by Billy Lyon
They arrived in the middle of massive pine trees that towered above them like giants holding court. The woods were silent except for the occasional owl’s cry. It took Steven a few seconds to recover from the strange sensation that comes after teleportation, and there was still a soft ringing in his ears as they separated into their assigned groups and walked to the edge of the forest. Steven looked at Anna Marie and mouthed ‘I love you’. Instantly she was inside his head.
“I love you, too, Steven. Be careful and stick close to Hasi and Teresa this first time. If anything should happen to you-”
“Don’t worry,” Steven reassured her. “Nothing will. It took forever for me to find you, and I’m not about to leave you now.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” Anna Marie said. “I’ll be watching over everyone, but especially over you. If you need anything, just call me with our telepathy and I’ll be with you in an instant.”
“See you soon.”
“Take care, my love.”
Steven turned to find Teresa and Hasi waiting.
The human drivers were scheduled to start their meeting at 11:30. This gave Teresa, Hasi, and Steven just over an hour to get to the briefing room. They crept forward, and once they had made it to the lawn that lay in front of the main building, Hasi stopped and turned to Steven. “Teresa tells me that you’re good at transformations,” he said. “It’s a good night for fog, so let’s turn into one and float towards the main building. When we get there, we’ll enter through the crack between the front doors. Just stick with us and do what we do, Steven. If you have any trouble, don’t be afraid to speak up.”
Teresa looked at him, her usual lightheartedness nowhere to be found. “Remember, Steven. We never leave anyone behind. It’s the number one rule in battle. Technically this isn’t war, but the rule still applies. This little exercise should be a piece of cake, but if anything should happen our first concern is to stay together.”
“I understand,” Steven said. “But just suppose something crazy does happen and I get separated from you guys. What do I do then?”
“You go to Anna Marie and wait for us there.”
“Got it.”
“All right,” Hasi said. “Let’s do this.”
As instructed, Steven changed into a light fog and floated along with Hasi and Teresa towards the main building. They stopped only once, to wait until the security guard at the main entrance turned her back, allowing them the opportunity to slip into the building unnoticed.
Once they were inside the lab, it was easy to blend in with the cream-colored walls and travel through the hallways unnoticed. The only human they passed had his nose buried so deep inside a smartphone that he wouldn’t have noticed them even if they had been visible. After making a few ninety-degree turns, they arrived outside the briefing room and waited silently. About thirty minutes later, the drivers finally showed up.
Once all the humans were inside the room and had settled down, Hasi entered. Steven hovered just outside the door and laughed at himself for being so worried. This mission is turning out to be a piece of cake. I don’t know why-
Before he could finish his thought, he was interrupted by Anna Marie’s frightened cry.
“Steven! Help me!”
26
“Anna Marie! Where are you? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Someone grabbed me and put something over my head. I can’t see anything. All my powers are gone and I can’t use my magick!”
This is definitely no good, Steven thought. If Anna Marie couldn’t use her powers it was going to be very difficult for him to locate her. At least the telepathy was still working.
“Okay, Anna Marie. Just relax. We’re going to find you. That’s a promise.”
“I’m really scared, Steven. Everything is so dark, and I was scared to death that I wouldn’t be able to talk to you.”
Steven laughed. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that. You know me. I never stop talking.” This brought the laughter he had intended. “That’s my girl. Can you tell me anything at all that might help me locate you?”
“Well, I did smell something very familiar a second or two before everything went dark. Steven, it was Eric’s scent.”
The bastard, Steven thought. I should have known that this was all was coming off way too easy. He directed his thoughts back to Anna Marie. “Okay, well, that’s a start. Did Eric say anything to you? Did you hear anything else?”
“No. His scent was with me for just for a second, and it was faint, like he was very far away. Wait a minute…there was something else. I heard it just after I noticed Eric’s scent. Oh my God Steven, it was…”
And then she was gone.
“Anna Marie! Where are you? Talk to me!”
There was no answer.
“Anna Marie!”
Steven tried one more time, but still got no reply, so he quickly changed into his vampire body and burst into the room where Hasi stood with the mesmerized humans.
“Steven! What in the hell are you doing? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of -”
“Listen to me, Hasi! Eric has taken Anna Marie! I was talking to her telepathically but she disappeared all of a sudden and now I don’t know where she is. We have to abort the mission. I’m going back to the woods.”
Steven changed back into a mist and floated out the front door, looking left and right for any humans that might be present. Seeing none, he transformed again, into a wolf this time, and quickly closed the distance between himself and the spot where he had last seen Anna Marie. As he loped across the grass toward the woods he tried over and over again to reach her telepathically but it was as if she had disappeared off the face of the earth. Once he had gotten to within twenty yards of the edge of the woods he changed back into his vampire body and ran to their original starting point, where the others had gathered. Everyone was present except for Anna Marie and Teresa.
What if Eric had also done something with Teresa? Steven tried to remember the last time he had seen her. She had definitely been present when the three of them had changed forms and left for the main building. He had assumed that she’d been with him the entire time he was waiting for Hasi to subdue the drivers, but now he couldn’t say for sure whether this was true or not. Maybe she had also heard from Anna Marie and had gone to help.
