The Vampire Council: Case File:1

by Steve Cunningham

  ‘Now let us start over.’ Susie spits from her mouth. Jacqueline trembles with fear at this blood soaked, black eyed maniac. ‘I’m Susie.’

  CHAPTER 23:

  FALLING APART

  As a new day draws to a close, Jeff and Will wait patiently behind a wall just left of the abandon warehouse’s main entrance. Dressed all in black, both sporting bullet proof vests and holsters on their waists. Each of their holsters carrying their usual pistols with extra ammo. Jeff has strapped a shotgun over his shoulder. He wasn’t going to take any chances. Will then produces another pistol from the back of his trousers and gives it a quick one over to make sure it’s in order.

  ‘Didn’t want to bring something a little more menacing? You know something to strike a little fear into these guys as you head toward them.’ Jeff asks as he watches Will play around with his pistol.

  ‘I’m going for stealth here. Can’t move around quick like a ninja lugging around a huge firearm. I mean really a shotgun?’ Will sounding genuinely surprised at Jeff’s choice in weapon.

  ‘Yes a shotgun. We don’t know what we’re going to be up against in there. I know Vaelen said he reckons there will only be a few rogues but we can’t be sure of that. Or be sure about how strong they are.’ Jeff shows concern in his face. Will clocks on to this.

  ‘Don’t worry so much man. Sure we’re not the best out there. And sure we’re a man down. And sure we’re…’ Will gets cut short by Jeff.

  ‘Not what Will?’ Jeff snaps.

  Will sighs. ‘We’ve proven ourselves right? I mean, training hasn’t gone too bad, we’ve all had our ups and downs… Mainly downs. But that’s beside the point. We’re more than capable enough to bust in there a take a few vampires out. Anyway, if something bad were to happen in there it’s not the end of the world. I took a shotgun blast straight to the stomach, yet I’m still here. I’m a fucking fighter. We all are.’ Will smiles as he feels a sense of pride in the small speech he just made.

  ‘Was that supposed to be inspiring? It was shit.’ Jeff chuckles.

  ‘Gave it my best shot man.’ Will smiles at him. ‘Let’s just go in there and fuck some shit up.’ Will lifts his fist and nods indicating his desire for a manly fist bump.

  ‘You really are a moron… But you’ve grown on me.’ Jeff smiles and completes his half of the fist bump. A moment of silence passes. ‘So… Have you heard from Katie?’ Jeff asks in a solemn tone.

  ‘Not since the whole Leofric thing. I asked Vaelen earlier but he seemed pretty preoccupied with something so I didn’t really get a straight answer, but I don’t think he’s heard anything either.’ Will looks at the ground as thoughts of him with Katie enter his mind.

  Jeff notices Will’s reaction as he finished his sentence. ‘I could tell you liked one another.’

  ‘Yeah man. It’s weird cause of the fact we’ve only known each other a short period of time, but for the first time ever I really got to know her inside and out.’

  ‘Inside and out aye?’ Jeff smiles towards Will.

  Will looks up and smiles back getting the joke. ‘You know what I mean.’

  ‘Yeah I know all too well.’ Jeff becomes overwhelmed with how personal he’s becoming with Will, yet doesn’t seem to mind as he realises Will is one of the only people he can really talk to who understands his predicament. ‘Erm… My wife left… With my daughter.’ Jeff quickly looks away from Will as he didn’t want Will to see the vulnerability in his eyes.

  ‘That sucks. How come? If you don’t mind me asking.’ The tone in Will’s voice becomes very sympathetic.

  ‘Well… Erm… I tried to kill her.’ Jeff looks down in disappointment in himself as reminders of that day come flooding back.

  ‘That’s a pretty reasonable excuse to leave someone.’ Will tries to crack a joke to break the tension a bit. Jeff lets out a small chuckle. ‘But in all seriousness though, better she find out who you are than having to lie to her for the rest of her life. I mean come on how else would you be able to explain not growing any older.’ Will laughs. Jeff joins in with the laugh.

  ‘You make a good point. I think I might give her a call.’ He smiles at the thought of possibly hearing his wife’s voice.

