It probably should have been obvious who they were, but it didn’t come right away. It wasn’t until my brother pulled up alongside of me and I heard Jacob’s sorrowful “David.” Then I put two and two together.
David spoke up, his voice cheerful. “Sorry, Jacob, nothing personal. But Betty was terminal, and Christian offered us a second chance.”
“Christian?” asked Jacob. He was still draped over my brother’s shoulder, but did his best to turn so he could face David as he spoke.
“Can I drop him yet?” Bryan asked, turning slightly so Jacob could hold a conversation from where he was.
David nodded. “Yes, can you believe it? To see Christian after all of those years—it was the biggest shock of my life. Well, second biggest, after learning Betty had cancer.” He gave his wife’s hand a squeeze.
“There he was, after all that time, standing right in front of us. Even though I had only seen him briefly that one day, I still remembered him and everything we did to his family. I thought I was dead. And honestly, with Betty the way she was, all the pain she was in, I was ready to go. We both were.” The couple looked at each other and smiled.
“But Christian didn’t outright kill me. He sat us down there on the boat docks and said he wanted to talk. He wanted to know why we had done it. So I told him. I told him I was sorry for what I had done, and that Betty was terminal, and that I was ready to go. We ended up out on that pier for quite some time.
“And that’s when he made us the offer. He said he would spare us, cure Betty, let the two of us be together forever like he should have been with his wife and kid. What could I do, Jacob? I made the deal.
“I had to give up the rest of the crew, but it’s not like we didn’t deserve it. And everyone has lived a long life. No one else except for poor Fred was married or had kids. What did any of us have to live for anyway, especially after what we’d done? Paul was a cripple, Robert was a loner, you’ve been hiding from everyone for I don’t know how—”
I’m sure David had plenty more justification for his betrayal, but we never got to hear it. Martin, one of Christian’s remaining elder vampires who’d tried to drain me in the theater, had been crouched atop one of the shelves. He chose this moment to pounce.
I wasn’t sure if Martin knew that Lacey was a witch, or if he simply had a thing for pretty girls, but she was the one he landed on. She went down screaming.
Bryan acted fast, unceremoniously dumping Jacob onto the floor. With Martin all over Lacey, he wouldn’t be able to get off a clean shot, which he thankfully realized. In a rare moment of clarity, he reached for a stake instead of his gun. Bryan dove on Martin, bringing the stake down in a vicious arc.
I turned my attention to the geriatric duo in front of me. I brought up the AK and emptied the remainder of the magazine in a sweeping arc. Despite knowing what they were, I did a double take at how fast they reacted.
David had been ready for it and dodged most of the rounds meant for him. Unused to combat, Betty wasn’t as quick to move. Her orange Hawaiian shirt became even more garish as she spurted from multiple wounds.
David had hit the ground and rolled. Then he did something completely unexpected: he cheated. As if he’d forgotten the natural weapons now available to him, David came out of his roll clutching a Beretta 92 semi- automatic pistol. I moved as fast as I could, but knew I didn’t have enough time to react. The only thing that saved me was that he was out of practice. David only hit me once, but even that was almost enough. I felt the pinch in my side and knew that I’d been shot.
I ejected the magazine out of the bottom of the AK, snapped another one in, and took aim. I was still functioning, meaning it had either been a flesh wound or I was in shock and running on adrenaline—or a bit of both.
Rusty or not, David was already moving. I caught a fleeting glimpse of his turquoise shirt with its magenta flamingos fading down a dark aisle. I sent a stream of 7.62-millimeter lead in hot pursuit.
Betty wasn’t a trained fighter, but she had more than enough chutzpah to make up for it. Out of her handbag came an Uzi. However, it took only one burst to confirm that she had no experience using it. Even with her heightened strength, she fought to control the compact submachine gun. This fact provided little comfort as I dove for cover while a hail of lead indiscriminately sprayed everything in the office.
Before I hit the deck behind a computer tower, I saw Bryan sail by, thrown by Martin across the room. It took him out of the line of fire and into the mini-fridge, where he landed with a crunch.
When the gunfire stopped a few seconds later, I knew she was empty. Thirty bullets went quick at 600 rounds per second. I popped up from behind my cover to find that, like her husband, the lady hadn’t stuck around. She was already halfway down the corridor, running after David.
Lacey had used the opportunity caused by Bryan’s unsuccessful staking to squirm free of Martin, and she was now crab-walking backward, away from the vampire cowboy. Martin went after her, a leer hanging off his mustached face. The stake my brother had driven into his back was still embedded a few inches below his heart.
Martin was about to strike Lacey, and she was in a bad position to defend herself. I was out of ammo for the AK so I dropped it, then pulled out the Glock and fired. Bullets tore into Martin, but he ignored them and kept moving until he loomed over Lacey, who turned her face away from him. At first I thought she didn’t want to witness her inevitable death. But when I realized she was focused on me, I frowned.
Martin looked back and saw me holding the smoking Glock. I ejected its magazine and was frantically fishing for a replacement as he reached for her, grinning.
“Sorry, babe, but your boyfriend ain’t gonna be able to save you.”
