The Vampire stalked forward. I rolled to my back, keeping my head up so I could see her. Seeing me move, she screamed and dashed forward. I used her momentum against her. Just as she reared up to gut me, I put both feet into her stomach and launched her up and over me. Elongated limbs flailed as the Vampire flipped through the air and landed in a heap. I rolled to my feet and got ready to end it.
The only thing that had saved me was that shooting the blood sacs had drained enough of the Hellion blood that the Vampire was still feral, driven by an instinct too compelling to ignore. All it could think about was feeding. If it had been more aware, I’d have been screwed.
She rolled onto all fours, hissing, her fanged tongue flicking through the air. A droplet of spittle hit my cheek, and I instantly felt the warm numbing sensation spread across my skin. I didn’t have time to be intimidated. I also didn’t have time to keep playing defense.
I took three steps forward, rushing her. The Vampire screeched, rearing up and raising her taloned hands above her head, ready to strike. I hurled the fistful of silver nitrate into her face. Everywhere the powder touched instantly started to redden and swell. Her scream was choked off as her tongue swelled up three times the size it should have been, popping out of her mouth like an overfilled water balloon.
Her eyes swelled and popped, spilling a milky pus down her face. She tried in vain to scrape the powder off her face as she collapsed to the ground. Enormous hives erupted across her skin, and each one her talons scraped across popped in a wave of pus-filled liquid. Her body started to shake, full on anaphylaxis setting in.
I turned back to the Vampire I’d lit on fire. She was done screeching, and unfortunately, done burning as well. I could see that her skin was charred and blackened in the moonlight, smoke still rising off of her and the ground around her. She was moving, but slowly. The fire had taken it out of her, but she’d drank enough Hellion blood that I had a feeling she was going to be up and at em shortly.
I did a quick check. I couldn’t see the male Vampire anywhere. I wasn’t sure why he would have run away and left his pack to fend for themselves. He was clearly the Alpha, but his behavior was anything but typical. I didn’t have time to worry about it. There was a small chance that he’d left me to get eaten by the ladies and taken off after Alastair. If that was the case, I needed to go.
I turned and ran, scooping up the duffle as I moved passed it. I gave a quick look around, searching for the 320, but I couldn’t see it, and I didn’t have time to search for it.
“Dammit!”
I pushed into the trees at a run, not wanting to be there when the female Vampire regenerated enough to be deadly again. I rooted around in the duffle as I moved, finding the spare mag I had for the 552 and swapped out the empty one. If I was going to be up against the Alpha, I only had one magazine of 5.56, and the SOG strapped to my ankle. Also, a second napalm grenade, can’t forget about that.
I hauled ass to the car. If I’d been a different person, I would have thrown up a silent prayer for the blessing of good cardiovascular endurance. I didn’t though. I’d worked my ass off for it.
My heart was pounding when the car finally came into view. I could see steam billowing out of the exhaust pipe, but Alastair had had the sense to keep the lights off. Maybe he wasn’t utterly useless was after all. I spun in a circle, looking for Vampires. I didn’t see any. That was a small blessing I supposed.
I came to the car at a full sprint. I ripped open the back door and set the duffle down on the seat. I pulled out my second napalm grenade and yanked the flare’s cord. Red flames sputtered to life, dropping tiny fireballs as it burned. I slammed the door and ripped the passenger door open. I stepped on the floor of the car and turned.
“Drive!” I shouted.
He must have already had the car in drive cause it lurched immediately. I grabbed onto the open door, so I wouldn’t fall. I hurled the glass jar at the ground as we drove off. It shattered in a splash of flames. I shifted and sat down in the car, slamming the door.
“What was that for?” Alastair asked.
I took a second to answer. I was busy sucking in air and trying to slow my heart rate. I flipped the 552 on safe while I sat there, no need for an accident after surviving the battle.
“Vampires are damn near perfect predators. They can see in pitch black. They can smell blood from a quarter mile and can track like a damned bloodhound.
