“Huh uh, you ain’t goin’ anywhere, babe,” Bill said as he squeezed her shoulder.
“Let the girl go!” Elizabeth demanded.
Bill glanced at her standing on the other side of the glass door. “So you’re the mighty Elizabeth. The House’s pit bull. More like a lapdog to me. You know, Jack told me that you’re a bit of a psychopath.”
“Pot and kettle, asshole. Pot and kettle.”
“In any event, there ain’t nothin’ you can do, not with the ward activated! You can’t touch me! So you’re gonna watch me rip this little girl’s head off and drink from her pretty little neck. And you won’t get a single drop!”
Bill had not drawn Dawn any closer to him. Dawn was squirming, trying to free herself from the vampire’s firm grip. He was only a couple feet away from Elizabeth, even if they were separated by the glass of the lobby door. Elizabeth looked the glass over. With one fluid motion, she drew her Colt, flicked off the safety, and sent four rounds in rapid succession through the window. The first warhead shattered the window but continued on to its target. The other three rounds, not so encumbered, followed the first into one ragged group right to the middle of Bill’s chest. The final look on his face was one of disbelief as he crumpled into a pile of ash.
“Wards don’t stop bullets, dumb shit,” Elizabeth spat. “Well, are you coming?”
“What about Scott?” Dawn asked. “You don’t expect him to take on all those vampires by himself, do you?”
“There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Like hell there isn’t. I’ve already killed a vampire today!”
“One vampire. Wow. Color me impressed.”
“I’m not leaving Scott to die by himself.”
“Suit yourself. You know how to use a gun? The end with the hole is the bad end. If you touch the trigger, it goes boom.”
Dawn rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know how to use a gun.”
Elizabeth dropped the magazine from the Colt, replaced it with a fully loaded one, and made sure the safety was on. “Catch,” she said as she tossed the pistol through the shattered door. Dawn actually caught the weapon, much to Elizabeth’s surprise.
“That’s my favorite pistol. I want it back when you’re done. In one piece and no scratches.”
“Don’t you need it?”
“I’ve got a second,” Elizabeth said as she sensed the gang of vampires coming around the south side of the building. “And it looks like I get to use it. Good luck, kid!”
Elizabeth pulled the Kimber from her small-of-back holster and began to engage the attacking vampires as Dawn cautiously slipped down the hallway.
Scott entered the main factory floor from the hallway and was immediately set upon by two more of Jack’s children, both of whom slashed at him with their swords. He evaded their blows and brought his own sword down on the first attacker’s left leg, severing it. Its former owner collapsed to the floor in pain. He then brought the sword down on the neck of the other vampire, ending him. The wounded vampire attempted to grab his amputated leg, only to have his head removed as well.
Those two down, Scott headed for the metal staircase on the south wall of the plant, intending to head to the foreman’s office high above the factory floor. Another vampire came running down the stairs at him, thinking it would be really cool to deliver a flying kick to his face. Scott moved out of his way, thrust his sword out, and let gravity do the rest as the flying vampire guillotined himself on his blade.
As Scott headed up the stairs, he heard the gentle footsteps of a fourth vampire approaching from behind. He turned his head to see the vampire lifting a wooden stake and aiming for the middle of his back, when suddenly a gunshot thundered through the confines of the building. Dawn’s warhead hit the vampire, not in the heart where it would do the most damage, but in the left buttock, leaving a painful, smoking wound. It was enough to distract the creature as Scott swung his arming sword around, cutting off the vampire’s head.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? I told you to get out of here!” Scott said.
“You’re not the boss of me,” Dawn replied.
“Fine! But you gotta work on your marksmanship. Shot placement is everything with these guys!”
“Well, sorry! This gun kicks hard and is really loud!”
“Of course, Dawn, it’s a gun! That’s what they do!”
No sooner had Scott spoken those words when another vampire came out of the foreman’s office with a large axe. He glared at Scott from immediately outside the office, standing on the steel-grated walkway that led from the top of the stairs to the office itself.
