Tainted Blood

by Martin Sharlow

  “Heather, please. This is just a dream.” At least, that was what he tried to say. Instead what came out was. ”My, my, this is like a dream you sweet thing.” He couldn't believe it. He'd never lost control of his projection before. Since when could she control him in her dreams?

  A rectangular slit appeared at the far end of the room. It floated in the wall of darkness as two red eyes peered into the room, followed by a stranger's voice. “Oh no you don't. This is my dream party. Whoever you are, you need to go. Now.”

  The silhouette of a door appeared in the wall, and a man dressed in a sailor's outfit walked in. His hair was cut short in the navy style and pure blonde. His eyes practically glowed red and two sharp fangs protruded from his mouth. Heather paused when the door opened and looked at the intruder, before a squeal of delight erupted from her and she dashed to the other man.

  “Julius, where have you been!” The man smiled as she leaped into his arms.

  As Brian watched, the two kissed like the reunited lovers they seemed to be playacting. Fury quickly rose inside of him at the sight. Whoever this man was, Brian was going to kill him. That much he was sure. When the two stopped, the man produced roses out of thin air and handed them to Heather.

  “For me?” She squeaked again, “they're beautiful!”

  Brian watched as she took them from the man and buried her face in them giggling the whole while. “Whoever you are!” Brian shouted with all the fury he could muster, “You're dead!”

  The man looked up at him, expression as if he had just remembered he was still there. “She is mine, Little one.” Julius responded, “For now, at least.” he chuckled, then bent down and swung her legs up into his arms. Brian watched as he turned and walked through the door carrying Heather, the man winking at him as they left.

  Brian screamed in rage as he tried to leap in the direction of the door, only to find himself jerking backwards and found himself laying in his bed, covered in sweat. His body shook and his arms and legs felt like they weighed a ton. He tried to pull himself up to head for the refrigerator to drink more blood, but all he succeeded in doing was falling to the floor. Darkness engulfed his eyes as he tried to force himself back up, then he found himself at a road that ran off to the east and west.

  The sun was high in the sky. Two signs sat across the street from him. One pointed west and said Human, the other pointed east and said vampire. Behind him stood a small wooden bus stop, with a sign over it that said Nephilim. A smaller sign was hanging over the ticket window; Brian walked up to it and peered inside.

  The place appeared abandoned, as if no one had been in there for some time. He spotted spiderwebs and even a rat as he looked in. The small sign that hung from the window had been flipped over, most likely by the wind, that he now noticed was blowing. Tumble weeds rolled past as he reached for the sign and flipped it over. Coming back soon was all it said. It looked to be as old as the rest of the building

  He turned and walked back to the road and examined the two signs, taking time to look down each road. Nothing but crossing tumble weeds seemed to cross the roads and each disappeared into the distance. A voice seemed to say inside him, “Choose.” He looked at the two signs again, looking for some sort of meaning out of either of them. The voice said “Choose” again, this time louder.

  Brian looked around to see where the voice came from. The last one sounded more as if it had come from somewhere else rather than inside himself.

  “Who's there?” Brian shouted back.

  The voice came back, only this time it reverberated off the walls of the building, “Choose.”

  “Choose what?” Brian shouted. “I don't understand!”

  Pain like fire erupted on both of his arms, and Brian grabbed at the two spots, only to find a pin-prick on each of his arms, a ball of blood forming there.

  “Choose!” The voice boomed, and Brian wondered if the pin pricks could be what the voice was saying. He was about to ask when his eyes opened, and he found himself on his bed. Pain and fire seemed to be pumping into his arms, as a quick glance told him that an IV was connected to each of his arms. Two men wearing lab coats stood nearby looking at clipboards, while his aunt sat in his favorite chair, watching him.

  “You like making me earn my keep, don't you, Brian?” She said without a smile.

  “What do you mean?” He asked, and then somehow thought it felt like he was back in his dream.

  “Are you fasting until you find her or what? She responded. “Because you're not going to be any help to her in the condition I found you in.”

  “No, of course not,” He began, “I drank like three IVs right after you dropped me off.”

  “So the last time you ate was a week ago?” She said disapprovingly.

  “A week?” That was impossible. “No, you dropped me off last night, Jenn.”

  “No, Brian, that was a week ago. You're lucky I showed up. According to my lab boys, you wouldn't have lasted much longer.”

  That can't be, he thought. It was only last night. Where had the time gone? The last thing he remembered was that stupid dream he had. The road and those signs, and that voice...Heather, he had found Heather. She was alive but being held by a vampire who was using her. He had to go back, he had to find out where she was, but would he even find her? What all could have happened in that week?

  “Brian, from now on you will eat. If you don't I will assign someone to make sure that you do.”

  “What’s with all the caring all of a sudden Aunty?” He answered, sarcasm thick in his voice. He was already tired of her being here. He needed to come up with a plan to get back to Heather, and she was no help.

