by Minda Webber
Glancing back in the darkness I could spot Hart’s headlights. I couldn’t see Debbs and Bea, who were working on weapons in the back of the pickup, reloading and rubbing garlic on the arrows to the crossbows. Yep, the best thing we had going for us this time, since Bea didn’t have time to invent any more bombs or weapons of mass vampire destruction, was surprise.
I couldn’t help thinking as we traveled along in the cool of the heated night that there was trouble on the way, along with some pity. I pitied us, but most of all I pitied Dagan if he was even still alive.
A little later most of the pity party was for me. It took almost two hours for the ghoul to track and find Dagan. My feet were hurting by the time the ghoul led us out past Loop 1604 to a house sitting back from the road, not to mention the bite on my arm hurt and my head ached. I probably had a mild concussion.
The house we found was isolated and the nearest home was over a mile away. It was a large two-story house, modern, with large sloping roofs made out of red slate, while the house itself was made of stone, probably white since the coloring of the house was a pale gray, standing out against the deep dark black of night. We left the pickup at the gate.
Our plan was to let the ghoul track Dagan inside the house, hopefully distracting the vampires. Seth and Debbs would follow behind the ghoul and try to stay hidden while the rest of us came up from the rear.
I bit my lip and shook my head as we neared the house. Debbs took notice and grabbed my arm. “We’re going to get him out alive for you.”
“Thanks.” I meant it, even though the smile I gave her was weary. It was after three in the morning and I was tired and sick and really worried about Dagan. So much was at stake here- and I don’t mean vampire stakes.
While Seth and Debbs followed the ghoul to some French doors at the side of the house, filled with beveled glass, the rest of us went around back. I quickly noted by peeking in the windows that the kitchen looked empty.
We went in the back door. I was surprised to find it was unlocked but it was. I imagine the bad guys didn’t think the good guys could find them this fast. Besides, we were only a bunch of teenagers, and human at that. I don’t think they were worried about us much. Their arrogance might just get them killed, I hoped.
Within the kitchen, as we were spreading out, a tall curvy vampire with short curly red hair walked into the room. She was wearing a red dress that had to be two sizes too small. She spotted Zoe and practically flew across the room to attack.
Our summer solider, Bea, didn’t flinch. Like a pro, she just grabbed an iron skillet from the stove and whacked the flashy vamp across the face. The vampire’s head snapped back and she hissed, both stunned and a little shocked, I think.
Wow! I’d never seen a vampire hurt by an iron skillet. I’d have to remember to tell Debbs that. The red-headed vampire grabbed for Bea. Hissing. Hart shot her with the flame thrower.
She erupted in flames about the same time I heard the sound of glass breaking. I figured, with my Frankenstein logic, that the large French doors to the side of the house had been shattered when the ghoul broke through them. We had our distraction.
Unfortunately, the vampires didn’t seem aware of our clever ruse since two vampires suddenly rushed into the room, fangs flashing. One was the tall skinny vampire with the long blonde hair at the cemetery. The old guy ran towards Hart who raised his gun to fire while another vampire who looked to be about our age raced towards Bea.
Zoe opened the pantry door and knocked the old skinny vampire in the head. He fell backwards, and I lined up a shot and pulled the trigger. But he was quicker than I was.
He launched himself upward and was now attached to the ceiling, crawling with the speed of light to the kitchen exit-well, not quite that fast, but close. I fired, but missed a kill shot, hitting him in the foot. It burst into flame and I heard him yelp as he vanished from the room in a swirl of smoke.
A third vampire had entered and thrown Hart across the room, while Bea had shot the young vampire in the upper arm with the crossbow. The momentum carried the young vampire across the room and he was stuck to the wall by an arrow protruding from his arm.
“Great shot!” I yelled, as Zoe started banging him over the head with the iron skillet. The third vampire turned towards Bea and knocked the crossbow out of her hand. I fired, my breath thick in my throat. I too, hit the vampire in the shoulder joint of the left arm. Boy, we must be tired, for our aim was off. I hope no one told Debbs.