  ‘Yeah go for it! Saying that, I’m going to give Katie a call and leave what I think will be like the one hundredth message on her phone. You know… Just in case she misses me.’ Will laughs as he walks further down along the wall to give Jeff some privacy.

  Jeff reaches into his right trouser pocket and pulls out his mobile phone. He scrolls though until he reaches her number. Jade. Please pick up. He hits the dial button and holds the phone against his ear.

  Ring ring. Ring ring. Ring ring.

  ‘Jeff?’ Jade’s voice shakes with emotion on the other end of the phone. Jeff becomes speechless momentarily after hearing her soft voice. ‘Jeff? Are you there?’

  ‘… Yeah. Sorry, I’m here.’ Jeff clears his throat and tries to compose himself. ‘I’m so glad you picked up.’

  ‘Well I’ve been waiting for you to call for days now.’ Jade begins to cry.

  ‘I didn’t think you’d ever want to see me again after what I did, and you finding out what I am and…’

  ‘Jeff don’t talk about it. I’ve been thinking… A lot. And I’ve come to the conclusion…’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘That wasn’t you. That wasn’t the kind sweet Jeff I fell in love with and married.’

  ‘Yes, exactly, that wasn’t me at all, it’s just this thing I have inside me…’

  ‘Listen Jeff, I’m not done. I know that wasn’t you. But whoever that was, scared the shit out of me. I don’t want to be around that… I don’t want Lisa being around that.’

  ‘So what are you saying exactly?’ Jeff begins to fear the worst.

  ‘I think we need time apart.’ Jade’s crying becomes clearer down the phone.

  ‘So it’s over then?’ Jeff’s voice quivers as he holds back tears.

  ‘No… Yes… I don’t know Jeff. This isn’t normal. You’re a fucking vampire. I thought that was just movie stuff. I don’t know how to handle this. I mean I love you… No matter what. But how does a person get over something like this?’

  ‘I honestly cannot answer that… Maybe, you just need more time.’

  ‘Maybe.’ She sniffles.

  ‘I love you, please, don’t leave me. If there was ever a time I needed you… and Lisa the most, it’s right now.’

  Silence.

  ‘I’m staying at the Ruby Hotel, you can come and see me and Lisa. Say around eight?’

  Jeff’s eyes widen as fear fills his heart at the mention of the one place a person who fears vampires should not be.

  ‘Jeff? Is eight ok?’

  ‘Yes, sure, eight is good.’ Jeff’s voice becomes almost robotic as his face remains frozen. Will makes his way back over and stands next to him before looking at his watch and tapping Jeff on the shoulder. Jeff looks round, Will taps his watch and twists his hand gesturing to Jeff to wrap it up as it’s now mission time. ‘Erm… I have to go… I love you too. Bye.’ Jeff hangs up the phone and slips it back into his pocket.

  ‘Are you ok man? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’ Will asks concerned at the look on Jeff’s face.

  ‘She’s at the Ruby. My wife and child, whom I almost killed, revealing to them the terrifying aspect of vampire’s being real are now staying at a hotel run and filled to the brim with vampires. Now can you see why I have this look on my face!’ Jeff shouts.

  Will thinks for a second. ‘Don’t worry about it. To mortals it’s just a normal hotel. To be honest with Leofric around doing what he’s been doing recently the Ruby is probably the safest place they can be.’

  Jeff lets this thought sink in. ‘Yeah, you’re probably right.’ He nods as the tension washes away from his body.

  ‘Of course I’m right. Anyway, I couldn’t get hold Katie… No surprise. So looks like it’s just us, and it’s time to dance.’ Will quickly pulls out both
his pistols as he storms past Jeff through the main gate entering the warehouse grounds.

  Jeff smiles as he begins to head after him, then suddenly stops. His eyes begin to flash black. One. ‘Not again.’ He exclaims in pain. One.

  Will stops and turns to see Jeff just standing in the gateway. ‘Hey man! Hurry up! It’s show time!’ He shouts.

  Them all! ‘Fuck!’ Jeff shouts as his eyes turn normal.

  Will hears the shout and runs over to his side, ‘Jeff are you ok?’ He asks.

  Jeff coughs and clears his throat. ‘Erm. Yeah I’m cool. Let’s just fucking get this over with.’ Jeff storms off towards the back entrance to the warehouse. Will becomes confused but shrugs it off quickly to catch up with Jeff.

