Enduring Service

by Regina Morris

  Gas pipes stuck out of the walls and floors of the vacant room where the stoves and ovens had once been. No cabinet doors remained. The whole place appeared gutted. Stains marred the white walls as if a kitchen fire had once taken place, which led Dixon to believe the place probably closed down for reasons other than just financial bad times.

  Five doors existed in the kitchen. One he had just entered through, another led outside, a third opened into a pantry, the fourth to a freezer unit, and one mystery door led somewhere else. The lock on the freezer unit was broken. He opened the door and found the freezer unit to be empty. The pantry door stood open, so he peered inside. Empty. That just left the mystery door.

  Naturally, the door was locked, with no key in sight. He had broken the bobby pins on the last locked door, so he needed another solution. Searching the room, he found a few wires sticking out of a countertop, probably from a now missing heat lamp. He pulled on the wires and found them rigid enough to use as a lock pick. Moments later he was through the door.

  Stairs led down, and the place was dark. He cursed under his breath about vampire eyesight and his own, which was failing in his old age. He held onto the railing as he descended down the stairs. The place smelled dusty and he fought the urge to sneeze.

  Once at the bottom of the steps, he found another door. It had metal bars and a keypad entry system. Compared to the rest of the hallway, from what he could make out in the bad light, this lock appeared to be state of the art. With the small amount of light shining down from the top of the stairway, Dixon used his dagger to pry open the control panel. He recognized the makers of the lock, and if he remembered his training correctly, he could break through. Dixon found the green and blue wires, stripped them with the dagger, and pinched the exposed metal together. At the same time, he punched in a default code into the pad, which for this brand, was 0000. After a series of three clicks, the door opened and he walked through.

  Dixon left the door ajar, thankful for his hobby of reading technical journals.

  He was slowly losing his light source from the top of the stairs, but fortunately another light source was farther down the hallway. The light seemed brighter, and he figured it came from a window. Approaching slowly, he found another metal door where the light shown through.

  The first thing that caught his eye was the door’s lock. Biometric and state of the art. It would take more than a default code and wire tricks to get through this one.

  A moan told him someone was in the room. He crouched down, just to the left of the door and peered through the bars. His eyes zeroed in on one thing and one thing only. Sulie.

  *******

  The turn of the lock of the outer gate echoed through the room and stirred Sulie from her private crying. Tears dripped down her cheeks and she tasted their saltiness as she licked her lips in anticipation of the blood she smelled.

  But more than just blood filled the air. She sniffed again. The scent of human sweat also lingered in the stale air. She listened to the footsteps and knew only one person approached. A human. The footsteps sounded soft and calculating.

  Sulie knew it took exactly eight footsteps from the outer gate to the interior one before she could see her visitor. She had counted off four of the eight by the time she turned her head to see who approached.

  As she counted off the last two steps, she took a deep breath to prepare herself. She felt her heart stop as the visitor came into view. On the opposite side of her cell, behind the blasted silver bars, was Dixon. The love of her life stood a short distance from her. She looked at the man, not believing it was him.

  She wanted to cry out his name, but only managed to cry out a moan in her elation and to smile at him. He was here to rescue her, but she knew he’d likely die in the process.

  *******

  Through the bars, Dixon watched Sulie as she lay on the bed. She stared at him, and he noticed a smile appear on her face. Her smile stretched her facial muscles and accentuated the multitude of wrinkles she now had. She was older than he had ever seen her. Her hair had grown white and her face had aged, but the twinkle in those eyes as she saw him was pure Sulie. His heart skipped a beat. Dixon had never been happier to see anyone in his life, and he smiled back at her.

  In his excitement, he yelled her name and stretched his arm through the bars in a useless effort to touch her, even though he could tell she was chained and a good fifteen feet from him. “I’ll get you out. Just hold on.” He tested the door and it didn’t budge. Worse yet, Dixon wasn’t familiar with the lock’s make and model. What he wouldn’t give to text William the make and model number of this unit so he could look it up on a secure government site and suggest a way through it.