Scott reached down and grabbed the wooden stake left unused by the previous fallen vampire. “Watch this,” he told Dawn as he threw the stake at the vampire. Unfortunately, the stake missed and crashed harmlessly into the wall of the office and then fell to the grated floor.
“Wow, that was impressive,” Dawn said.
“Shut up.”
Scott then charged the vampire. The creature lifted its axe to cleave Scott’s head, allowing a convenient target for Dawn, who fired twice but missed. The gunshots caught the attention of the vampire long enough for Scott to deliver a roundhouse kick to his gut, propelling it against the office door. Scott’s blade came down upon the vampire before he could recover.
Scott tried to open the office door. Finding it locked, he yanked off the doorknob, tossed it aside, and then kicked the door open. Three vampires stood there, staring at him like deer in headlights. One of them, a surprisingly slight man, held the obelisk in his arms.
“You!” Scott said. “I’ll give you a choice: give me the stone and live, or don’t give me the stone and get dusted.”
The slight vampire made his choice and ran toward the back of the office and through another door located in the rear.
“Like I said, your choice.” Scott held the sword in a middle guard. “Guys, are we going to work this out, or are you going to make me kill you, too?”
The pair broke and ran for the door, away from Scott. He followed them and caught up to them on the metal stairs that led up from the foreman’s office to the roof access door.
“Ah, there you guys are! So, are you sure we can’t talk this over, you know, and give peace a chance?”
The first vampire turned around and snarled at Scott as it pulled a Bowie knife from within its jacket.
“Okay, so, maybe not,” Scott said as he beheaded that vampire.
The other one lashed out with a machete, only to have Scott reach up with his free left hand and grab the vampire by the belt. He pulled, and the vampire tumbled down the stairs. That vampire crashed but soon recovered, turning toward Scott and hissing.
Dawn caught up with Scott and fired two more warheads from the pistol and hit the vampire in the middle of the back, striking the vampire’s heart and killing it.
“That’s better! Way to work on your marksmanship skills!” Scott said. Dawn just shrugged.
Scott continued on toward the roof. When he cleared the door, he saw the slight vampire with the stone facing another figure on the far side of the roof. The small vampire did not notice Scott approaching from behind. This gave Scott the chance he needed, and he beheaded the little vampire before he could react. Scott then grabbed the stone, removed the Solomon key, and ended the dark magic that had secured the building for Jack.
The figure on the far side of the roof turned to face Scott. It was, as he had suspected, Jack.
“Well, well, well,” Jack said. “You got the obelisk. Bravo.”
Scott called down the stairs to Dawn, “I need you to get downstairs and tell Elizabeth and Jeremiah the stone’s spell has been broken.”
“Who’s Jeremiah?” Dawn asked.
“Big black guy. He’s another nice vampire.”
“Okay!”
“Now go on. I have some business to take care of here.”
Scott threw the Solomon key off the roof of the factory toward the slough.
Jack laughed. “Scott, Scott, Scott. What am I gonna do with you? You just killed off a shitload of your brothers and sisters. Now, that’s a serious case of sibling rivalry. I’m gonna have to spank you.” Jack drew his katana from its saya and then threw the scabbard away.
“First, they weren’t my brothers and sisters. Second, you aren’t my father.”
“Like it or not, I am your father. You know, most vampires respect their sire, seek to follow him, at least at first. It usually takes them a while to be able to defy their creator. But you? Right off the bat, you were a pain in my ass. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re a psychopathic freak. Or maybe it’s because you forced this on me. Or maybe I’m just not evil enough for this whole vampire thing. Or maybe all of the above.”
“When are you going to get over it? You have a destiny, a great destiny! By my side. You and me, father and son. Together, we are going to change the world. And by change, I mean rule. Now drop that pig sticker, and fulfill your destiny.”
“Sorry, Jack. My destiny is to kill you.”
“Well, if that’s how you want to do it,” Jack said as he held his katana in a high guard. “Then come at me, bro.”
