by Brown, Wayne
Although being knocked to the ground rather heavily and feeling winded, Dr. Lenzo now knew that he had him. The rest of the clan members were by now scuttling away to safety. Seeing what fate possibly awaited their leader, they did not wait around much. If he could not save himself now, what could they who were less capable do. Two of the hunters tried to get a shot on the vampire who Dr. Lenzo had shot multiple times as they knew very well that it might get back up and try to spring and attack him. Very suddenly, as they suspected, the alpha male quickly recoiled going straight for Lenzo’s neck. Lenzo, acting out of human natural instincts, reacted quickly and stretched out his left hand to save his neck from the bite, but ended up being bitten on the hand.
“ Holy Shit!” he shouted out, looking at the wound on his now injured hand.
The creature lounged at him once more, and he hurriedly reached into his right pocket and came out with a syringe which he quickly stabbed in the vampire’s neck. It was a cyanide injection which Dr Mabel had given him as a sample which was yet untested. As long as it deterred any further attacks, that was all that mattered to Dr. Lenzo at that very point in time. It had a devastating effect on the vampire, quickly weakening it even without him administering the full dosage of the syringe’s contents. The creature stumbled backwards, falling back to the ground, writhing in pain and discomfort. Dr. Lenzo gathered himself quickly and got to his feet, taking his knife from its protective leather casing and stabbed the vampire in the abdomen with it. He yelled and screamed. Two of his team members rushed to his help while the rest surrounded the weak vampire at gunpoint. They dragged him further away from the vampire who was now holding onto the wound. By the time they were done with administering first aid Lenzo’s wound, the rest of the team had caged the vampire which was getting weaker and weaker as the seconds sped by. Lenzo had his team place a call to Dr Mabel, letting him know that the cyanide worked on the vampire.
“It is in an uncomfortable state but it’s not yet dead, and I figured not to give it more of the cyanide mixture since the little it was struck with has kept it sufficiently down” he told him over the mobile phone.
“How much of the cyanide did you administer?” asked Mabel.
“Well, just about a bit less than half of the syringe’s content.” Lenzo replied.
“ Hmmm, well that’s quite a small amount to have such an adverse effect on its system,” Mabel replied.
“That’s true, I had thought so to myself, but it’s probably because I drove it into its neck …maybe that is why.”
“How fast can you guys get it here. I need to see and examine it closely before it dies,” Dr Mabel asked.
Lenzo told him that they would be on their way right away! Attaching a steel cable to the underside of the helicopter and securing it to the steel enforced holding cage for the vampire, they lifted off with their catch in tow. Mr.Roberts felt sorry for Dr Lenzo and did give him his apologies before they left. He saw everything that transpired from the safety of his hut and this one thing he knew for sure; these men were really brave and have shown unflinching courage in the face of such extreme and unpredictable danger. It made him now realize how little he understood of this man’s dedication to the cause. He was willing to lose a hand than become part of the problem. He and his workers who had all awoken at the beginning of hostilities wished Lenzo and the three that left with him the best.
Chapter 3
As the helicopter made its way towards Dr. Mabel’s location with its now sedated cargo in tow, Dr Lenzo heaved a sigh of relief and he glanced downwards to see if the cage was still attached to the chopper. A satisfied look crossed his face when he glimpsed the cage dangling.
“If a little cyanide could do so much damage to these seemingly indestructible vampires, what would a full dosage have done?” he thought to himself as he lay back to rest his hurting body.
Throughout the one hour flight towards Mabel’s laboratory, the hunters took two shifts in watching the vampire. Even though it was caged and dangling outside, one could never be too careful.
The other vampire clan members got very far from the camp before stopping. They thought to go back to the camp and make an attempt at saving their leader but later decided to continue to their hiding place and think it over before going on an attack. A blind and unplanned attack might spell disaster for them. Besides that, they figured they were tactically disadvantaged given their diminished numbers then. They therefore continued their long journey and soon reached the cave which was home to them. Even though the humans thought of them as hideous and non-feeling beings, they actually weren’t. They were actually very angry and sad about the fate that had befallen their leader. They discussed and mapped out game plan on how to save him. First, they had to read the newspapers the next day in order to ascertain the government’s moves about their father that who they believed was in their custody. They also needed to add a new member so as to constitute a safe number for their clan. The older and stronger of the three advised that they travel that night to Edinbur, the closest town where they could lie in wait till the next night to be able to get the newspaper, a change of clothing and choose a new member for the clan. They went down to the river as they needed to have a bath to wash off any offensive smell that could easily give them away in the company of people. They smelled so much of ammonia.