  He noticed Sulie lift her head. He wasn’t the best at guessing people’s ages, but assumed she was in her mid–nineties. Her lips looked dry and he heard her weakly say his name. To Dixon, she remained radiantly gorgeous, timelessly beautiful. He had found her in time.

  He glanced around the sparse hallway. There wasn’t much here to help him get through the locked door. He tested the floorboards by stomping his foot. They felt and sounded solid beneath him. As he considered the barred window, he saw Sulie tilt her head.

  In a frightened voice, she said, “He’s coming back.”

  Chapter Thirty–Two

  Raymond and the two teams climbed out of the van, leaving the back door open. The run–down mall was exactly what Raymond expected to find. It sat in a remote poorer part of town. The outside marque no longer worked, the paint–chipped exterior stood weathered, and deep groves streaked across the broken pavement of the parking garage. With the many stores inside, the rundown mall offered plenty of places to hide within it.

  Since the parking lot was empty, the van sat parked behind some bushes across the street. Raymond took in his surroundings, but what caught his attention was a lone figure quickly approaching his parked vehicle.

  It was William.

  “I see I’ve made good time,” William said as he approached them. “Police sirens and red lights be damned, right boss?”

  Raymond remained too focused to reply. “That’s the building. No surveillance cameras are anywhere around it. Team A will enter on this side. Team B,” he pointed to William and Alex, “you go in through the far side. Sulie is locked up somewhere inside.”

  Julian lay on the floor of the van, hidden away from any windows. He mumbled into his gag and looked at Raymond.

  Reading the mental patterns from the vampire, Raymond picked up remorse and regret. Raymond could read that deep down Julian had suspected something was off about Sulie’s abduction, but he went along with it because his family had forced him to. Raymond could tell Julian didn’t like the role he had played in any of this, and he decided it would be safe to ungag him.

  Julian stretched the muscles of his mouth and then said, “There’s no electricity in the building, so Charles put in a generator. It’s in the store next to the restaurant. Take the generator out and Sulie’s cell door will open.”

  Raymond glanced at Ben, who nodded. He placed the gag back on Julian and corrected his plan. “Alex and William will take out the generator. Ben and I will enter the restaurant.”

  Sterling sat in the back of the van with the computer equipment and gave Julian a “heaven help you if you’re lying” look. The teams did a spot check on the coms and confirmed the mini–cams each team member had attached to their clothes was working. Each of the four videos appeared clearly on the monitors within the van as they completed their check.

  “This is interesting,” Sterling commented as he studied a blinking light on another monitor, which showed the surrounding area. “I’m picking up a signal from inside the building. I gave Dixon some trackers to put on the blood vials from the hospital. But those trackers were attached to the vials we collected.” He looked at his father.

  Raymond smiled at the blinking red light. “It’s Dixon.” He pointed to the serial number being displayed by the light. “The tracker
is one of ours. He must have stored another tracker on him before he left the hospital.” He looked at his team. “Keep radio silence unless necessary,” Raymond ordered.

  Raymond handed out the six vials of blood, giving each team member their share and reserving one for his sister once they found her. He opened his cord blood vial and instantly the sweet smell of baby blood filled the air, causing his mouth to water. It smelled so good that he figured even a fully engorged and sated vampire would still suck down a vat of the baby blood and crave more. He noticed the others turn their head towards him as they too smelled the blood.

  The other team members opened their vials and Raymond watched as each drank the rich fluid faster than he had ever seen them feed before. He even drank his share faster than he normally would have. All the team members savored the creamy sweetness of the blood coating their tongues and gliding smoothly down their throats.

  “Oh, my.” Alex licked her lips. “I’ve never tasted blood this good before.”

  “It’s the way blood was meant to taste,” Ben said as he licked the sides of the vial.

  Sterling nodded in agreement, as did William.

