renovations in such a short time. “This would make a great place to call headquarters,” Ray said. “We could be like Ghost Busters, or Buffy.”
“Grow the fuck up will ya.” Casey snapped at him. She felt like an intruder, for some reason she felt empathy for Damon because she actually liked him… as far as vampires go.
There was no sign of him anywhere in the warehouse, although something told Casey he was close, but where? It was pretty much open living, they had search everywhere they could.
“Well he’s not here.” Ray declared. “Where else would he go?”
“He’s here alright,” Casey informed him. “I can feel him.”
The four of them took up residency on the leather lounge. Casey’s eyes traced the paisley pattern in the antique looking mat. ‘Where are you Damon Cartwright?’ She asked herself.
It had been days since Wes was killed. There’d been no more slaying's; the city was starting to feel normal again, but his words rang in her ears. She needed to find out what or who was coming, to do that she needed to finish their conversation.
“That’s it!’ she shouted, and like lightening Casey stood up and snatched the corner of the mat, rolling it back on itself to reveal the trap door.
“I’ll be fucked,” Rick said. “You really do have a sense of things don’t ya?”
She pulled the door open and was about to head into the unknown, when Rick took her by the elbow. “Wait Casey. Only fools rush in, where angels dare to tread.” He cocked his gun and went down first. It grew darker as they went deeper, and the light from the living space faded. They all pulled their torches. Kara positioned herself between Casey and Ray, at the tail end of the line. She was unarmed and vulnerable, but not stupid.
It wasn’t long before the short passage opened into a large underground room. Movement was heard from the far wall; Rick shone his torch in that direction.
“What the fuck?” Casey ran toward Damon. He was chained to the wall, bound by the same restraints that he’d previously held Wes with.
“Please,” his voice was weak “end my misery?” he begged, his face was stained with tears of blood and his skin was a dusty shade of grey.
“Not today.” Casey said, fumbling in the dark for something to free him. “Find a light!” she ordered the team.
Seconds later a light flickered on, to reveal an old table with some sort of Sadomasochistic tools spread across it, among it she found a set of keys. She noticed the cuffs around Damon’s wrists had burnt through his flesh almost to the bone, as she fiddled to find the right key to set him free.
“Be careful Case,” Rick advised. “We know what he’s capable of.”
“Right now, that’s not much, get over her Ray and give me a hand. Rick can you lead the way back out, since you've got the torch?”
Damon fell into Ray’s arms as Casey opened the final lock.
“I got ya big guy,” Ray said as Damon gave a sound like a wounded cat.
Casey took one arm and slung it around her shoulder taking half his weight and Ray did the same. He gripped his hand around the open wound of demons wrist, it felt sticky and he pulled away fast.
Damon’s agony had him baring his teeth at Ray and he snarled like a rabid dog, startling Ray out of reach. Casey almost lost her grip as the balance was lost.
“Easy tiger, we’re just trying to help.” Casey said, clutching harder trying not to let him hit the floor.
“Please, finish me, or leave.”
“Maybe later I’ll consider it, but we need to finish our little chat.” Casey informed him.
Rick took the first two steps into the sunlight beaming in from the upstairs living area. Kara wasn’t far behind him when suddenly a high pitched bat like squeal caught their attention back from the others. Damon had summoned up the strength to free himself and cower against the wall back in the shadows.
“FUCK! It’s the sunlight, Rick get up there and draw the curtains!” Casey shouted from the shadows.
Once the room was blackened out the group was back up stairs. Kara took a look at Damon’s injuries. “I...I don’t know what to do. I’ve never seen injuries like this before.”
“Nothing, you can’t do anything, he should be healing himself.” Casey told her, confused as to why his wounds weren’t magically disappearing like they did the night his skin came into contact with Jen's chain.
“I am weak,” Damon’s voice came out weary. “I have not fed for days. I cannot heal without suitable sustenance.”
Ray and Kara looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces. “Blood, he needs blood.” said Rick who was fast showing himself to be the most level headed of the pack.
“Well I’m off the fucking menu!” Ray protested as he distanced himself from the rest of them a few extra meters.
“Relax, he’s not going to feed on any of us, but we have to do something.” Casey looked around for ideas.
“Casey, give me your keys, I got an idea.” Kara blurted from nowhere.
Casey frowned at the idea of handing her keys over without knowing what the idea was.
“I have access to the blood bank. Ray you wanna ride shotgun, I’ll need you to drive back, I wanna swing by my place and get my wheels.”
Ray jumped at the thought of having some time with the sexy paramedic, and the idea of more distance between him and the thirsty vamp was equally appealing.
