Blood of the Innocent

by Cheryel Hutton

  “No, but I think it’s a good bet that Veronica knows this guy.”

  “You sure you don’t remember her number?”

  “Sorry.” Joe looked back toward town. “Besides, she’s on her way.”

  Mike turned a glare on him. “Just how the bloody hell would you know that?”

  Joe shrugged. “Not a clue. I just know she is.”

  “She’s nuts and she’s rubbed off on you.”

  He shrugged again. Mike could think what he wanted. Joe sure as hell didn’t have an explanation for what was happening.

  Footsteps caught Joe’s attention. Somebody was coming his way, and it wasn’t Veronica.

  A man stepped toward them and stopped. “I thought I heard something over here.”

  Joe recognized him, he’d seen the guy come and go from the lab. He was vampire too, of that he was positive. “We’re waiting for somebody.”

  The man narrowed his eyes as he smiled. “Yes, I’ve seen you waiting for Veronica before.”

  Alarms went off in Joe’s head, as he remembered Veronica saying she was worried about being seen talking to him in the lab’s parking lot. He forced a chuckle. “Actually, no. We’re waiting for a guy who said he could tell us where a great tittie bar was.”

  “Yeah,” Mike put in. “I’m looking forward to a little fun.”

  The man’s laugh sent icy shivers down Joe’s spine. Whoever this guy was, he didn’t have good intentions.

  “You’re lying.”

  Joe opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, several men stepped out of the trees surrounding the road and parking lot.

  “Well,” one of the newcomers, a man Joe recognized, said as he walked over to them. “What do we have here?”

  Mike stepped toward the man. “Vince, buddy, how’re you doing?”

  “Vincent,” he growled. “My name is Vincent.”

  “Hey, whatever you want, Vincent.” Mike backed away, hands up. “Sorry, just trying to be friendly.”

  Vincent walked up to Mike and got right in his face. “You are not my friend.”

  The vampire still stood in the same place, a small satisfied smile on his lips, an expression of hate in his eyes.

  “What the hell is this?” Joe asked.

  “What happens when you mess in things that don’t concern you.” The vampire’s smile widened.

  “You know I have no idea what you’re talking about, right?”

  “You should stick with your own kind.”

  Joe stared at the vampire. “Would you like to explain that statement?”

  Vince took a step toward Joe. “You’re friendly with one of those creatures. Did you know they drink human blood to survive?”

  “Yes.”

  Vince’s expression turned to disgust. “Then how can you have anything to do with them? They’re demons, I tell you. They’re out to destroy mankind.” His voice increased in intensity until at the end he was red-faced and all but shouting.

  Joe just watched him. “Like the guy standing next to you?”

  Vincent laughed. “Todd is just as human as you and me, but unlike you, he’s dedicated to fighting the inhuman scum that threatens us.”

  Joe shrugged. No use trying to convince a crazy guy. And there was no doubt Vince was insane. “Whatever you say.”

  “You should take them to headquarters,” Todd the vampire, said to the guy who hated vampires.

  “Aren’t you going too?” Joe asked.

  “I have work to do.”

  “He’s trying to find a cure,” one of the other men said.

  Vince spun and punched the guy so hard he fell on the ground. “You keep your mouth shut.”

  Cure for what? Were these men from the conspiracy Justin was investigating? If they were, why didn’t they realize Todd was a vampire? “So there’s a disease of some kind?”

  Vincent spun and stalked over to Joe. “None of your damn business, traitor.”

  “I’m a traitor, huh? To what?”

  “To your own kind, you idiot.” Vincent glared at him.

  “Is someone sick?” Mike took a step toward Vincent. “Maybe I could help.”

  Vincent’s lips curled into an ugly snarl. “The only sick’s going to be the Devil’s spawn. They think they can control us, but we’re not about to sit still like cattle to the slaughter.”

  Joe shot a glance toward Todd, who was looking smug. What the hell? “What happened to Justin?”