“Who, him? Save me? Give me a break. I’m going to do that all by myself.” Lacey flung her arm toward me then whipped it back toward Martin.
I realized then that I was indeed her savior, but not in the way I had envisioned. My blood leapt to her will in a red whip, arcing toward Martin. I shouted as, in her fervor, Lacey not only yanked all the blood that had already drained out of me, but a bunch that had managed to stay inside.
Martin’s eyes widened as the stream altered in mid-flight. The blood thinned and fanned out, becoming a six-foot-wide, one-foot-deep, razor- thin sheet of crimson. This vampire was old enough and smart enough to want no part of whatever was being aimed his way. He released Lacey and leapt straight up to the ceiling, hoisting himself up by an exposed pipe. He didn’t clear the arc in time. The bloody scythe caught his legs, severing them clean right below the knees. Any sound the stumps made as they hit the floor was muffled by Martin’s howl of rage and pain.
Lacey got up to prepare another spell. I caught her eyes, vehemently shaking my head. I was done being used as ammunition. She reluctantly acquiesced, dropping her arm and ceasing her incantation. I slapped a new magazine home and took aim at Martin, but he was already fading out of sight. He moved along the piping that lined the ceiling, one arm in front of the other like a kid crossing the monkey bars.
The immediate threats removed, my body stumbled forward involuntarily. I put a hand out against a shelving unit to steady myself.
“You’re hit,” said Bryan. He had extracted himself from the mini-fridge and moved to help me find my footing.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” I said, risking a glance down. The bullet had entered my left side just above the belt line. The initial bloodstain had gone after Martin, but a new one was happily re-forming. “I’m okay. Lacey can patch me up after we get out of here.”
At my words, something crossed Lacey’s face that I didn’t like, but I didn’t have time to question her about it. I grabbed the empty AK off the ground, slung it over my shoulder, picked a hallway that led in the same general direction as the fire escape, and took it.
Bryan and Lacey followed, and the three of us were soon feeling our way past packed shelves. It was almost pitch black; the only lights had been in the office. The va
mpires could probably see, but we couldn’t, and I was fading too fast to allow us to prolong our escape. I hated to do it, but I unslung the AK and turned on the flashlight affixed to its barrel.
I longed for night-vision goggles. The flashlight was a beacon. Its glow in the vast dark loft would lead anyone right to us—though I had to admit, until that happened, the light sure helped a lot. We were able to make our way to the fire escape fairly quickly, only to find a welcome party waiting for us.
There were two of them, probably the ones I had seen earlier on the monitor crossing the parking lot. They weren’t ancient vampires but, given the shape we were in, it didn’t matter. One of them was built like a brick house. He must have been some sort of pro wrestler or college football player before he was turned. The other was a diminutive Latina with a lopsided grin that said she held herself in high regard and us, not so much.
All I had left was the 17 rounds in the Glock, so I decided to use them. I dropped the empty AK, fast-drew the Glock, and fired. Most newly made vamps still fear bullets out of reflex. The big guy was no exception. He avoided the gunfire by jumping out of the large open window behind him, landing on the fire escape we had used to enter the loft.
The little one laughed as I emptied what was left in the gun at her.
“Is that the best you can do?” She folded her arms and cocked her head, the dim light of the flashlight showing several holes in her top where my rounds had hit home.
My brother once again dumped Jacob on the ground, but instead of pulling out his revolver, he did something unexpected. He charged the big guy, who had popped back up to peer into the window to see if the shooting had stopped. Bryan dove straight through the open window, planting his shoulder right in the guy’s chest.
Lacey’s spell came quickly. She and Bryan couldn’t have timed it better. The Latina tilted her head in confusion before she screamed. Blood shot out of her bullet holes, veered right, took another sharp turn, and headed out the window after my brother.
The thin tendrils wrapped around the big guy’s throat as he tumbled back against the railing. My brother bent down, grabbed the guy’s legs, and heaved him headfirst over the side of the fire escape.
Bryan stepped aside as the bloody tendrils went taut, snapping the girl off her feet and yanking her out the window. To her credit, she was fast enough to grab the guardrail, jerking hard as the tendrils reached their limit. Her big friend came to a stop inches before his face hit the pavement.
“So much for using the fire escape,” I said.
“So let’s find another before they come back!” Lacey said, already heading back into the maze.
Chapter 21
I was the last to drop down into the safe room. I wasn’t sure how much time it would take the vampires to find the trapdoor, but I guessed not long.
“Can you do something about this?” I said to Lacey, motioning to my gunshot wound.
“You don’t look so bad,” Lacey said, giving the wound a cursory look.
“What do you mean, I don’t look so bad? I’ve been shot!”
“Well, yeah, but I think it missed all of your vitals. Look, you were hit right on the side. I’m pretty sure that’s just fat.” She pointed a finger at the general location of my wound.
“A: that’s not fat, it’s pure muscle; B: it’s bleeding and I’m starting to feel tired; and C: it hurts like hell. So please fix it.”