His arm burst into flame and he howled, then dashed to the kitchen sink and began splashing water over his burning shoulder. Hart hit him with the microwave oven. The vampire looked stunned, then slowly slid to the floor. As I looked around I was stunned to see that all the vampires were down for the count for the time being.
Bea cheered. I did too. Maybe we were the Magnificent Six after all. Steve McQueen would have been proud. The Van Helsings would be proud. My dad, maybe not so proud, with a lot of worry thrown in to the mix. Emeril Lagasse would be proud too, using cooking instruments to such fine advantage.
We heard Debbs yell a curse and we ran from the kitchen and out into a large foyer. The cursing was coming from a large room to the left. We entered at a dead run, so not police procedure, but hey, we were amateurs.
Inside, I saw that Dagan was tied to a chair with silver chains. His face was bruised. Another vampire was standing over him with a large silver blade held to his neck. Debbs was holding off two vampires with her flame thrower while Seth had the other crossbow and was banging a vampire over the head with it. Note to self: the crossbow wasn’t as effective as the kitchen equipment in beating supernatural creatures over the head.
I think that the vampire would have retaliated, except he had a large hole in his chest with an arrow sticking out. It wasn’t a killing shot, but Seth’s shot had incapacitated him.
“I’ll slit his throat,” the vampire standing over Dagan snarled. “Drop your weapons.”
“No.” Debbs’ voice rang out firm and true.
The vampire sliced Dagan’s neck and I watched the blood trickle out. It wasn’t a deep cut, but the next one might be. “Stop it,” I said as I threw down my flame gun. “Drop your weapons,” I told the others.
Zoe and Hart did as I said, but Seth, Bea and Debbs held firm. “You can’t trust him,” Debbs warned. “He’ll disarm us, then kill us.”
“Give me your word that we won’t be harmed.” I stared hard at the vampire trying to read him. He was about six feet tall, with rust-colored hair and beard, and almost black eyes. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and he was powerful. He was at least six-hundred years old, maybe more.
“Why would I do that?” he asked, his tone condescending. Old vampires get that way. They think they’re like Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight or something.
“Because I know my friend here is going to shoot you in the head if you don’t drop your weapon.” I nodded towards Debbs.
“But I’ll slit his throat first,” he replied, not the least disturbed at my threat.
“You’ll still be dead,” I snarled, bargaining for the boyfriend I loved. During my bargaining, the older blonde vampire entered the room limping. His foot was a mass of blackened burns. He flashed his fangs and hissed at me. “Is it worth it?”
“I’m faster than you. I can get you before you nick him since I’m a Van Helsing,” she snapped proudly.
I felt it added great weight to the threat. Still, I wished she had not done that. I got a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. There was big trouble in San Antonio and I didn’t know what was going to happen. Throwing a Van Helsing into the mix was like adding water to hot grease. You were going to get burned if you were too close to the mix. I know that personally, since I’d fried chicken once and caught the grease on fire. I tried to put it out with water and caught our kitchen on fire. My mom never let me cook chicken again, or fried catfish for that matter. In fact, she pretty much hid the grease from me and all my sisters.
“You’d trust my word?” He laughed. The sound was like fingernails scratching a chalk board.
I felt my flesh quiver with distaste. No, I didn’t, and that was the problem, the big problem. I wouldn’t trust him an inch, a half-inch or something even smaller. Whatever that was, remember I’m bad at math.
“Shoot!” I shouted at Debbs, deciding that the vampire would just lie and kill us all anyway.
She did. Her shot hit the vampire low in the neck and to the side, blood spurting forth. He jerked back as Dagan jerked back as well, the knife slicing deeply into his collar bone, but not severing his jugular.
The vampire Debbs shot howled in outrage. Debbs cursed since she had basically missed the kill shot. The vamp was hurt and very angry. He flew across the room and backhanded Debbs, sending her tumbling into the fireplace. Luckily, it was October and nobody but a moron would light a fire in October in San Antonio, Texas.