Hasi was talking hurriedly with Samantha. Steven grabbed him by the arm (probably more forcefully than he should have) and jerked him to the side.
“Listen to me, Steven!” Hasi said angrily. I know that you’re worried about Anna Marie but that doesn’t give you any right to-”
“Look, Hasi, there’s no time for that right now,” Steven interrupted. “Have you noticed that Teresa is missing too? Do you think she went off on her own to look for Anna Marie?”
Hasi answered Steven’s question with one of his own. “What exactly did Anna Marie say to you before she disappeared?”
“She said that someone had put something over her head, that her powers were gone, and that she couldn’t see or hear anything. She also told me that just before it happened she had noticed Eric’s scent, but that it was far away. She was getting ready to tell me something else when I lost contact with her.”
Steven grabbed Hasi roughly by his shirt, unable to control his panic any longer. “She’s not dead is she? What else would make her voice go away like that? She can’t be dead, Hasi. Tell me that she’s not dead!”
Hasi raised his hand to slap some sense back into Steven but Samantha stopped him. “Try not to worry, Steven” she said. “Just because you can’t hear Anna Marie any longer doesn’t mean that she’s dead. It’s much more likely that Eric has trapped her in some kind of lead container. Lead has special properties that blocks most forms of electromagnetic radiation, which makes our telepathy possible. This would explain why she can’t use her powers or talk to us. You must remember that Eric is literally mad with love for Anna Marie, so whatever plans he has for her, it’s very unlikely that he want
s to kill her. We’ll find her.”
Steven took Samantha’s hand and squeezed it. “Thank you.”
“Can anyone locate Teresa?” Hasi asked.
For the next several minutes each vampire tried various ways to locate Anna Marie and Teresa. A few flew into the air and looked all around, while others lifted their noses into the air and tried to locate them by scent. Steven joined hands with Joseph, and the two of them linked their minds in an attempt to make contact telepathically. Once it became apparent that none of these efforts were going to bear any fruit, they gave up and reassembled.
“Okay,” Hasi said. “Right now the best thing we can do is fly back to the mansion and get the others. It’ll be a hell of a lot easier to come up with a plan to rescue Teresa and Anna Marie once the entire clan is together.”
“Wait, Hasi,” Steven said. “Think about what has happened up to this point. Don’t you think that everything about this raid has come off way too easy?”
“Steven, I appreciate your input but-”
“No, god damn it, LISTEN TO ME!” Steven shouted. Then, in a softer voice, “Listen to me for a second, Hasi, and just think about it. We march into the headquarters of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies on earth only to find the place pretty much deserted. Now I know that we’re vampires and we’ve got these great powers that allow us to pretty much come and go as we please, but look around you. There’s only one bored guard at the front door, no security patrols anywhere to speak of, and we passed only one person on our way to the driver’s lounge. Where the hell is everybody?”
After a few tense seconds Joseph looked at Hasi. “What Steven is saying makes sense. It could be a set-up.”
“It’s possible,” Hasi said, “but if it is, then it’s even more important to get back home as quickly as we can and mobilize the rest of the clan.”
“I agree with you that we need to get everyone here,” Steven said, “but we have to move quickly before something worse than being abducted happens to Anna Marie and Teresa. Everything we know so far points to Eric being responsible. He’s smart, and he’s sat on the council for a hell of a long time. That makes it very likely that he’s already anticipated every move you’re going to make. I’m sure he’s counting on the time it will take us to fly back to the mansion, tell everyone what’s happened, and form some kind of plan. He could very well use that time to take Anna Marie somewhere that would make it almost impossible for us to locate her, not to mention Teresa.”
Steven turned to Samantha and Joseph. “You said that it was a good idea for me to join the council because I could contribute fresh ideas. Well, that’s what I’m doing, so listen to me.”
There was silence as everyone thought about what Steven had said. After a couple of minutes Hasi spoke. “Okay Steven, I’m listening. What do you think we should do?”
“I think you should all go home and tell everyone else what’s happened. I want to stay here and try and find Eric. I’m a pretty decent tracker, and I’m confident that I’ll be able to locate him. I’m willing to bet anything that wherever Eric is, he has Anna Marie and Teresa with him. Once I find him I can find out what he’s up to. As soon as I do, I’ll send you a mental message and you can bring the rest of the clan to the rescue.”
Hasi stared intently at Steven. “I’m trying to poke holes in your idea, but I can’t.” He looked around at the group. “Can anyone else?”
No one said anything. “Okay, Steven,” Hasi said. “We’ll go with your plan. Are you sure you don’t want anyone to stay with you?”
“I’m sure. I can move faster by myself, and one vampire is less likely to be spotted than two. You guys go get everyone else and hurry back.”
“Okay, but if anything goes wrong, get in touch with me immediately, do you understand?
“I promise.”
“Okay then. Good luck.” He shook Steven’s hand quickly and signaled the others. In one fluid motion they changed into bats and flew towards home.
