by Noah Harris
I stumbled for a moment and lost my balance. This of course showed him that I had a chink in my armor. He extended his hand, and it was not in a friendly manner. The blade nicked my chin and for most it would just be an inconvenience, for me, it made me feel like I was a step behind.
He advanced, but his form with the sword was clumsy and awkward. I thought for sure that he had only picked up the blade this morning. “There are telling moments in everybody’s history, and this one will decide one of our fates.” My extraordinary hearing was able to perceive that the police were on their way. The loud siren of the police cars converging on this scene made me aware of the fact that I had to be careful about showing my real face. It was when I saw the helicopter with the police logo stenciled across the side that I knew that I was going to become more human than I wanted to be.
I turned away from the helicopter, concentrating hard enough that I was able to bring my vampire half under control. I couldn’t use what I had usually taken for granted and maybe this was a lesson that I had to learn. It was a painful lesson, but it reminded me that I was still human, regardless of the fact that I was still dealing with the monster inside. He smiled, and I think that he knew that I was going to have to fight fairly, and that was going to give him the upper hand. People took for granted that they were human and vulnerable. I was the exact opposite. I took for granted that I was impervious to pain. Being a mortal was something that I had always strived to become, but there were times like these that I actually missed the person that I had become.
“I see that you’re not ready to reveal yourself to the world. I suppose, you’ve had first-hand knowledge of being persecuted for being who you are. I doubt very seriously that you want to revisit that anytime soon.” He was astute, and I had to admit that he did have me at a disadvantage. Not only were the drugs still in my system, but I couldn’t use that inner strength that had become synonymous with the vampire. I would have loved to use the speed to make a discreet exit, but there was no way to do that with the effects of the drug that was keeping me from living to fight another day.
“You think that I can’t fight, as a human, but you don’t know me. I’ve lived a long time, and I’ve immersed myself in other cultures including those with hand to hand combat training. I’m not exactly powerless, and if you think otherwise, it only makes you look foolish in my eyes. If we’re going to do this, we may as well get on with it, before somebody interjects and brings this to a stop. The police are most likely making their way up, as we speak. I doubt that even you want to have to explain yourself to them.” I could see that this had an effect on him, but it wasn’t going to back him down from the challenge that presented itself.
“You make a valid point, so I think that it’s time that we dispense with the pleasantries. My life means nothing, and I’ve always known that eventually somebody would have a bullet with my name on it. I’ve learned to accept that death is my future.” He came after me swinging that large blade and giving me a close-cropped haircut. My follicles fell around me like they were snow in a snowstorm. It wasn’t like I had any real connection to those locks, but it did make me aware that this guy was taking no prisoners.
The blade swung more than one time, and I found myself leaping onto a nearby green car that had the appearance of something that was made in the seventies. The bumper was made of wood. I backtracked up onto the top of the car, with him following suit with this intense look of hatred in his eyes.
“I think that you’re going to have to do a whole lot better than that. If you thought for a moment that I was going to stand there and take it, then you are sadly mistaken.” The blade moved effortlessly through the air making this whistling sound that was soon followed by me jumping to avoid contact with my legs. I kicked out and caught the side of his face, making his ear bleed. I had no use for my human side in battle. I was going to have to abide by the rules of engagement, especially when the prying eyes of the public were upon me.
“I don’t know why you’re trying to postpone the inevitable. I’m not going to give up, and only one of us is going to leave this building alive.” That was one sentiment that I could agree upon, but my mind had already told me that I was going to be on the winning side. It was a matter of projecting that thought to him and making him realize that this fight could only end with his funeral. “I have to admit that I was scared at first about what you are, but I began to realize that you are the ultimate adversary. I think that those that are after Derek would love to know what he is and who you are. It seems unfair somehow that you can become deadly with just a thought.”
He stabbed forward, and I grabbed the blade with both hands keeping it steady and then twisting my body in the air so that I was over the top of him with his hands high above him. I landed behind him, knocking the blade to the ground and thrusting out my hands to make contact with his back. I used a little bit more force, calling upon the animal. It was the thing that I hated the most and was something that I had avoided at all costs. I hated what I had become, but Hiroko and his father had taught me to embrace it.
The impact to his back sent him flying off of that car and into a nearby minivan. His hands hung onto the side. He crumpled underneath his own weight until he was on his knees. I thought that he might be done, but that was only the beginning.
He turned quickly firing off two shots that made the helicopter think twice about getting any closer. It moved out of range. Those shots most likely were telling those on the ground that there were armed suspects. This would mean that they would have to wait for a SWAT team to arrive on the scene. I think that he did that precisely for that reason so that he would have more time to deal with the likes of me.
“I have to admit that was pretty crafty. They’ll cordon off the area and make sure that the possibility of injury to the public is slim to none. They will be wearing body armor and will not just stand back and do nothing.” I had dived behind the same car that I had thrown him from. I stayed behind the wheel. I looked underneath the car to see if he had made the mistake of keeping his feet somewhere that I could see them.