Debbs didn’t make a sound. She was out for the count. Seth, trying to intervene was knocked across the room, landing by the couch by the older blonde vamp with the charred foot. Another vampire, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, with arm muscles as thick as my thighs, hissed at them, then jumped on Seth pinning him down as Bea ran to help. She jumped on his back and was struggling with the vampire so that it wouldn’t bite Seth.
Hart joined her, shoving the fireplace poker in the vampire’s back, while Zoe and I ran to Dagan and began to yank at the chains. Fortunately, I had a bolt cutter. But then I am a Frankenstein. Tools of the trade.
“You shouldn’t have come, V.J. or you either, Zoe,” Dagan said, his eyes bright with pain.
They had trounced him. I could see the cuts all over his body.
“Look out!”
I flung the chair to the floor as the two of us went flying backward, knocked off balance by a wolf of enormous proportions. I saw the blonde-haired vamp grab Zoe and pin her to his chest, arms encircling her. The wolf growled as he stood, feet planted on my chest and jaws about two inches from my face. It just went from bad to worse.
I shoved my sleeve in the wolf’s mouth as he tried to rip out my throat. I felt, more than saw Dagan, who was still pinned partially to the chair, grab hold of the wolf’s neck. He yanked backward, keeping the wolf from tearing out my throat.
I was so relieved I cried out, my stomach lurching and for a moment I had the crazy idea that I might be sick. We were losing. We were all going to die! I was too young to die. I hadn’t gotten to finish out the season being a cheerleader. I hadn’t got to have graduation and get graduation presents. Dagan hadn’t gotten to take me to the Halloween dance and I’d never seen the Grand Canyon or the Eiffel Tower, not that I particularly wanted to see the Tower, but it was my favorite argument to get my dad to take us to Paris in the spring time. So far it hadn’t worked as an educational visit. Although, my dad did want to meet the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
“Halt! To me, Thor, to me!”
The words were strong, imperial, a voice used to command. Power radiated from him. The wolf obeyed and leapt off me, bounding over to the vampire who had just entered, dressed in black. The wolf began nuzzling this new vampire’s hand. “No more violence!”
I looked around, partially in shock and partially in disbelief. The vampires in the room obeyed that imperial voice. My gang obeyed, so surprised by the sight of the vampire standing regally in the doorway to the foyer, they forgot momentarily that we had been fighting for our lives.
Of all the people or all the monsters I had expected to see, it certainly wasn’t this one. It didn’t make sense.
It was horrific.
My jaw dropped open as I slowly sat up.
Who would have thought?
Who indeed?
And just what in blue blazes was going on?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
He was the vampire in black. Proudly, he stood in the entranceway, issuing commands as was his due. He wore a silken black shirt and black dress pants with black cowboy boots, which helped to complete his dark look. The vampire had brown hair that hung shaggy around his collar and warm brown eyes, until you really looked deep into them; then you could see the iron core of ruthlessness within. He could have been Johnny Cash. I almost expected him to sing Ring of Fire.
The ancient vampire surveyed the mix of species in the room regally and stepped further into the den, his cape swishing lightly as he moved. The cape, of course, was all black, both inside and outside. I have to admit I’d probably would have been disappointed if he hadn’t been wearing the cape. But what else would you expect from Dracula, Prince of Darkness?
Around me I heard the soft whispers of words. Seth was uttering a prayer of protection from the Dark Prince. Zoe just gaped, her mouth stretched wide and her green eyes filled with appreciation, while Bea seemed fascinated with the ancient vampire.
She remarked, more to herself than to anyone in general, “Oh boy, can you believe it? I’ve hit the vampire jackpot. Unbelievable.” Then she turned to me and grinned. “Way to go, V.J.”
I couldn’t believe Bea thought that I had arranged for us to be attacked by the premier vampire in the world. Both Dagan and I looked at her quickly, then turned back to stare at Count Dracula. This was crazy, what was he doing associating with the vampires who had been hunting us and kidnapping his grandson?
“It’s Count Dracula in the flesh,” Debbs said, her voice filled with both tension and excitement.