  Four IV's were not enough to do what he needed, but he wasn't sure he could eat any more than that at one time. There was another choice; he could drain a live human. It would give him the strength he needed; at least he hoped it would. The problem with that idea was who? He looked over at his aunt and smiled at her. She did not respond in kind.

  “I suggest you look elsewhere Brian, and hurry with your search. The company is not happy with these delays.”

  He wondered if the company would mind her sacrifice to the cause, if it meant the job was done right.

  “Well, you look like you're going to live.” She said, as she stood up and started giving orders to the men in white coats. Brian watched as the two of them removed the needles from his arms and then started putting away their equipment. They were fast, and it was only a few moments before they were gone, and his aunt stood at the doorway saying her last words.

  Brian couldn't help thinking how he wouldn't mind making that literal.

  “I suggest,” she said, “if you need more inspiration, to go check out that nice guy at the front desk. I hear he's there all alone at night, and I would guess he would like the company.”

  With that, she smiled and shut the door.

  10

  The suggestion to feed on Scot, however subtle his aunt made it, was actually seriously bouncing around in Brian’s head. After all, his blood would go to a good cause, and apparently the company was alright with that. The trouble was, how did Brian feel about that? He knew how Heather would feel about him killing someone just to save her. If she ever found out, especially if it wasn't a bad guy, well...better to not let that happen.

  Brian sat down in his green chair. He had been pacing around the room idly trying to figure out how he was going to get a little extra power so he could get back to Heather without killing himself.

  It wasn't looking good at the moment. He could try to down four more IVs but if he couldn't get out of there faster than the last time, then at the very least, he was going to be out of it for another week. The idea of Heather being under that man's control for another week was unacceptable. Hell, he could barely live with himself now knowing this Jason had full control and access to her for that long already.

  What does he want with her? He thought, it couldn't just be for protection against me, after all, he was doing quite a lo
t more than just using her as a hostage in her dreams. No, this guy was scum, and the more he thought about it, the more he knew the man had to go. Brian picked up the manilla folder and emptied the contents on his lap. The face of the man in his dreams looked back up at him. His hair style and length were different, but that could have been because it was a dream, or because this photo was older than the last time they met.

  Brian tossed the photo across the room like it was a Frisbee. He didn't want to stare into the face of the one person he hated more than his aunt. To be fair to her, she may have deceived him his entire life about who she was and that she cared for him, which in itself was her job. This guy was violating the woman he loved, as well as holding her captive. No matter how he looked at it, he knew in the end he was going to have to kill the guy.

  He wondered if one could be charged for murder for staking a vampire? That would suck, especially if they somehow caught him and gave him life in prison. Assuming he was immortal, he could be stuck there quite a long time. The thought made him chuckle to himself.

  That was, until he found the information about Jason’s place of residence. He couldn't believe it, the guy owned a cafe in the local area. The report said that he almost never left the building, and had employees get most of what he needed while he remained at the building. The guess was that he had a lair in the basement, as he did have the habit of taking women downstairs, many of them never returning. The police reports filed against him could never find a thing, and he never once was arrested.

  The report suggested that Jason most likely glimmered the police into leaving him alone.

  “I could see that working.” Brian nodded to no one in particular. “After all, I suggested an entire police force once to help me...”

  He had the address now, and he was just itching to go. The problem was common sense was telling him to wait. He was only likely to get one chance at rescuing Heather, and he did not want to blow it. So he forced himself to finish reading the rest of the reports that his aunt gave him. He wanted to kick himself for not reading the junk to begin with. It was full of info he would have liked to have known before he had met the guy. Not to mention a few things that were a bit cryptic, that he would of liked to know more about.

  From what he could make out, this guy was born Jason William Randal, in some place called Riverside, CA. In 1972. That only made him, like what? 38? He wasn't very old as vampires go. At least not according to the movies. Brian couldn't help but wonder if there were vampires that were as old as a hundred and fifty, or maybe even older. The part that he found puzzling, and in fact quite cryptic was the following entry: Annunaki 27, transformation age 26. Result: 3, all carriers dispatched, all subjects reported as normal, maybe slightly above bell curve I.Q.

  As far as he knew, the Annunaki were Immortals. Not human in any way except in appearance. So how could it be 27 years old? Unless it wasn't talking about its age? Carriers? Subjects? What was all this crap, and why was it important? Hopefully it didn't mean anything that he needed to know, after all, the report was just a general information file on Jason. It reviewed his strength, his estimated eating habits, likelihood of rejecting transformation, whatever that meant. Page twelve said that he had been recruited in '93 and that he moved up the ladder very quickly. Strong aptitude for magic and high level of psionic testing.

  “What? Give me a break! Magic? What the hell.” Brian laughed. Do these guys seriously believe in magic? Brian couldn't believe that would even be put into a government report. It was starting to feel like someone was trying to pull the wool over his eyes. In fact, if it wasn't for Heather's disappearance, he would have stopped reading right then and there.