Being such ‘monstrous’ beings, they really didn’t have much liking for huge bodies of water. They were at first hesitant to step into the water for a bath as they did not particularly have any liking for water on their skin. They just did it because they had to. They wanted to get clean clothing so as to blend in with the human population. They were all males, except for one lone female, though that didn’t matter much to them. They neither cared about sex nor did sexuality matter to them. Being totally asexual by their nature, they were oblivious of the opposite sex. After grooming themselves, having nothing else to wear, they put on their tattered bullet riddled robes once more. They set out on their journey that night, running all the way. In roughly two hours they reached the outskirts of town where they stopped and spread out in different directions to survey the vicinity. When they met back at their meeting point, they chose an abandoned train subway located in the heart of the town for their hideout. They went in and remained there. After a few hours into the morning with no one forthcoming to use the subway as they suspected, they chose each an inconspicuous place to conceal itself and went to sleep. It was a cool morning which gave rise to a hot afternoon as the sun made its drift from east to west. Soon after dawn, they awoke and drifted into the city keeping away from lighted streets with people so as not to draw attention to themselves. Sunlight was still one of their major enemies, but only if they stayed in it too long. They were not typically vampires. These ones don’t just simply disintegrate when even a drop of sunlight touches their skins.
Surely, the ragged and bullet riddled clothing they wore would raise suspicions. After searching for a while, they found a hideout where some drug addicts were gathered, selling, buying and using drugs. It was in their best interest to not attract unwanted attention and to blend in with vagrants of the streets. They waited for a number of them to disperse. After waiting a while the last set of buyers were gone, two of the users started leaving and two of the group members immediately shadowed them in the dark alley leading to the outside and made a quick meal out of them. They were fast and effective, and their new victims didn’t even have the time to let out a sound. The once able bodied men were now soon lying on the dirty ground unconscious. They stripped them of their clothes and returned to Nelkon, the one monitoring the remaining opium sellers. Jeremy and Asher explained that there was a strange taste and scent to their victims’ bloods and that it was giving them a strange feeling. Figuring it was probably due to the drug they had taken, Nelkon advised them not to feed anymore on the blood of filthy human drug abusers.
“ No more of that fucked up blood, you hear me guys!” he told them sternly.
Soon,
an opportunity presented itself and they attacked and killed the remaining three men. They however did not bother feeding on their blood. They simply gathered what money they had on them and took their clothes from them and quickly left the scene. They quickly changed into the clothing they had dispossessed their victims of under the subway where they had spent the day. The youngest, by name Asher was then sent to go down to the newsstand and see if he could still grab a copy of the day’s paper. Asher was one vampire that would be hard to spot as one even among humans. He still had this fairly colorful skin. His was just a pale yellow unlike that of the rest of them which was now a pale purple shade of whatever it used to be. On getting there he found the man packing up. He hurriedly browsed through each publisher’s papers and when he could not find anything related to what they seek other than a follow up story on the deceased engineer, Marvis Reed. He purchased the newspaper anyways despite that it was old news. While the man went about to see if he could get change to give Asher balance, he returned back to the spot where he left Asher standing. He left without collecting his change because of not wanting to stay out in the open like that for much longer and the sunlight was getting rather unbearable.
They decided to buy a television which they intended to connect in an abandoned office in the subway definitely one of that would have previously belonged to the transport agency’s staff. Part of the money stolen from the opium sellers was used to purchase the television that same night. They then went about connecting it to power after which they turned it on but nothing was showing. Slotting in the dusty arial cable which had been hanging out of the wall probably for years, the TV came alive. They were startled by the loud sound. Asher quickly turned it down. He then tuned across several channels till he found one that was giving the news broadcast on the hour. They sat and watched with focused attention. Then it came.
“A staff of Altraco Construction Company contracting the Eurasian Canal by name Marvin Reeds who was reported missing two days ago has been confirmed dead by security operatives. Mr. Reeds who served in the capacity of a surveyor on the project, security operatives stated was found dead somewhere deep in the forests bounding the construction location and authorities stated earlier today in a press release that a small vampire clan in that vicinity were responsible for the attack and that they have arrested one of them. They stated that it would be only a matter of time before they would get to the rest of them. Requests to see the vampire by the media were denied as the agency stated that it had been moved to a secret research facility”.