  Vincent got within an inch of his face. “I don’t know who killed your brother, but they saved us the trouble.”

  He didn’t even remember moving, but the next thing Joe knew his fist connected with Vincent’s face. Vincent dropped, and Joe stood over him. “Bastard.”

  Vincent just grinned. “You’d have to ask my momma about that.”

  “Go to hell.” Joe tried to shake loose the two men who held him, but it was no use.

  “Kinda trying to keep us all out of the hot place.” Vincent got to his feet. “Let’s take them back to H.Q.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Joe looked toward the familiar voice to see Veronica standing to one side, her arm around the neck of one of the men. He mentally calculated everybody’s position. This was about to get interesting.

  All at once, Todd appeared behind her. Her eyes opened wide for a second, then closed. She dropped to the ground.

  “We’re screwed,” Mike said.

  Joe agreed.

  Chapter 9

  Kevin crouched in the shadows and watched as Vincent smarted off to the brother of the guy that got killed. He was sure Vincent would smack him around if he knew, but he kinda understood the guy. He was just trying to find out who killed his brother. Kevin figured if he had a brother who got killed, he’d want to know who did it.

  The thing that really got him, though, was that nobody seemed to realize that Todd guy was one of the creatures. Kevin wasn’t sure how he knew, he just did. Was the man a spy? He needed to let Vincent know, if Vincent would even believe him.

  He saw the crazy woman behind Lucas, but she moved so fast he didn’t have time to shout a warning before she caught Lucas and held him with an arm around his throat.

  He stood to go help his fellow Alliance of True Humanity members, then thought better of the idea. If he went to help them, he’d be in the same position they were. If he stayed where he was, maybe he could figure out what to do.

  The thing was, something wasn’t right. Todd was one of those creature things, but Vince didn’t know it. He should do something, help them out, warn them about Todd. They would just laugh at him though. Say he was a kid, like they always did.

  Then the Todd guy did something to the crazy woman, knocking her out. It was odd but Kevin wanted to help her more than he wanted to help his fellow Alliance members. He couldn’t do that though, he had to be loyal to his friends. After all, he owed Vincent a lot.

  Didn’t he?

  ****

  Veronica woke in a dark dank room that smelled of dust and animal droppings. Just enough moonlight came through the single window to allow her to ascertain the place was approximately three meters by four meters. Her head hurt and she couldn’t remember how she got in that nasty place. What the hell happened? Oh yeah, she was rescuing Joe.

  She pushed herself to a sitting position, not easy with bound hands and feet. Her head pounded with the effort, and she fought back nausea. Memory flashes blew by of holding that human by the throat and thinking she had things under control.

  With a groan, she remembered Todd coming up behind her, then a stinging sensation in her neck. She reached up and touched the area, which was sore to the touch. Just as she thought, he’d drugged her with something. She vowed to get even with him, just as soon as she got out of there and found Joe. He was somewhere nearby. She could feel him.

  Her heart twisted at the thought of what these insane humans might do to him. She had to get going. Though it shot knives through her head and twisted her stomach, she pulled
at the restraints on her hands.

  Nothing happened.

  Well, that was strange. Was the problem that she was still weak from whatever that son-of-an-amoeba gave her? She pulled at the metal again without result. Maybe she could release herself some other way. She held up her hands and squinted through the darkness.

  Handcuffs. Okay, she’d already surmised that. Shouldn’t be a problem for her. She gave the cuffs an experimental pull in both directions. There was no give at all in the metal. Something was wrong here.

  Bringing the cuffs to her mouth, she touched her tongue to the metal. Steel. She pulled on it again. It couldn’t be. How would a small group of misguided, uninformed humans get their hands on something with a tensile strength greater than Maraging steel—which she should at least be able to bend? The only alternative was that she was still weak enough from the drug she couldn’t bend or break a frigging pair of handcuffs, and she didn’t believe that for a minute.