Casey threw her the keys and Kara caught them mid-flight, and then the pair were gone.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was almost four o’clock before Kara and Ray returned with the much needed blood, by which time, Rick and Casey were getting anxious.
Casey pierced the first bag and started dribbling it into Damon’s mouth. He spluttered at the vile taste.
“Maybe it’s the wrong blood type.” Ray suggested.
Once Damon got the initial taste paste his palette, he snatched the bag and sucked it dry, his skin started to pale, and his wrists began to heal. He snatched a second bag and bit it open as if it were a bag of sweets, scoffing it down as well. His recovery was fast, he stood to his feet making the foursome take a step back.
“Why have you come here? You are not safe, it will be dark soon and he will return.” Damon spoke with concern in his tone.
> “Who? Who’s returning and who did this to you?” Casey demanded to know.
Damon sat down again, “Victor. He is my maker.”
“Wait, I thought he disowned you when Granny went missing.” Casey questioned.
“He has returned to me. He sensed his bloodline had grown, when Wes became a part of his stream. But just as he knew his colony had expanded, he also knew when it was exterminated. He has come to avenge the Moresby boy.”
“He didn’t even know him!” Casey exclaimed.
“It is hard for you to understand. Knowing him is of no significance, he was his line. And just like humans, family must come first and foremost. By destroying Wes, I have shamed him once more.”
“Okay, so we kill him.” Casey decided.
Damon looked out the window. It was getting dark. “You must go, he will be here soon. You must leave before the sky turns black. He will not spare you, for letting me loose.”
“Come with us.” Casey insisted.
“I cannot. The daylight will see me burn. If I am to meet my maker, I prefer it to be by his hands and not the fate of the sun.”
“Thought something like that might happen.” Kara interrupted. “So I brought my wheels. It’s backed up to the roller door. It’s an ex ambo that’s been decked out, no sun can get in cos the windows have been blackened. Reckon you could make it a few steps if we cover you with a blanket or something?”
“I will not run.” Damon protested, lifting his chin with indignation at the mere suggestion.
“Then I will not leave.” Casey sat down defiantly with the rest of the group following suite.
Frustrated, and desperate to preserve Casey’s life, he agreed to flee with them, as they convoyed to Casey’s apartment.
* * * * *
“He will find me here; it will just be a matter of time.” Damon told them.
“Yeah? Well when he does, we’ll be ready, I’d be happy to drive a stake through his heart.” Ray assured him.
Damon laughed at the gesture, “I admire your courage Mr. Powell; however, there are some things you must know. Victor is very old, almost twelve hundred years to be more exact, and with age comes great strength. How close do you suppose he will allow a human to get to him with a simple wooden stake as a weapon?’
“There must be a way?” Casey surmised.
“Ahh there are many, but remember, there are also consequences.” Damon determined.
“Such as?” Rick questioned with interest.
“If you terminate a vampire, you will terminate his entire line. Every human ever turned by his hand or linked to his line will perish along with him.” He smiled at the prospect.
“I’m down with that.” Ray said with enthusiasm. Kara elbowed him in the ribs.
“What?” before realising Damon was a part of that line.
“What can we do?” Casey enquired.
“Silver, sterling silver to be more precise, no vampire is immune to the curse of your precious metal. Fire will also keep one at arm’s length; our flesh will still burn as yours at the touch of a flame.” He went on, “Sunlight will kill us all if we subject ourselves to its rays.”
Casey called the Captain for advice. After filling him in on the story so far, he was fearful for her safety and informed her he was on his way over.
“What about holy water?” Ray asked.
“A myth.”
“What about a cross?”
“Also a myth.”
“Only because we are the epitome of the antichrist.”
“What about if we rip the heart out? Surely that would kill it.”
“It would kill anything, wouldn’t it? But again, Victor is not going to open his arms to bare his chest to you, how will you get that close?” Damon said as he began to enjoy the naivety of the young police officer.
Ray thought for a second, “What about if we throw garlic over him?”
Casey caught the tail end of the conversation. “For fuck sake Ray, we’re not turning him into a pizza!”
“How long do we have?” she asked Damon as she took up a seat beside him.
“It will not take long once he discovers my absence; he will pick up the scent and follow it. He cannot enter without an invite. You must not allow him in or we will all be dead.”
“Hang on, how did that bitch get into my house? I sure as hell can’t remember sending her a fucking invite!” Ray questioned.
“We have many powers, hypnoses is amongst them. If she managed to make eye contact with you, she may have willed your subconscious into inviting her in, you in which case, would have no recollection of the event.”