Lacey sighed. “Okay, it’s like this. I kind of used a lot of magic on you when I patched you up the last time. Magic is one of those things best taken in moderation, especially the kind I was using to fix you. Especially because I had to cut some corners.” She noticed the look on my face and added quickly, “Listen, did you want to lose the leg? No? That’s what I thought. And not only did I patch your leg, I used more magic on you when I went after that vamp upstairs. You know, Legless?”
“I remember. You kind of overdid that one, by the way. You could have used the stuff that was already out of me. You didn’t have to go in for seconds.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” she apologized. “But he was going to kill me and I got kind of excited. But the thing is, I’ve used a lot of magic on you lately, and too much of the wrong kind of magic can lead to… complications.”
“What do you mean, complications? What kind of complications?”
“Nothing major. We can talk about that later. I’m sure you’ll be fine, but right now you should get that looked at, because there’s nothing I can do.” She nodded toward the bullet hole in question.
I growled in frustration. “Fine. Jacob, do you have any bandages?”
“Of course I do.”
Now that he had been transported away from the office, it seemed the vampires’ orders had faded, at least enough for him to function. Or maybe it was the opportunity to avoid more magic use that allowed Jacob to get a military-style medical kit out of a nearby cabinet. Jacob had me lie down on the cot, then he cut away my shirt and examined the wound.
“It’s a clean one. Like the girl said, it went right through. I can patch it up, but you should see a doctor to make sure nothing important got damaged.”
Meanwhile, Bryan had wandered to the metal security door and was trying unsuccessfully to open it.
“Dude, what’s up with this door? The handle turns, but this thing won’t budge.” Despite his announcement that the door to the escape tunnel wouldn’t move, he continued turning the handle and pushing it. Then he stopped pushing, took a step back, and rushed forward, slamming his shoulder against it. The door pushed out a quarter inch before stopping. He tried again, but his next effort was both ineffective and loud.
“Will you please stop that before they find us? It’s not going to work; I barricaded it with a metal pry bar,” said Jacob. He cleaned my entry and exit wounds with an alcohol swab that hurt like crazy. Now he was putting on a clean bandage.
“What the hell did you do that for?” asked Bryan.
Jacob shrugged, declining to answer the question.
It hit me then. I realized he must have barred the door after Megan and I came down here to sleep.
“Seriously, Jacob? You locked us up? Were you that worried Megan was going to come up and kill you?”
“And why shouldn’t I have been?” Jacob said it loudly, righteous anger bubbling to the surface.
“Because I said she wouldn’t. Don’t you trust me?”
Jacob looked me in the eyes before answering. “I thought you were under her influence.”
“And you thought locking us up for the day was the best solution? If she was going to kill you, she would have done it before we went down there. Or, if not then, when we came up afterwards. How was locking us up for the day going to help you?”
Jacob was either too embarrassed or too scared to comment further.
Lacey figured it out right before I did. “Nice friend you’ve got, Chance. I don’t think he intended for you and Megan to ever come back out.”
I realized Lacey was right. Jacob had planned on either killing us or holding us indefinitely. I guess not all hunters flipped as easily as I did. Though, in my defense, a vampire had saved my life. That goes a long way in shifting one’s perspective.
“So what were you going to do: imprison us forever or drop a Molotov on us while we slept?” I asked him.
“Neither. Molotovs are for amateurs.” He added sheepishly, “I was going to use an incendiary grenade.”
“Wow. So what made you have second thoughts?” I asked, wondering what had stopped him and trying not to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t.
“I didn’t—the witch kept checking the fridge all day long. It was like she expected food to materialize somehow. I never got the chance.”
“Nice, bro. You were saved by Lacey’s eating disorder,” Bryan quipped. He had backed off from the door several feet and, despite Jacob’s request, was obviously thinking about taking another run at it.
“It’s not a disorder. I have
high metabolism,” retorted Lacey. Right after she said it, she let out a little sneeze. “I smell smoke.”
“Me, too. Looks like the vamps are going to have themselves a barbeque,” said Bryan. He thought better about another charge and began searching for something he could use to force the door open.
“Well, Jacob, if we weren’t all going to burn in here with you, I would have said this fire the vamps started was some sort of karmic payback for what you were going to do to me.”
“You brought a vampire here. Into my house! What did you expect me to do, carry on like nothing was wrong when I had a monster in my safe room?” Jacob’s embarrassment at our having uncovered his homicidal intentions was overriding any inner reflection about our impending demise.
“I expected you to trust me. I said she was okay.”
“You could have been under her spell. There is no such thing as an okay vampire, Chance. They’re all evil, plain and simple.”
“You’re right. Next time a friend calls me for help, I’m hanging up. You know, in case they might be under a spell and leading me into a trap.”
The point hit home and Jacob shut up.
“Where does this let out?” I asked, motioning toward the barred escape door.
“At the far side of the building, on a side street. Why? What does it matter?” Jacob asked, then his face grew desperate. “Chance, no. You can’t ask Kevin to come back here. You heard Christian—he went to look for them. The vampires will kill him before he gets this far.”
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on asking Kevin to come back here. Besides, I’m sure he’s long gone by now.” At least I hoped he was, and my mom and Megan with him. “So, how does one get from there to here? Sewers?”
Texas Hold 'Em Page 21