  They cautiously enter the back door.

  † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † †

  They enter the warehouse as Will closes the door silently behind them. They’ve entered a long corridor leading toward two big metal doors presumably leading into the main warehouse. They both begin to sneak toward them, carefully checking through the little slat windows in every door to either side of them down the corridor. They make it to the double doors. Jeff stands to left wall as Will stands to the right. ‘Are you sure you’re ok?’ Will whispers in a soft tone.

  ‘Yes. Now forget it and let’s just do what we came here to do.’ Jeff replies also in a hush voice.

  ‘Just checking. Don’t want you flaking out on me.’ Will retorts.

  ‘Drop it Will.’ Jeff’s voice has a hint of anger to it.

  ‘Alright. Ok. It’s cool. On my count of three.’ Will readies himself with a pistol in each hand. Jeff pulls out his pistol from his holster and holds it firm in his right hand, steadying it with his left.

  ‘One…’ Will whispers as they both pull away from their respective walls. ‘Two…’ They both stand facing a single door each as they change to their vampire forms. ‘Three!’ Will shouts as they both kick a door each. With the strength of their vampire forms both doors go flying off their hinges and into the darkness of the warehouse. They go running in after them. As the doors land with mighty thuds of clanging metal, this echoes for a few seconds before turning into silence. Both Will and Jeff freeze in place. They both hold their guns in front of them just in case.

  ‘What the fuck? Will?’ Jeff states with a sense of worry.

  ‘I know.’ Will becomes equally as worried.

  ‘I can’t see a thing!’ Jeff shouts in a hush tone.

  ‘Hold on, there must be a light switch in here somewhere.’ Will heads back towards where the entrance was and feels the walls beside the gaping hole where the doors once were. A few moments of silence pass before a loud click is heard. ‘Ah ha.’ Will announces as fluorescent lights begin to switch on one by one lighting the warehouse. As the room floods with light both Will and Jeff notice a completely empty warehouse besides a few tables and broken chairs scattered around. Bits of litter, paper and apparatus lay dormant on the floor. Jeff looks around above his eye line and notices an upper balcony area surrounding them. Will makes his way over to Jeff. ‘Looks like whoever was here got out in a hurry.’ Will explains knowing this to be the only reasoning behind the mess left around.

  ‘I think you’re right. Question is, why?’ Jeff asks pondering reasons himself.

  ‘If there was a drug ring here they left no trace behind.’ Will states.

  Jeff points at some apparatus on the floor, ‘there definitely was something illegal happening here. But what’s worse is… They knew we were coming.’

  ‘Now how the fuck would they know that?’ Will’s tone fuelled by anger.

  ‘Something isn’t right.’ Jeff says as he begins to move toward another set of doors to their left. Suddenly a piercing alarm sounds resonating through the hollow warehouse. ‘Shit!’ Jeff shouts as he runs to the doors. Will jumps in a panic and quickly follows him. As they reach the door, Jeff suddenly stops and drops to the floor grabbing Will by the collar and pulls him down with him. Bullets come flying through the doors and ricochet around the warehouse. They both roll to opposite sides of the door as it swings open. Three men coming running from them into the open area of the warehouse. Jeff quickly fires his pistol shooting one of the men in the back of the knee then up his back finally hitting the back of his head. Will, not missing a beat does the same, firing both his pistols sporadically at the other two men, hitting one in the head first try and riddles the other with a few shots sending him to the ground. The man drops his gun and struggles as he begins to crawl to fetch it. Will and Jeff quickly jump to their feet. Will plants himself on one knee facing down to corridor of the now open doors as Jeff walks over to the dying man. Jeff flips the man onto his back, stamps on his chest and points his pistol at the man’s head. They stare into each other’s black eyes. The man hisses as he grabs onto Jeff’s leg, within a millisecond Jeff pulls the trigger blasting the man’s brains all over the concrete floor. ‘Are you ok?’ Jeff shouts to Will before turning back toward him.

  ‘Yeah I’m good.’ Will replies keeping his vision fixated down the corridor. Jeff runs up behind him.

  The end of the corridor cuts off into a T-junction. ‘Left or right?’ Will asks.