Dawn made it down the stairs to the factory floor when three vampires came from the shadows, fangs bared, intending to snack upon the tasty morsel. She raised the Colt and fired three rounds, one after the other, hitting and killing two of the attacking vampires. The third continued to advance on her. She pulled the trigger, only to find she couldn’t since she had emptied the pistol.
Terror gripped her as the monster backed her against a large wooden crate, coming closer, ever closer. She could smell death on his breath as he bore down upon her sweet, young neck.
Suddenly, she was covered in dust and ash as the creature collapsed before her. Behind the dust of the monster stood a large African man with a stake.
“Are…are you Jeremiah?” she asked.
“At your service. Obviously, Scott has deactivated the ward. I saw the key come flying off the roof.”
“And you’re a nice vampire, right?”
“‘Nice’ is a relative term. But you are safe with me. Where is Scott?”
“He’s up there.” She pointed up the stairs.
“You need to get out of here.”
“But Scott…”
“Scott will be fine. I will see to it. But we need to get you out of here, now. Come with me.”
Reluctantly, Dawn agreed, and Jeremiah escorted her out of the building.
The two vampires faced each other on the rain-drenched roof, staring each other down like two competitive predators, Scott holding the arming sword, Jack’s katana in a high ward.
“You know, Scott, I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you have. Those brothers and sisters you killed, they were little more than cannon fodder. Now me, I have training and a lot more experience. Think about it! Ain’t no way you can beat me mano a mano!”
Scott knew it was true. He knew he could not beat Jack and would stand a good chance of getting himself killed, never mind Jack’s insistence on his special destiny. Scott had to come up with another plan, for Jack would either just escape or kill Scott and then escape. He looked to the obelisk and, to his own surprise, devised another plan almost immediately. Maybe it wasn’t a great plan, but right then he couldn’t come up with anything better.
Scott dropped his sword. “Okay, Jack, you win,” he said.
“I—wait. What?”
“You. Win.”
“Oh. Oh! Okay, cool! Easier than I thought, and I didn’t need to kill you. That’s a bonus!” Jack lowered his sword.
“I suppose you’ll want the obelisk, won’t you?” Scott asked as he reached for the black stone.
“Why, yes, I suppose I do. It’s kinda useless without a Solomon key, but what the hell, I’ll take it.”
Scott hefted the weighty stone in his arms. He had always been a relative weakling, but right now he was holding a stone weighing well over a hundred pounds, and it didn’t feel particularly heavy to him. Scott knew he would be able to carry out what he had planned.
“Okay, then,” he said. “Catch!”
Scott threw the large rock with all his might. Jack dropped his sword and attempted to catch the obelisk. The impact hit him hard and carried him over the edge of the roof. He fell the equivalent of four stories down, crashing into some abandoned wooden crates below.
Scott picked up his sword and then went to the edge of the roof and looked down on the wreckage in which Jack was sprawled. He remembered the lessons Jeremiah had taught him about controlling his descent and all the practice he’d had, including the painful and embarrassing lessons he had learned. He leaped from the height, falling almost gracefully and perfectly landing near the destroyed crates.
Jack woozily dusted himself off, wooden slivers of various sizes sticking into his back and legs. He stumbled from the wreckage and fell on his hands and knees before Scott. The tip of Scott’s sword found Jack’s exposed neck.
“Damn,” Jack sighed. “I shoulda seen that coming. Good job, Scott! You bested me. Well, I’d ask for mercy, but vampires don’t tend to be the most merciful types.”
“Mercy is among the best of the traits of human beings,” Scott said. “It’s a defining element of humanity.”
Jack smiled. Slowly, subtly, he reached under his jacket as he looked up at Scott. “Oh, that’s mighty big of you.”
“Don’t. I said mercy was a human trait. Thanks to you, I’m no longer human.”
Scott brought the sword above his head, preparing for a powerful cut. As he prepared to bring the sword down, Jack pulled a stake from his belt and thrust it into Scott’s stomach.
Scott doubled over in searing pain. Jack stood up, leaving the stake imbedded in his gut.