“Okay, so no eye contact and don’t invite him in. Check.” Casey confirmed.
A short while later there was a knock at the door.
Casey opened it to find a puffed out red faced Pearce standing on the threshold with Nurse Rose in tow standing right behind him. Both were carrying several pillow cases stuffed with clanging objects.
Pearce pushed passed Casey and Rose too step inside the now crowded apartment.
They emptied the contents of the pillowcases onto the living room floor.
“What are you the fucking cat burglar now?” Casey asked staring at all the silverware strewn on the floor.
“Ah,” he quickly grunted. “Rita left it all behind; I don’t reckon she’ll be back for it. Rose was over fixin’ some supper for us when you called, so we detoured to her place. She also had some contributions to make to the cache.”
“Thank you” Casey said humbled by Rose's willingness to help.
“My Patrick and I were given most of it as wedding gifts, we were simple people who had no need for fine china and such like. He went to his grave and in thirty-three years of marriage, we never used it once. Don’t think he’d mind if I finally found a good use for it now, rather than have it collecting dust.” she smiled.
Pearce looked at Rick. “There’s a blow torch in the trunk of my car, what do you think you can do with it?”
Rick thought for a moment, “I think we can come up with something. Let’s get to your trunk and get started. Don’t suppose you bought a drill with you?” he asked
“Under the sink.” Casey told them. Everyone’s eyes shot in her direction, “What sort of self-respecting dyke would I be if I didn’t have a power drill?” she laughed, “It’s still in the box, but I have one and that’s the main thing.” She went to pull it from its hiding spot.
“Well somebody better put on some coffee, cos nobody leaves before daylight when it’s safe, so it’s going to be a long night.” Pearce ordered.
Chapter Twenty-Three
As the hours passed, and Casey’s home became a safe haven, Ray had fallen asleep in the arm chair. Kara went to rest in Casey’s bed, Rose was set up in the spare room while Rick, Pearce and Casey worked tirelessly through the night melting down the silver. Rick had smeared it over the door handles at the front and back doors. Casey strung the cutlery together in chime form and hung them from all the windows.
“It’s not pretty but its effective.” the captain reassured her when she looked at the decorations with a sense of creative disappointment.
Whilst in the spare room Rose got to putting layers of black tint on the windows, so when Damon was ready to take up occupancy in there he would be safe from the sun’s rays.
Damon talked and advised the trio into managing their own safety. He reminded Casey that the chain that she’d hung onto was probably tossed aside when Wes attacked Jen because it burned him when he came into contact with it. He advised them all to bling themselves out with watches, earrings, chains and cufflinks, as much as they could, to ward of any attack from Victor or any other vampire that might decide to feed on them.
* * * * *
“That’s what I’ve been meaning to ask.” Casey looked at Damon. “The manager of the warehouse? Care to explain your justification for his slaying? And don’t try to deny it, it has your teeth marks all over it.” Pearce and Rick stopped wo
rk and held their breath at her blatant disregard for the phrasing of her question and whom she was asking it of.
“He was a vile man, I make no apologies for his demise.” Damon responded.
“That’s not your call.” Casey told him.
“I was there; he would have gotten away with what he’d done if it were left to your laws!” Damon was aggravated at the recollection of the night in question.
“What are you talking about?”
“I had been staying in the rafters. As I mentioned, reminiscing, by day I would hide in the shadows and watch as he belittled and degraded his staff. He was an arrogant man if ever there was one. One night after I had been out…dining,” he chose the words very carefully, “I returned to find some late workers still in the building desperately trying to fill a contract for the miserable excuse for a human.” His face turned up at the description. “One lone worker was left to finish her order, a young female that had only just begun her employment with the animal. She would have been just old enough to drive a vehicle.” He paused, “I watched him as he hovered over her, making her flinch at his presence. Just as the female finished up he lured her into a corner and began to ravish her. Insisting she allow him to have his way, if she were to remain in his employ. I tried to ignore it; I desperately wanted not to make it my concern. But her pleading and crying got the better of me. I released his hold on her and gave him the punishment he deserved.”
“Where is this young girl, if that’s true? No-one ever came forward with that story.” Pearce asked.
Her name is Kara Diageo. I used my powers of hypnosis to release her from the vile memory and encouraged her to return to studies. I believe she recently passed her exams into the medical field.”
Kara stood in the hallway listening, her memories unfolding as Damon spoke. Tears fell from her eyes. Then her voice interrupted the brief silence. “I knew.” They all turned in her direction “I knew there was something about you and that warehouse. I knew I had to help.” She ran into his embrace sobbing.