  ‘Whichever way there’s more dickheads to kill.’ Jeff replies with venom.

  ‘… Ok then.’ Will looks at him funny due to way he just answered his question.

  Will stands as they both head off toward the end of the corridor. Will enters the T-junction first, and in the right side of his vision he clocks onto more vampires. He quickly turns managing to fire off a few shots before a barrage of bullets hit him in the chest sending him flying backward to the ground. Jeff grabs him by his right leg and pulls him quickly and effortlessly back into the corridor to shield him from more bullets flying toward them. ‘Will?’ Jeff shouts over the sound of shots and bullets breaking into concrete. No reply. ‘Answer me?’ He shouts once more. Rage takes over. Suddenly silence. The vampire’s footsteps are heard running toward them as they reload their guns. Fuck them all! Jeff slides out into the junction grabbing one of Will’s pistols in his left hand whilst he fires his own toward the vampires. Now with two pistols he quickly jumps to his feet firing both at the oncoming onslaught of five vampires. Within seconds all five fall to the floor. As the ringing of the shots fired dies down silence once again fills the air. Jeff stands facing the pile of dead bodies he just created. ‘Will? You better fucking answer me?’ His tone a lot lower and menacing than usual.

  ‘I’m good.’ Will answer through coughs of pain. Jeff sighs in relief as he turns back to help Will to his feet. ‘Thank fuck for bullet proof vests otherwise that would’ve hurt like a bitch.’ Will chuckles still through coughs as he gets to his feet with help from Jeff.

  ‘I’m guessing we just follow wherever they’re coming from’ Jeff points down the direction of the dead bodies.

  ‘Sounds good to me.’ Will spots Jeff with his gun. ‘Give me that.’ He snatches it from his hand. ‘You have a shotgun, use that.’ Will releases the magazine and puts in a fresh one, before picking up his other pistol and doing the same. Jeff also does this to his pistol before placing it back in his holster and pulling his shotgun from off this back and cocking it ready for action. They both tread over the dead bodies and make their way through another set of doors.

  They continue to head through a maze of corridors, stairs and doorways with no hassle. ‘Wait, look.’ Will points at a sign giving directions on the wall. He points at the arrow pointing toward the manager’s office. ‘If there’s going to be anything incriminating to be found, surely it’ll be in there.’ He states looking for approval from Jeff.

  ‘You might be on to something. So let’s head down here then make a right and we should be there.’ Jeff replies.

  ‘Sounds good. Let’s do this and get the fuck…’ Will is quickly interrupted as a vampire comes bursting through the ceiling on top of Will sending him to the ground knocking both his guns from his han
ds. Jeff lifts his shotgun to aim but as he fires the vampire punching the gun upwards sending the shotgun shell into the ceiling. Jeff gets a punch to the face forcing him to drop his shotgun. The vampire pushes Jeff to the wall with force as he picks Will up by his bullet proof vest and throws him down the corridor. Will smacks his head on the floor sending him into a daze. Jeff punches the vampire in the stomach making him hunch over in pain before then kneeing him in the face. The vampire stumbles back and looks up at Jeff with his black eyes and now blooded broken nose. He wipes the blood from under his nose and licks his hand before running back into Jeff rugby tackling him to the ground. The vampire sits on Jeff’s stomach punching him repeatedly in the face as Jeff tries to defend himself landing a few punches himself. Will uses his vampire speed to rush back over to the both of them, tackling the vampire to the ground as they begin to wrestle. They roll around on the floor, the vampire once again gets on top punching Will in the face. Will manages to grab hold of one of the vampire’s arms and chokes him with his other hand. The vampire grabs hold of the wrist of the hand choking him trying to pull it off but to no luck, Will keeps his grip. ‘Will!’ Jeff shouts. During their little wrestling match Jeff had gotten himself up and picked up his shotgun. Standing a few feet away from their heads he aims the shotgun toward them.

  Will tilts his head backwards notices Jeff’s stance and with all his strength pulls in his legs and with his feet propels the vampire into the air. Jeff takes his aim and shots while the vampire is in the air. Direct hit. The vampires head explodes into pieces sending a shower of blood over Jeff and all over Will as the body falls back onto him.