“Hopefully between the smoke and the gas fumes, they won’t be able to track us down by scent.”
We sat silently for a minute after that. My mind was racing, and my hands were shaking from the adrenaline dump. “What did you get me into Al?” I asked.
“Those were Vampires?” He asked.
I nodded. “Yup.”
“They were, different than I imagined.”
“That’s cause just about everything people know about them is romanticized bullshit. They’re animals, not debutants. They want one thing, and that’s to feed. It drives them, and that mindless bloodlust is the only reason why they haven’t taken over the world. If they were sentient, they’d be the perfect predator that only has two natural weaknesses.”
“Sunlight?” He asked.
“And silver,” I said, nodding.
“The male appeared to be quite alert. He had the presence of mind to stop feeding as well as bring the other two there for that specific purpose.”
“Yea,” I said. “He did didn’t he.”
“You said they aren’t sentient.”
“They aren’t normally, unless they get their hands on Hellion blood. There’s power in blood. It’s why blood magic is so damn nasty. Hellion blood has more power in it than human or animal blood. It gives them back their ability to think and reason and transform back into a human form. It doesn’t last though. A Vampire would need a constant supply of Hellion blood to remain alert and Awakened.”
“Awakened?”
“That’s what the Venatori calls them. I thought you’d have known that.”
“I haven’t read much on Vampires.”
“Yea well consider yourself lucky then Al. Cause they are a pain in the ass. Where there’s one, there’s two, and when you see three of them, one of them Awakened, that means there’s a nest somewhere in the city. That means that not only will we have the Venatori sniffing around; we also have to worry about Vampires. That son of a bitch knew the Rift would be there. You aren’t the only one who knows how to predict them.”
“I don’t know how that could be. I haven’t shared my findings with anyone besides His Holiness.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but that bastard was there to feed on that Hellion,” I said. “When does the next Rift open?”
“Thirty-six hour from now.”
“In the daytime. So all we need to worry about is whatever Hellion may come out of it, which again could be almost anything.”
Lovely.
14
My nerves were fried by the time I closed the door to the apartment. I spent the entire drive checking over my shoulder. I hadn’t even bothered hiding the 552 when I’d walked up the stairs in the building. A shabby looking guy on the stoop was going to ask for change but took off running at the sight of me. Another one saw me and then asked if I had a cigarette, not caring what I was carrying as long as I also had a nicotine fix for him.
I walked in, dropping my duffle at the door. I went to the kitchen and opened the cupboard. I stared into it. I could see my container of oatmeal.
“Go look for Rifts,” I muttered. “It’ll be fun. Think of all the fun surprises waiting for us. Like a Ghoul or a pack of feral Vampires.”
I looked at the oatmeal for about a minute before I slammed the cabinet closed, rattling half the kitchen, and opened up the fridge. I took out two Redbulls. I cracked one open and downed it. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I was on the verge of a cold sweat.
I tossed the empty can, put on a pot of coffee, and took my second Redbull with me. I pull
ed a chair from in front of the TV and set it up in the hallway. Once I was done with that, I loaded up the KSG with double ought buck and took a seat. I popped open the second can and drank.
“Go back to your apartment. Why not? It's not like a Vampire could track you back there, right? There’s only five hours until dawn. What could possibly happen?”
The smell of coffee started to fill the room. I took deep breaths, hoping the fumes would calm me down. They didn’t.
I stomped my foot. Jerry hit the wall. I shouldered the KSG, pointing it down at the floor, considering blasting the bastard through his roof. I shook my head, not worth it. I lowered the shotgun and leaned back, closing my eyes.
Something wasn’t right about the situation. It wasn’t just that I was royally screwed. It was the Alpha Vampire.
Vampires are pack animals with a strict hierarchy. Get more than two or three of them together, and it’s a constant display of dominance. He’d managed to get his hands on Hellion blood. He had an advantage over the rest of the pack. The stuff was like steroids mixed with Adderall for Vampires. It wasn’t just that they could transform back into human form and hold a conversation. It made them faster, stronger, and once they got a taste for it, the fear of ever going back to their mindless existence usually drove them to hunt constantly.