  Magic...

  As he finished reading the last page he sat back and thought about what he should do now. One thing he was not going to do was wait to take action. Sitting there reading those reports was all he could handle for now. No, he needed to get Heather back tonight. If there was anything he could do, he was going to do it now.

  Two hours later, Brian climbed out of a taxi in front of the Black Cat cafe. The windows were completely darkened out with what looked like black window paint. On top of it, were all types of black cats in varying Goth garb drinking what appeared to be coffee. He noticed then that the cafe was actually a coffee shop of some sort. People sat outside the place at tables with black umbrella like coverings over each of the tables.

  A waiter came out of the place, dressed completely in black with a spiked hairdo as Brian watched. He carried two coffees on a tray as he made his way to a couple that looked normal enough. The waiter himself smiled at the two as they took their two coffees and Brian noticed that the waiter had fangs that Brian was sure were fake.

  “Great. That wasn't in the notes. A Goth coffee house.” Brian headed for the front door, stopping only to nod at the waiter who was heading for the door as well. The man smiled back and Brain could easily tell now the man's fangs were plastic, and that he had black contacts in his eyes. He was polite enough however, to let Brian go ahead, waiting patiently as Brian opened the door and stepped in. That is, he tried to step in. What he did do was bounce off what felt like a solid wall in front of the open doorway. Brian had been in such a hurry to beat the waiter into the building, that he had been walking pretty fast, and when his foot had collided with the barrier, his momentum was such that his body continued forward, smacking his face and chest into the invisible barrier, and causing him to bounce backwards into the now following waiter.

  The man dropped his tray trying to catch Brian, as he bounced into him, but unfortunately he too had been surprised by the event. He did help Brian up from off the ground as he tried to get back up.

  “Are you alright? The waiter asked, a smile on his face. The man’s fake fangs were poking out of the side of his mouth. Brian wanted to yell at him to take the stupid things out of his mouth, but his nose actually hurt too much to really be bothered to do it. Besides, he felt embarrassed by the fact that everyone sitting outside was looking at him like he was an imbecile. After all, who crashed into an open door and then fells down, almost taking someone else with them?

  “I'm fine,” he quickly answered the guy, while he rubbed his nose in an attempt to make the pain and stars go away.

  “You guys...” the waiter started chuckling at him. “Don't you ever learn?”

  Brian stared at him in confusion. What 'guys' was he talking about? Then it occurred to him that the guy made it sound as if this happened on a regular basis. Before Brian could say anything, the guy said, “Wait here, I’ll let him know you're here.” Then he was gone.

  This was not turning out in any way, shape, or form how Brian had been expecting. He walked up to the door and opened it, then reached out with a hand to find the barrier. It was still there. Solid in every way, except that apparently humans could pass through it unimpeded. How was he going to get in this place? If the barrier covered the entire building, then there was no way he was ever going to stealthily enter the place. This was not looking good at all. It caused all types of problems he hadn't anticipated.

  The waiter reappeared at the doorway. He smiled as he looked at Brian’s hand that was up in the air pushing against the barrier. “Well, at least you're not throwing yourself against it. The last one made quite a mess, and Angie actually threw up cleaning the mess up that he made. Wasn't pretty.” he said. “Come on, the boss will see you.”

  Brian hesitated as the barrier disappeared and his hand pushed into the building. The need to turn and run away flashed through him. Jason knew he was there, and was most likely prepared for him, not to mention what would happen if he went in. Would the barrier come right back up? If it did, would it keep him in as effectively as it was keeping him out?

  It had all the markings of a bad idea. Yet, what choices did he have? If he was going to save Heather he needed to go in there, and he needed to go now. He had no choice, good or bad he was committed. He was not going to lose her.

  The room was a dark
, even for his eyes. It took him a second to make out all the figures milling about. He was surprised how many people were in the place. There were also a lot more people that seemed to be Goth or vampire wannabes filling the inside, unlike the people that were outside the place. He also noticed a large amount of young teenage girls standing around, especially in one place in particular. Brian knew the face as soon as he saw it.

  Jason seemed to be the center of the teen activity. The waiter motioned for Brian to follow him, but before he did, Brian reached back to the doorway and felt for the barrier. It was there again, and just as solid as before. He wasn't going out that way unless someone let him out.

  He only had two hopes now. Either he'd kill Jason, and hope the barrier would die with him, or negotiate his and Heather's way out. A hope that may actually have a chance, if he could convince Jason he wasn't his enemy.

  Jason was wearing a leather coat, and had his hair slicked to the side. Brian was sure that he normally had blonde hair, but it looked as if he had dyed it to be darker, not quite dirty blonde, but not brown either. He looked more like a yuppie than a vampire. Jason waved his hand for Brian to slide in to the seat across from him, a long horse-shoe shaped booth. Jason sat on one end and Brain now sat on the other.