  She wiggled her legs, and verified what she suspected; her ankles were also bound with handcuffs. A couple of hard jerks with her legs got her nowhere, so she leaned forward. The handcuffs that bound her ankles seemed to be made of the same unbreakable material as those binding her hands. Pulling with the combined strength of both hands and legs got her nowhere, and she had to accept the idea that she wasn’t likely to get free with brute strength. Her heart sank as she thought about Joe and his friend. Were they near?

  Closing her eyes, she pictured Joe’s handsome face and let her ability slide out to reach for him. Seconds later, she caught his mind. She couldn’t read his thoughts, but she got that he was bound in a dark room just like her. He was close, but not in an adjoining room. Close enough, though, to get to him in a hurry, if she could just escape those hideous handcuffs.

  The sound of footsteps warned her, and she leaned back and closed her eyes so she would seem to still be drugged.

  The door opened and a figure slipped quietly into the room. “Are you awake, crazy woman?”

  She recognized the voice of the boy who’d tried to rob her, the one she’d taken blood from, the one who’d attacked Joe. “Yes.”

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “My name is Veronica.

  “Your whole name.”

  “Okay, it’s Veronica Teal, Ph.D. I work as a biochemist.”

  “At a lab in that big old Seabird house.”

  She licked her lips. What the hell, he already knew about it. “Yes.”

  He moved closer and she could see an outline of his face. He looked so young, she had a strong desire to hold him and tell him everything would be all right. “You’re one of those creatures Vincent hates, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I believe so.”

  “What are you?” He moved a little closer, tilted his head to one side, and leaned in like he was trying to figure out what he was seeing.

  “I’m vampire.”

  He blinked, but stood his ground. “Does that mean vampire like in horror novels?”

  “Not exactly, but the term is fairly accurate.”

  “Then why did you try to help those humans?”

  “Because they’re my friends.”

  Even in the dim light she could see the confusion on his face. “You’re friends with humans?”

  “Yes, most of my friends are human,” she admitted, to him and to herself.

  “That doesn’t make sense. Humans and your kind hate each other.”

  She swallowed, how did she explain something so complicated in a few sentences. “Actually, there isn’t much difference between you and me.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “No, I’m not. My job is genetics. I know a lot about the basic differences between humans and vampires. There is less difference in our genetic codes than between a chimpanzee and a human. Quite a lot less.”

  “I read that humans and chimps are related, but I didn’t understand.” He moved toward her again, and she could feel his curiosity.

  “What do you know about genes and DNA?”

  He shrugged. “I know that DNA makes genes, and genes are like the blueprint for a person.”

  Veronica smiled. This kid was too smart to be hustling for survival. “That’s right. And the difference between human genes and vampire genes is very small.”

  He tilted his head to one side. “Are you vampire people making a virus to wipe us out?”

  Shocked, she leaned back so hard she hit her head on the wall. “Why would we do that?”

  “Vincent says you want to kill a bunch of us so you could manage us better.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. Humans run the world. You control the businesses, industries, and services. Without humans, civilization would collapse. Nobody wants that.”

  He propped against what looked like a box. “Couldn’t the vampires run things?”

  “There aren’t nearly enough of us for that, even if we knew how.” She tried to catch his gaze. “What’s your name?”

  “Kevin.”

  “Kevin, I don’t mean you any harm.”

  “You wanted to help me, didn’t you? When I tried to mug you.”

  He remembered? Odd. “Yes, I didn’t want you to live on the streets and steal for survival. I still don’t.”

  “Why do you care? You aren’t even human.”

  “Because you’re young, and you deserve better than to be manipulated by anybody who helps you out.”

  He stared at her for a long time; so long she was afraid she’d gone too far.

  Finally, he spoke. “I can’t go home. There’s nothing back home but a drunk father who only cares about winning big. Trouble is, he always loses. And takes it out on me.”