“Well, as they say, ‘Spare the rod, and spoil the child.’ Sorry, Scott. Better luck next time.” Jack limped away toward the gangway that led to the dock, where the small motorboat was moored.
Scott fell to his knees and then collapsed to the ground just as Jeremiah and Dawn came upon the scene. Dawn dropped to the ground beside Scott and cradled his head.
“He…he’s getting away,” Scott gasped.
Jeremiah prepared to rush the bank of the slough when he heard Elizabeth’s command: “No! He’s mine!”
Jeremiah turned to see Elizabeth, covered in the dust of her vanquished enemies, and she was carrying another of the weapons that had been secreted in her BMW—an RPG.
“Elizabeth,” Jeremiah said. “I thought you dead!”
“Why would you think that? There were only twelve of them.” She brought the RPG to her shoulder as Jack finally got the Evinrude outboard cranked. He untied the line that secured the boat to the dock. The boat began to pull away from the moorage.
“Please stand away from the end of this thing, ’cause it’s almost as bad as the front,” Elizabeth directed. “And cover your ears. This is gonna get loud.” She pulled the trigger on the RPG, sending the rocket flying toward Jack’s boat.
Jack only had time to roll his eyes and say, “Oh shit…”
The rocket hit the boat, which exploded in a ball of flame and expanding gas. Parts from the wreckage became airborne, falling all around. Flames engulfed what little remained, and even the old dock caught fire. Nothing remained of Jack.
The shock wave hit them, but Elizabeth still stood there. “Did you see that?” she said, laughing. “That. Was. Awesome!”
“Good shot,” Jeremiah said. “I guess that’s another way to kill vampires.”
“Exploding was the best thing Jack ever did! He was overly ambitious, arrogant, vain, and treacherous. And he was a completely inadequate lover.” Elizabeth put her hand up. “Do not ask.”
As the debris was still falling about them, Dawn held Scott’s head, gently stroking what little there was of his hair. She was weeping.
“Oh, Scott, I’m so sorry,” she
said as he closed his eyes, seeming to slip from consciousness. Dawn put her hand to his neck. “Oh my God, I can’t feel his pulse! I can’t feel his pulse!”
Scott slowly opened his eyes. “Of course, you can’t feel my pulse, silly. Vampires don’t have them.”
Dawn slapped him, and not even playfully. “You asshole! I thought you were dead!”
“Well, technically, I am dead, so that’s not too far off base. I am also in a lot of pain.” Scott winced. “Could someone take this log out of my gut, please?”
Elizabeth dropped the RPG tube, squatted, grabbed a hold of the offending wood, and pulled it out. Scott yelped as she did so. “Ow, that hurts worse than it did going in!”
“Don’t be such a baby,” Elizabeth said and then helped him up. “Sadly, I don’t think this is over. Jack was obviously a prolific sire, so there are probably a few of his bastards still out there who need to be hunted down. My work is not over.”
“Hey, Elizabeth, why don’t you take Dawn and get her some water?” Scott suggested. “I’ll join you in a minute.”
“Are you sure?” Dawn asked. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I’ll survive,” Scott replied. “Go on.”
“Come with me,” Elizabeth said. “I won’t bite. At least not today.” Elizabeth put her left arm around Dawn’s shoulder and started to walk with her toward the parking lot when Jeremiah put his hand on Elizabeth’s right shoulder. “Elizabeth, thank you,” he said.
“Are you kidding? I haven’t killed so many things in a long time. It was a pleasure!”
She started once more toward the lot when Jeremiah called after her, “You know, it is a mystery. I still do not know who it was that alerted me to Scott’s appearance before the House.”
“Oh really?”
“No. It came from a blocked number, and the voice was disguised. I suppose I will never be able to meet and thank this person.”
“Yeah, it’s a mystery. You know, there are a lot of vampires who think that Scott is kind of special. Could have been any of them.”
Suburban Vampire: A Tale of the Human Condition—With Vampires Page 34