  Raymond had to agree, but didn’t share his opinion. He should have instructed the team to put the blood into syringes so they wouldn’t have tasted it, but time wasn’t on their side. “Don’t get used to the taste. It’s a one–time deal.” He felt the blood work its magic on his body. He was only physically in his thirties, but the blood went to work rejuvenating his cells. His skin smoothed around his eyes, the slight graying of his hair went back in color, and a youthful glowing appearance of twenty–two came upon him. He watched as the others experienced what he did. They were all back to the age of mid to late twenties.

  “I feel invincible.” Alex said. “That’s quite a ride.”

  “Don’t get used to it,” Raymond warned again.

  The team dispersed, running at super speed to their planned destinations. Team A, Raymond and Ben, moved to behind a dumpster that sat across from the building at the main entrance. Team B ran to the back of the building. The monitors in the van showed nothing but a blur as the team members got into position.

  Raymond broke radio silence. “Team A is in place.”

  Alex’s voice answered. “Setting up camera now.” She placed a standing camera that focused on the door they were about to enter since Sterling could not see that entrance from the van’s location.

  “Standing cam is good,” Sterling responded once Alex and William had set the hands–free camera up and the images were successfully transported to the van.

  “Sensors on your cameras show all clear,” Sterling said into the com.

  “No electronic admissions in either of your areas. I’m not detecting any cameras, motion sensors or anything. Looks like they were not expecting anyone to ever find them.”

  “Enter the building and keep the communication line open,” Raymond said. “We’re on the count. In five, four, three, … .

  Chapter Thirty–Three

  Raymond led Ben through the dried flower beds to the main entrance of the restaurant. The name “Vinos” displayed across the top of the door, and a closed sign hung in the window. The broken lock appeared to be recently destroyed. They pushed open the double doors and walked carefully past the hostess area. The hostess podium was gone and it looked like wooden benches where patrons would wait had been removed, leaving only the wooden frames and hardware.

  Raymond saw a pathway to the right leading to what he assumed was the main dining area, but what caught his attention was the bar area directly to his left. No bar stools remained, but the bar counter still stood. He walked over to the bar area where dry walled partitions lined up against the wall, creating separate compartments. He glanced into one and found that the space had been converted into living quarters. A cot and bedding. There were six cubbies. He guessed one for each of the vampires.

  “I’m not sensing any vampires nearby,” Ben said, as both he and Raymond holstered their drawn daggers.

  “Neither am I, but I count six beds.” Studying the bedding and trash lying around, he pointed towards the back wall and said, “Computer. We’ll have to come back for it.”

  Speaking into his com unit, Raymond said, “Team A in place. No one in sight. However, it looks like we’re looking for at least six vampires.” He then remembered Julian out in the van and his mental thoughts of his lost brother, “… at least four vampires.”

  Over the com came William’s voice, “Team B in place. Nothing on this end. Stores are gutted out, but they do have backrooms for inventory and storage.”

  “Mall directory lists over two dozen stores,” Alex chimed in.

  “Go straight to the generator and take it out. Then prioritize the stores that smell like fresh blood, or investigate anything that gives you a sense that a vampire is nearby.” Raymond said.

  William added, “I think the stench of squatters is going to make that hard. There must have been dozens of them here. The whole place smells like a subway.”

  “Do the best you can.” Raymond had just walked past the beds when he heard his son’s voice from his ear bud.

  “Dad, you have two visitors. Males with no heat signature, so vampires. Big ones too. They’re heading your way. The taller one is the same vampire from the pictures Mason sent us from Camp David.”

  “Understood.” Raymond and Ben took positions opposite each other on the inside of the main restaurant door. “I’ll take out the fake trainer,” Raymond whispered to Ben.

  Sterling’s voice came over the com once again. “I think they can sense you by how fast they’re moving. Will be at the front door in just a second.”

  Even before either of the them could get out their weapons, the main doors swung open, causing the glass in the middle of the doors to shatter. Raymond barreled into the vampire on the left, slamming him back through a wall and into the wooden bar counter. The wood cracked and splintered down the center.