  Her heart bled when she heard the words. His face twisted, and because of her psychic ability, she experienced his painful memory along with him. “Is there someplace else you could go?”

  The sound of footsteps had Kevin sucking in his breath. “They can’t find me here.”

  ****

  Joe struggled against his restraints, but all he was doing was making his wrists and ankles sore. There had to be a way to pull loose or slide out of the handcuffs, but he wasn’t finding any. With his ankles handcuffed, even if he managed to get to his feet, he couldn’t walk. There had to be some way, though. The dark, damp, nasty smelling room was the last place he wanted to be, and he was determined to get loose ASAP.

  Beside him, Mike let out a long creative stream of four letter words. Laughing in spite of himself, Joe looked toward his friend. “A little frustrated, are we?”

  “Shut the hell up, smartass.”

  Joe only laughed again. “What bothers you the most, being restrained, the germs in here that are multiplying exponentially as we speak, or the possibility that your precious surgeon’s hands might be damaged?”

  “Why do I consider you a friend?”

  “Because of my charming personality.”

  Another long, creative blast of profanity came from Mike, and Joe laughed. His amusement didn’t last long, though. He was too worried about getting away from this band of fanatical shitheads. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you, Justin,” he murmured.

  He heard footsteps just before the door swung open. In the dim light Vincent’s outline was just visible as it came toward him.

  Vincent stopped just far enough that Joe couldn’t nail him with his restrained legs. “What is it with you and your nosy brother?”

  Joe glared into the man’s face as he jerked at his restraints. “Why did you kill Justin?”

  Vincent squatted in front of him. “I told you before. we had nothing to do with your brother’s death.”

  Joe put all his anger and frustration in to breaking the handcuffs so he could choke the life out of this asshole. “You’re a lying piece of shit!”

  Vincent only smiled. “I may or may not be excrement, but I’m not lying. I honestly have no idea who killed him, but, like I said, whoever it was did our organization a favor.”

  Joe slid his legs unde
r him, and struggled to get to his feet. He heard Mike yell a warning just before something hard hit him in the back of the head. As he dropped to the floor, he heard Mike’s tirade against their captors. Then everything went black.

  ****

  When Todd walked in, Veronica instinctually sent out a strong mental prod, but hit an impenetrable barrier.

  He grinned. “You can’t do that to me, I’m a Guardian.” His expression hardened. “Or at least I used to be. Arrogant pricks and their antiquated rules.”

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

  He smiled again. “What those idiots who supposedly guard us are afraid to do.” He turned and looked toward the corner where Kevin was hiding. “Come on out, human. I know you’re there.”

  “It’s okay, Kevin,” she said, hoping she sounded more sure than she was.

  Slowly Kevin moved from behind a wooden box. “Who are you?”

  Todd grinned. “I’m your worst nightmare, kid.”

  “Stop it!” Veronica snapped. “Don’t pay any attention to him, Kevin. He’s a jerk.”

  Todd turned to her. “Jerk, huh? Is that why you rejected my approaches?”

  “That would be it.”

  He laughed. “So you turned to a human for your biological needs. Traded down, I’d say.”

  “You’d be wrong. Joe’s a far better man than you’ll ever be.”

  “That has to be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. It’s not possible for a human to be superior to a vampire.”

  Veronica smiled. “I beg to differ. Most humans are superior to you.”

  The slap knocked her onto her side. She spat the nasty dirt out of her mouth and pushed herself back to a sitting position. “Jealous, Todd?”

  Todd threw back his head and laughed heartily. “Of a human? You’re delusional, Dr. Teal.”

  Kevin took a step toward him. “Leave Dr. Veronica alone! She’s nice, and she cares about people. She’s smart too, and she knows all about genes and DNA and the differences between my people and yours.”

  “Thank you, Kevin.” Tears burned Veronica’s eyes as she smiled toward Kevin. She would find a way to get him out of this craziness and help him find a good life. Of course, she had to get herself out of this mess first.