27
Once everyone had gone Steven took a few moments to get his bearings. The area around him was completely silent except for the ambient noise of surrounding wildlife. A quick scan of the area revealed nothing but trees, so he changed and flew towards the main laboratory building, but even this bat’s-eye view revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Just as he was about to change course and fly off in another direction, however, he heard the tiniest of noises coming from a hedgerow that ran along the front of the building. The strange sound was accompanied by a faintly recognizable scent.
Steven engaged the sonar, and soon a tiny red dot emerged in the lower-left corner of his field of vision. He turned until it was centered and flew towards it. After making a few quick passes back and forth he noticed some slight movement inside the thick bushes and moved closer. He had gotten within a few feet of the hedge when a good-sized rat ran out of it.
At first Steven disregarded the rat as just a fellow creature of the night, but a closer look revealed a gleam of intelligence inside its eyes that gave it away. Steven dove sharply. He hoped to catch it in his talons and carry it away, but wasn’t quite fast enough, because just as he was about to grab it, the rat turned into Eric.
Steven turned as well, and tackled Eric from above. Before Eric could use his considerable speed to recover, Steven choked him with one hand and punched him in the face repeatedly with the other.
Eric, fought back hard, however, and soon regained control. Swinging his legs up and across his body, he used the resulting leverage to squirm out of Steven’s grip and rise to his knees. Then he threw his arms up and away from his body in a sweeping motion that freed him completely from Steven’s grip. After a few more struggles he regained his footing and the two vampires faced each other for the first time since Eric had run away.
“Steven,” Eric said, in a pleading voice. “I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t blame you, but you’re wrong. I didn’t take Anna Marie.”
Steven wasn’t interested in anything Eric had to say. He lowered his head and charged blindly. It was a repeat of the same stupid move Eric had made during their first fight, and wasn’t any more successful this time simply because Steven was the one who had decided to use it. Eric kicked Steven aside easily and pinned him to the ground, which was just starting to get wet from the morning dew. Steven thrashed back and forth, but Eric was simply too strong and held him down almost effortlessly.
“Listen to me, Goddammit!” Eric shouted. Instead of weak and pleading, his voice was now strong and sure. “I didn’t take Anna Marie. I’m trying to rescue her, and I want you to help me.”
He sounds like he’s telling the truth, but good liars always do, Steven thought. “You’re full of shit,” Steven said angrily. “You showed your true colors the other night. What was it that you said right before you flew away with your tail between your legs? I believe it was ‘you’ll all be sorry.’ Now Anna Marie and Teresa have disappeared and you expect me to believe that you had nothing to do with it? I might believe in vampires, Eric, but I sure as hell don’t believe in coincidences. I know you took them.”
“I know how it looks, Steven, and I know I fucked up by leaving the way I did, but-”
Before Eric could say anything else a small dark shape emerged from the shadows and struck him soundly on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. It was Teresa.
“Quick, Steven,” she said. “Hold him down. He’s already coming to.”
Eric moaned in pain and struggled to get back to his feet but Steven held him firmly to the ground. Teresa reached into her pockets and pulled out the last thing Steven expected to see, a set of handcuffs.
“Teresa, have you gone crazy?” Steven asked. “You do remember that Eric is a vampire, don’t you? I don’t think handcuffs are going to do the trick.”
“Just hold him down, Handsome,” Teresa said, sounding so confident that Steven stopped protesting and did as she asked. “These handcuffs are made of silver, the only element found in n
ature that can take away a vampire’s strength. Silver: It’s not just for werewolves anymore.” She laughed and closed the cuffs so tightly around Eric’s wrists that no space showed between the metal and his skin. Sure enough, he couldn’t break free despite the fact that he was doing one hell of a job trying.
“Won’t he be able to change into something less solid and get away?” Steven asked.
“Nope. As long as the silver is touching his skin he can’t transform.”
All this time Eric was rolling around on the grass, trying to do anything that might help him escape. “It wasn’t me, Steven,” he said, “and I can prove it. It was-”
Before Eric could say anything else, Teresa reached into her pocket and removed a box cutter, which she used to hack off his tongue. When she had finished she looked up at Steven with eyes so black and hateful that it was difficult for him to distinguish them from the surrounding darkness. A maniacal grin covered her face as she carelessly tossed Eric’s tongue over her shoulder.
“That takes care of that,” Teresa said, giggling. “The bad news is that his tongue will grow back, but the good news is that it will be a few minutes before it does. In the meantime I can gag him so that we won’t have to listen to any more of his bullshit.”
Teresa reached down and tore a long strip of red cloth from Eric’s shirt, made it into a ball that was just a little bit larger than the size of her fist, and stuck it inside his mouth. She then ripped off another piece of cloth and tied it around the makeshift gag. The cold, hateful expression that looked so unlike her usual appearance was still present on her face as she worked. Steven attributed it to the stress of the situation. This excursion had definitely not turned out the way any of them had planned, except possibly for Eric.
Once Eric had been successfully secured Steven ran to Teresa. “You don’t know how good it is to have you back!” he said, embracing her tightly. “What happened to you? The last time I remember seeing you was when we were leaving the woods with Hasi.”