“I have a history of getting my man and, believe me, I take that reputation very seriously. You might be stronger, but I think that I can say with some degree of certainty that I can handle that.” He was stalking me and staying in one place was not an option. I had no idea what was happening with Derek, but this man had already told me with a glint in his eye that I was not the only target. He had other people that worked alongside him and that meant that Derek was over there doing what he could to protect himself. I was supposed to be there with him, but I had been taken out of the game by a man that was determined to see me dead at his hands.
I tried the door of the green car and found that the passenger side was open. I climbed in and closed it behind me, using it as a way to ambush him. Unfortunately, it meant going through the window and it wasn’t like it was going to be open. Once I saw him standing there, I would have to act quickly, and even then there was a risk that the power that I exuded had not come back yet. I could feel that strength returning, but the speed was going to take a little bit longer to get back. I realized that this building was not some other office building. It was an underground parking lot, and that would explain the fumes in the air and those cars parked waiting for their owners to return at the end of the workday.
I used the mirror to watch for his arrival and then I saw him. He was coming close. I took a deep breath, and this was finally going to seal one of our fates. I came to the painful conclusion that even if I were to get rid of him, there would be others waiting in the wings to collect that bounty. The only way to finally end this was to find the person responsible for the bounty in the first place. I’d always believed that the best way to find anything was to follow the money.
I couldn’t be too quick to act, but I was not used to waiting to fight back. I think that it was the vampire mentality, but maybe I could use that in some way. I closed my eye. Instead of seeing him coming, I would f
eel it. I knew that I wasn’t perfect by any means and that I had my own natural flaws that were very hard to live with, but I was finding that Derek and I balanced each other out.
The one thing that this man couldn’t do was control his breathing. He could bring it down slightly with concentration, but I could still hear him and knew that he was practically a few inches away from me. I didn’t even look, as I threw myself through the glass of the driver’s side window. I plowed into him knocking the gun from his hand, before lifting him by his arm. His feet were dangling helplessly in the air.
I had done the impossible and pushed us further into the enclosure of the underground parking lot. This allowed me to call upon the inner demon. “I think that you can see that I’m not relying solely on my human side.” He tried to reach for me, and I slapped his hand away. I could hear the bone break with satisfaction. His face contorted into a mask of pain and hatred. “We can still go our separate ways, but I don’t think that you’re going to allow that to happen. As you said already, we are both warriors, and we knew this day was coming.”
I pulled him down into an embrace with my hand on the back of his neck. My long sharp nails were digging in very deeply. He panicked. He tried to say something, but it was a garbled mess that I didn’t really understand. I found his brain stem and with a flick of my wrist, I was able to make his head angle in a way that would indicate that he was no longer amongst the living.
I searched his person and found a phone that might hold a few of the secrets that I was looking for. I wasn’t great with technology, but I had learned from personal experience to become a little bit proficient. I had an old blood supplier or groupie that showed me some of the tricks of the trade. I called upon that knowledge and accessed those memories until I was looking at the bounty in his personal e-mail. I was able to find the IP address from where the e-mail originated.
It was a small step. It wasn’t like I had anything else to go with. This was the thread that I was looking to pull, but for now, I had Derek’s safety to worry about. I stretched my limbs, feeling my bones crack and I tried my speed on for size. Leaving his crumpled form, I spied the flashing lights of the police approaching. My body became a blur of motion, as I once again flew from this building over to the one that I had just vacated. The drug was still affecting me, but I was working my will against it.
Chapter 19
I didn’t bother landing on the ledge and sailed right through until I rolled to a stop underneath a desk. I heard moans of agony. I took a peek to see that there were people in distress. Cubicle walls had been tumbled, and there was a telling hole in a plaster wall leading to the hallway. Bullet holes riddled the area, and it was not just from the sharpshooter from across the way.
“Somebody…help me.” It was the sound of a female voice, and I followed it until I found her crouching behind a desk nursing a bullet wound to her shoulder. Her blonde hair was matted with sweat, and her face had her mascara running. I knelt beside her, looking at the wound and finding that the bullet had gone right through to the other side. Knowing how some employees acted in the workplace, I searched the desk and found a bottle of liquor stashed for emergency use. I popped the top and poured the liquid into the wound, making her scream. I muffled it with my hand placed over her mouth, as she stared at me with her eyes losing their focus.
She collapsed in my arms. She was still breathing, and that was a far cry from what others had to endure. Bodies were littering the floor, and I had a feeling that if I followed the trail of violence that I would find Derek and his attackers. I stepped away from the girl, seeing that the blood had come to a stop due to the liquor being infused into the seeping wound.
I walked over to the hole in the plaster. I looked up and down the hallway to see visible signs of a struggle. Blood splattered the walls, and I had a feeling that Derek was not allowing himself to be taken alive.
“Look what I found. I wouldn’t move if I were you. Let’s just say that I have an itchy trigger finger.” I heard his voice, and I turned to see that he was about 5 feet away with what looked like to be a submachine gun in his hands. That was a kind of weapon that could tear a body apart. “If you don’t think that I’m going to use it, then you can certainly take the risk and find out for yourself. I wouldn’t advise it.” He had no idea that I’d taken care of his boss and that his paycheck was predicated on him surviving long enough to pay him what he was worth.