That explained why he’d fed on the Ghoul, but he’d brought two members of his pack there specifically to feed on a Hellion. That didn’t make any sense. They would gain power, and that power would mean a chance of challenging his position as the Alpha of the pack. Most Vampire packs are led by females. No one is sure why, but it was strange to find a male running the show, or one that would willingly give more power to a female Vampire.
“What’s your game bloodsucker?”
I sipped on my Redbull. I tried to think of anything other than Vampires. It didn’t work. I thought about getting Carl up to tell him what was going on, but he had to get up in a few hours anyway. Might as well let him sleep in peace a little longer before I let him know that our situation had gotten substantially more shitty.
Something crashed in the apartment
I woke with a jolt, bringing the KSG up to my shoulder, wild-eyed and ready to dish out murder. I didn’t remember falling asleep. The last thing I remember was finishing my Redbull and getting up to get some coffee. My crotch was wet. I didn’t think I’d pissed myself, so I was pretty sure I knew what had happened to the mug of coffee. Sure enough, it was on the ground in a puddle between my feet.
I didn’t find a Vampire coming to bleed me dry. What I found was Carl, on the ground. He’d come out of his room and tripped over my duffle bag. It wasn’t even dawn yet, and he’d come out groggy and bleary-eyed, falling into the wall and ending up on the ground. The worst part was that I don’t think he even cursed as he fell.
Damned Holy Man.
“Deckland?” He asked.
“Sorry!” I said, moving the muzzle of the KSG off him. “Forgot I left it there when I got in.”
Carl used the wall to climb to his feet. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you in bed?”
“I was worried something might track me back here.”
“What? What happened with Alastair? Did something come out of the Rift?”
I nodded as Carl walked down the hall, stopping a few feet in front of my chair.
“Yea. Ghoul popped out. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the three Vampires that showed up afterward and fed on the damn thing.”
“Vampires?” Carl asked. “Vampires are real?”
Sometimes I forgot he was still new to all of this. He’d been exposed to the nastier side of reality over the past year, but it was still just the tip of the iceberg. There was a whole dimension of shit out there that he’d never seen or heard of.
“Very real, and a huge pain in the ass.”
“What happened?”
“Killed one, burned another one with some napalm. No clue what happened to the third one. Which has me worried. He disappeared when things got loud. It’s not like a Vampire to skip an easy meal.”
“What do we do?” Carl asked, crouching down to pick up my fallen coffee mug.
I mustered a tired smile. Carl was damn near useless in a fight, but he was the first to volunteer to go bravely into the lion’s den. Idiot.
“We stick to the plan, stay put and keep low. Alastair pays up after I show him around two more Rifts. Once that’s done, we get the hell out of here. This isn’t just about the Venatori anymore. We have God knows how many Rifts popping up, Hellions coming out of them and now we have a pack of Vampires, at least one of them is Awakened, and we have no clue how many there are.”
“Awakened?”
“Not now. Are you heading to work?”
“Yea.”
I stood up, dripping cold coffee onto the floor.
“I’m coming with you. You don’t go anywhere alone now, not between dusk and dawn.”
He looked into my eyes. I’m sure they were glazed and bloodshot. I felt like a Dixie cup overflowing with cold diarrhea.
“Did you drink anything?” He asked.
I stared back into his eyes. I wanted to lash out, but I knew that I owed him an answer. I was constantly dragging him into situations he shouldn’t be in. I leaned forward and full on breathed in his face. Shocked, he took a step back.
“Your breath is awful.” He said.
“Redbull and coffee.”
“Midnight snack of champions.”