The vampires realized it would be much more difficult for them to get the information they needed. As they pondered the next course of action to take; a breaking news came up on the television stating that five deaths had been reported in Edinbur of five men who were apparently drug dealers found dead, two in the alleyway leading to their hideout where the other three were found. Contrary to prior assumption of the cause of their deaths as a drug deal gone sour, the newscaster continued, authorities having established that this was the doing of those menacing vampires. A high profile alert has been established and an emergency curfew is being enforced in the small town of Edinbur.
“We have to leave immediately,” the eldest, Nelkon quickly said.
The second however reminded him that they were yet to choose a member to complete their number as they earlier agreed which was also one of the reasons they came. He nodded in agreement.
“We will quickly do that on our way if the police has not filled up the streets,” Nelkon assured.
They peered from behind the entrance into the subway. When they saw it was safe to come out, they scurried off into the streets and down the main road. They then branched into an inner street. Nelkon saw a street club right down the end of the street and some street hawkers in front of it.
“Asher you have to go, pick two and lead them to a room on the ground floor. We will join you from the back of the building. Just tap the window to let us know which room you are in.” Nelkon said.
He handed him some US$100 notes. Asher went as instructed.
The ladies were running their hands all over him, each hoping to have him pick her for the night.
“Oh you are cold man, come with me, let me make you sweat” one of the girls said.
He looked into her face. She was young and looked like one in her late twenties. He wondered what she was doing selling herself on that cold night. At the other end an obviously older prostitute was sitting down on the pavement smoking her cigarette silently. She had an average body and he felt she had a body for their purpose. He called her much to the protest of the others that were around him. As she came up to him, he stated he was taking her and the other who offered to warm him up. Leaving the others they went into the dimly lit hall and walked by scores of people making for the table stand where Asher intended to pick a room key. The older lady stated that she had a permanent room that was already paid for in the strip club in which she attended her customers. And her payment was already included in her charges. To this Asher sharply declared that he would pay whatever her charges but insisted he had his favorite room which he would want them to use. They giggled in agreement.
“So long as you are paying my full charges,” she said, winking at him repeatedly.
He passed some bills to the man at the desk and collected a key to room nineteen which was on the ground floor.
Nelkon and Jeremy were already in the compound and just as they had expected, there were no protectors on the windows. Going over the fence was no challenge for them as they simply leapt over it. Now waiting earnestly for the go ahead alert from Asher, they heard the outburst of laughter from Asher and two other female voices entering a room a few metres ahead of where they were. They quickly moved to the window; finding that the window was unlocked, slid it open noiselessly and waited. Asher was already aware that they were there. His hyper-sensitive ears had picked up their sounds and he didn’t bother rapping on the window again. The two ladies kissed him a little which had him pulling all the restraint he could summon not to release his fangs and bite into their neck. They took off their clothes, strip teased him before excusing themselves to go have a quick shower in the bathroom. As soon as the bath water began running, Asher moved to the window and pushed the window blind open so as to unlock the window but found that it was already open, meeting two glistening red eyes. They heaved themselves in as fast and quietly as possible and motioned him to sit back on the bed while they each waited by the sides of the bathroom door. The younger lady was first to come out, stark naked, closely followed by the older. She had a beautiful body, but being a vampire, Asher didn’t have that type of sexual urge. She glanced across the room, seeing Asher, she turned and made her way forward to meet him when her peripheral view caught a figure beside her. She was seconds late. Before she could turn fully, Jeremy had her by the Jugular and they both dropped to the floor. In that instance, the other lady got very frightened and hysterical. Before she could open her mouth to let out a scream, a strong hand cupped her mouth from behind. Her struggles were in vain as he took the luxury of time to sniff her before he gave her a bite. She shuddered at the bite and soon after, stopped moving, falling with a loud thud to the floor.
Nelkon and Jeremy lay the two unconscious ladies on the rug in the middle of the room, close to both ends of the room and rolled them inwards. Asher took a penknife and divided the rug into two before they completed the roll up. They stealthily heaved them out of the room through the windows ensuring that no one was looking out of the window from the floor above them. All they could hear was moans from the commercial sex workers and their customers. Nelkon jumped over the fence and gently lowered the two wrapped bodies which Jeremy and Asher lifted over to him. The two were over the fence also soon enough and putting the bodies into the back of a Chevy van that Nelkon had stolen some minutes earlier.