“Easy I know that you are a professional, and maybe you should know that your boss is dead. I killed him, so if you are thinking that he’s going to be able to pay you, then you’re going to be disappointed.” His gun lowered a few inches like he was contemplating what he should do. Without the payday, it seemed useless to continue this pursuit, especially if it was going to land him in jail with several other guys that might take exception to him being of masculine nature. “You don’t have to believe me, but trust me. What I’m telling you is the truth. Try to give him a call and I think that you’ll find that his phone is now in my possession.”
He was a man of honor and integrity and once given a job; mercenaries had a tendency to follow through, until the end. I knew, because I was of that same mindset, even if those battles that I’d had in the past was long and forgotten by history. I would always remember the faces of those that I killed, regardless of time. It was something that I had learned to live with.
He still had his gun trained on me. He called and found out that I was indeed holding that phone. “I don’t think that it’s a big surprise that I’m going to have to kill you.” He went for the trigger, but he found that he was no longer holding that gun. He looked up astonished and apparently his leader did not tell him exactly what he was fighting. I showed him what that was. His legs were trembling from the realization that he was looking at a real vampire.
“I think that you’ll find, as your leader did that killing me is easier said than done. I’m going to give you the same suggestion that I gave your leader. You could turn around and walk away from this, and maybe I will feel magnanimous and let you live.” He nodded his head and there was a sort of respect between two warriors. He walked backward towards the elevator, but then he decided that the stairs would suit his purposes better.
“I think that I might just have to figure out another line of work. I thought that I knew the enemy, but seeing true evil face to face makes a man realize how inadequate he is. I don’t believe that we’ll be seeing each other again unless it’s in my nightmares.” I gave him the same respect, nodding my head and narrowing my eyes to tell him that he was doing the right thing.
I followed the carnage. I got closer to where Derek was making a stand. Bodies were now turned into little pieces. It would take a crime scene investigator and his team many hours to comb the area. I actually had a job on the night shift of a CSI recovery team. I liked to dabble in various things, and it didn’t take all that much to forge credentials. Unfortunately, those credentials were a stop gap method and eventually someone would take a more critical look.
I heard what sounded like an animal. I opened the door slowly to see that the wolf was taking care of business. Two of the mercenaries were lying in a heap of their own blood. One had his arm ripped from its socket, and it was dangling from the teeth of the wolf. He attacked with a vengeance, catching the one sleeping on duty, or maybe it was from the shock of seeing something that couldn’t be real. He tore that man apart and the other standing no more than a couple of feet away was now looking on in horror. He had never seen anything like this, and that was evident from the wet stain on the front of his pants. He was a competent soldier, but faced with overwhelming odds; his body began to show its displeasure in a more profound way.
“Please… I don’t want to die.” The wolf with blood dripping from its jaws and matted to its fur stepped over in front of the man. They were almost eye to eye. The wolf could’ve easily made short work of this man, but decided to show a bit of restraint. “I have a family and a child on the way. I only did
this because I needed the money.” He had come back from war and most likely found that reality was a whole lot more complicated than picking up a gun and doing what he was trained to do. Most of the soldiers that came back were different and becoming members of society was a lot more challenging from when they first left.
The wolf was drooling, and his eyes showed venom. I had no doubt that Derek was this close to taking his aggressions out on a man that had decided to wave the white flag. He stepped closer and sniffed his prey and the look in his eyes told me that whatever this man said wasn’t going to make a damn bit of difference.
He had his mouth open and was ready to do what came naturally, but I was the one that stepped in and pushed him back from the man that was cowering in his boots. “That’s enough, Derek. I believe that you have made your point abundantly clear. We can’t be here when the police arrive. They can’t see you like this. It takes a stronger man to show mercy than vengeance. Look in on yourself and maybe then you will see the answer staring you in the face.” He glared at me, and I thought that he was going to attack, but then his eyes softened.
“I don’t know what he is, but I don’t want anything to do with it. I promise that I won’t tell anyone. Besides, who’s going to believe me anyway?” I motioned for him to leave and he didn’t even hesitate. He ran with the gun dropping from his hand. He didn’t even look back and getting away was a whole lot more important to him than facing something that couldn’t be real. He would convince himself that the wolf was some wild animal and had nothing to do with Derek. It was the way that the human mind adjusted to something that it didn’t understand. It found a reason, even if the explanation really didn’t match up to what had been seen.
I grabbed Derek by his fur and pulled him in such a way that he was now looking at me. “It’s over. I would suggest that you change back immediately.” His clothes were shredded, and little pieces of his suit were everywhere like confetti. Some of his clothes actually adorned the wolf, but with one shake of its hide, the rest of that clothing came loose. I saw him begin to change, and I turned my back and went over to one of the guys that had a similar physique. I stripped him of his clothing and tossed it back to Derek. He snatched them out of the air. He was completely naked and at the mercy of my eager eyes.