“Jason is gonna be so mad that he missed this.” This came from Hart, who just had to put in his two cent’s worth. “Oh yeah, Jason’s gonna be royally annoyed. Ain’t it sweet that Dracula wears cowboy boots?”
I gave a sharp bark of laughter at his remark. Somehow I didn’t see Dracula riding off into the sunrise on a big black horse with happily-ever-after in his future.
“Grandfather!” Dagan exclaimed. I noticed that Dagan was neither afraid nor amazed, but he was rather angry, very angry. It was easy to tell with that scowl on his face. I didn’t blame him. We had been trying to save Dagan from his own grandfather’s goons.
Dracula lifted his cape and opened his mouth and spoke in a booming voice. His very long sharp fangs were prominently displayed. “You have killed five of my vampires by last count and wounded a number of others!”
Oh, dear, I thought. This is it. We’re going to be vampire fodder, or the very least dinner.
“Bravo!” Dracula started clapping and so did the rest of his fanged-face companions, even the older blonde-haired vampire with the burned foot.
The room filled with applause. I even caught Hart clapping, and Zoe. “Bravo!” Dracula shouted. I thought he was crazy and wondered if insanity ran in the family.
Debbs and I looked at each other. This was beyond strange. We were being applauded for doing away with part of his army. For just a moment, this odd irrelevant thought filled my shocked brain. I wondered if we had gotten rid of more of the Count’s army we would have had a standing ovation; although it came pretty close since only three people were seated in the room while everyone else was standing at guard. Those three being gravely wounded, of course.
Dracula advanced into the room and quickly reached his grandson’s side, hugging him tightly. “You have passed the test with flying colors,” Dracula said as he stepped back from Dagan.
Dagan shook his head, his jaw tight with anger. “My friends could have been killed with this test of yours!”
Dracula shrugged his shoulders elegantly. “My grandson, you could all have been killed. But you weren’t. You are true to your bloodline. I’m proud of you. You wear the Dracula name proudly.”
Geez, I thought, Dracula should probably get well acquainted with rings of fire, because the Devil was surely going to get him. If he didn’t watch out. But that’s vampire politics for you.
“How could you? You had no right to do this! You put so many at risk for something as stupid as a test of my powers. You could have just asked.”
“I had every right! I am the king of vampire-kind
and you’d do well to remember that, even if you are one of my favorite grandsons,” Dracula snapped, his voice harsh and grating. He was every inch the dignified king chastising a disobedient subject.
I just shook my head. My dad had told me that vampire politics were scary and convoluted things, like a necklace in your jewelry box that had gotten tangled with knots that it took you forever to get the necklace straightened again.
“You didn’t have the right to risk our lives,” Debbs said as she crossed the room to stand in front of her arch enemy. I noted that she held a big old stake in her right hand. But just before she reached Dracula, the rust-haired vampire blocked her way, his stance threatening. Yet, Dracula waved his hand and the red-headed vampire let Debbs pass.
“What you did stinks!”
I personally agreed with Debbs. But I must admit I was still in a bit of shock. Dracula, had risked his grandson’s life for something as silly as a test. I couldn’t figure him out, this boogeyman of vampire-kind, who looked like Johnny Cash, had a dog that looked like a wolf named Thor, and wore a cape. Certainly he was no caped crusader, more like a caped marauder. And besides, I hated tests.
“So this is the youngest Van Helsing,” Dracula said, as he walked around Debbs and studied her like she was some lab specimen or a very tasty morsel to eat. I shuddered.
“You are so young to be so strong, yet my vampires haven’t quit telling of your skill and bravery. By all accounts you acquit yourself well in mortal combat. Even when Adrian captured you and held you captive, you showed no fear. Yes, you are much like your great, great, great grandfather. A man to be respected, if not liked.”
“That’s right; you did know my great, great, great grandfather, didn’t you?”
Suddenly Debbs didn’t seem nearly as irritated as before. Of course the praise that had been heaped upon her head had been rather impressive. And Van Helsings did love praise for fighting the good fight. Yeah, I could see how the flattery would get to her.