  Ben let out a growl as he jumped the second one. Their bodies plunged through a partition of drywall and the two landed on the ground in a small cloud of dust. The vampire dropped his duffle bag and it slid across the floor in the scuffle.

  Grabbing his opponent by the arm, Raymond flung him across the dusty bar and into the mirrored wall, causing seven years of bad luck. Feeling his new found strength of the cord blood, he leaped over the bar and noticed his opponent was now armed with two weapons — a piece of wood he ripped from a shelf and fashioned into a stake and a huge jagged piece of the mirror.

  Of the two, the mirror was the bigger threat. Being cut with the silver–backed glass left open wounds on a vampire that took longer to heal than a cut with a stake or knife. If the attacking vampire wasn’t wearing gloves now, he wouldn’t even be able to hold the shard.

  The stake swiped towards Raymond, but he dodged the blow. The vampire merely laughed as he next lunged with the mirror. The glass cut Raymond’s hand causing searing pain. Blood streamed down, dripping to the dirty bar floor.

  When the vampire charged towards him, Raymond flung himself to the ground and rolled away, giving himself some distance so he could pull out a weapon.

  His silver whip would be useless in such a confined area, so he pulled out his dagger just in time before the vampire made another stabbing blow with the mirror. A metal serving try acted as a good shield to deflect the blow, as Raymond cut into the vampire’s side with his blade.

  Pulling away, the vampire growled as his fresh bled, but was quickly healing itself. Raymond knew with the cord blood in the vamp’s body that all wounds would be quick to heal. He looked down at his own hand, that still bled due to the strike of the mirror. Raymond needed to use his Silver Bolt Launcher (SBL) and let the silver bolt dig into the vamp’s flesh for him to win this fight.

  He quickly jumped over the bar and took cover by the make–shift bedrooms before the vampire ran through the dry wall partitions like a hot knife through butter. In the process, Raymond noti
ced the vamp’s cell phone fall from his jacket pocket.

  The lost cell phone buzzed and caused the vamp to glance towards the floor. Raymond took his opportunity to draw his SBL.

  The vampire’s blackened eyes looked determined as he lunged toward Raymond, evidently not caring that Raymond had his gun pointed directly at him. Raymond shot at him, hitting him directly in the chest.

  Purple blood sprayed across the bar, staining the bare wall. The silver bolt bore its way through the vampire’s chest. It’s barbed sides continued digging while the open gash poured blood. The vampire screamed in agony as the bolt tore into his flesh, the silver burning him as it sunk deeper into his chest. The blood loss caused fast aging of his body. In seconds, the vampire aged decades and then turned to dust.

  Raymond looked over; Ben was finishing off his opponent in the main dining room and now a second cell phone was buzzing.

  Chapter Thirty–Four

  Dixon turned towards the direction Sulie was staring at and now noticed a door at the end of the hallway. “Who’s coming back?”

  Sulie didn’t answer. She just said, “hide.”

  The words echoed in his mind. He was standing in a hallway with no place to hide. “How many?”

  “One. Unless he now has company.”

  He noticed her widened eyes and how she now fought against her restraints. He readied himself for an attack. The fight would be one–on–one, but absolutely not a level playing field. With his dagger and syringe of death in his hands, Dixon held his breath as the door opened.

  Damn. The vampire moved fast.

  Dixon was aware of Dr. Briggs tossing his medical bag to the ground, along with his cell phone. Next he had heard Sulie shouting, “Charles, no!” as a white blur of a hospital smock nearly flew across the room and belted him across the jaw.

  Charles’ weight had nearly crushed Dixon on the first blow, but then Charles held him up off the ground and flung him across the room to the first entry gate. Dixon felt the metal bars dig into his back on impact and he dropped not only his dagger, but the syringe of death in the process. Dixon staggered to his feet. Blood pooled from his mouth and he spat it onto the floor. He tried a step forward, but his right ankle couldn’t support his weight. He heard Sulie call out Charles’ name again and something about his wedding gift to her.