I stretched, my joints popping and cracking audibly. “Yea. Go get ready. I’ll come with you and walk back once the sun’s up.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
He walked back to the bathroom, careful to step over my duffle bag. I watched him walk away, feeling something that I was pretty sure was either shame or pity at the thought of him. Carl deserved better than what I was putting him through. Poor guy just wanted to lead his church and make the world a better place. Only problem is that I’m pretty sure the world is past the point of saving. By now, we’re all just treading water until the apocalypse.
I stretched again with a groan. My body hurt. I was too old for all this nonsense. People who are over three centuries old deserve a nice peaceful night’s sleep, not an ass kicking from a pair of bare-ass Vampire ladies.
I hadn’t taken stock of my gear after getting back. I grabbed my duffle and went through it. I was out of silver nitrate powder, but I could get more once the craft supply stores opened up. I was in the mood to buy up the entire supply in the city.
I checked myself for any cuts. I looked fine. Two scratches were running down my vest, the ceramic wasn’t broken, but it was definitely gouged. They ran from my sternum and stopped just before the bottom of the vest. Two more inches and the Vampire would have hit me in the gut, the leg, or the dick. All of which were mortal wounds in their own way.
By the time Carl was ready to go, I’d managed to get a clean shirt and pants on. I’d also had enough time to start being really pissed that I’d lost a gun. I liked my 320. Luckily for me, I had a replacement Sig courtesy of the dead Swiss Guard.
I was pulling on my boots when he walked back into the living room. Carl had the nerve to look his perfect hipster self at four in the damn morning. He had the scruffy beard that faded into his short on the side and long on the top haircut. The look was complete with a shirt long enough to practically go to his knees and more bracelets than a grown man should ever wear.
“Trendy bastard,” I muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Staggering to my feet, I got the Sig 220 into a shoulder rig and threw on my bomber jacket. I didn’t need a mirror to know I looked like a bag of beat dicks. Carl may have been the trendy one of the two of us, but no one pulls off meth dealer-chic better than me.
“Ready?” He asked.
I grunted.
The silent drive to the coffee shop was hell on my tired brain. It was too exhausted to multitask, and I was busy co
ntinually checking the mirrors and every pitch-black alley we drove by. Carl was somewhere else as we drove. I could see it on his face. If I had to guess, I’d say he was worried about me. Typical.
I told him to park in the small lot that was supposed to be reserved for customers. I wasn’t in the mood to walk out in the open any more than we had to. I had the 220 drawn, round in the chamber, hammer cocked. I wasn’t dying walking fifteen feet from the truck to the door, and neither was Carl. I kept the Sig against my thigh as we hurried to the door. Carl fumbled his keys. His hands shook and the keys jangled in the crisp pre-dawn air.
He managed to find the right one, and we were in. I snapped the bolt behind us, all too aware that two sides of the building were pretty much all glass. Being inside did feel better than being out in the open, but the fact was the coffee shop made a piss poor fallback point. At least a Vampire couldn’t come at us from any angle now. I flipped the decocker on the 220 and got it back in the shoulder rig.
Carl busied himself with getting everything ready. I pulled a table to a good spot in the corner, where I could have solid brick at my back. I sat and focused on all the glass as I listened to the sounds of coffee being ground and the scent filled the air.
We weren’t alone for long. A figure materialized out of the near darkness. I caught the movement and had the 220 halfway out of the holster before they became visible in the dim safety lights of the coffee shop. Pale skin set off alarm bells, but thick-rimmed glasses and a bouncing blue ponytail set me at ease.
Jules got her key in the lock much easier than Carl had. She opened the door and locked it behind her as she came in. She was halfway to the counter before she noticed me. She stopped mid-step, almost tripping. I’d already slipped the 220 back into the holster and had my bomber jacket hiding it from view.
“Deckland. What are you doing here?”
“Take your roommate to work day,” I said.
I’d had that one ready. I didn’t know who Carl would be working with, but I knew that someone else was going to show up eventually. I figured a quick-witted quip would disarm them. From the laugh that she gave, I could tell it worked. I can be weirdly charming when I want to be. Most of the time I just prefer to be an asshole. It adds to my mystique.
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