The Vampire's Vision

by Shawn Wiseman

  Vasha smirked. "You're going to rescue Olivia?"

  "That's right, no thanks to you." Kara got up from her seat.

  "Oh, but if you leave now I won't be able to earn that favour you gave me."

  "You haven't so far," Kara said. "What are you holding back?"

  Vasha picked up a tablet from the table beside her and began tapping on it. "I wanted to wait and be sure of your conviction to our dear Olivia before showing you this." She passed the tablet over to Kara.

  Kara took the tablet and looked at the image on the screen. It looked like a blueprint of something, and there was a red dot in the middle on one side. "What am I looking at?"

  "A blueprint of the fifth floor of the precinct that is holding Olivia."

  Kara was taken aback. After everything that she had been through and how unhelpful Vasha had seemed, she’s now delivered something that would make rescuing Olivia a thousand times easier.

  "Why?"

  Vasha raised her eyebrow. "I told you I was going to help, did I not? I was not able to have her released, but I assumed you would continue undeterred, so I gathered this information under that assumption."

  Kara glanced at the tablet, then back to Vasha. "Thank you, Vasha. I had you pegged wrong."

  Vasha laughed with genuine mirth. "Don't change your opinion of me just yet. I'm not doing this for free."

  At this point, Kara couldn't tell if Vasha was helping her just for the favour, or because she wanted to help Olivia, or both. "So, what's the red dot?"

  "That is where they are keeping our Olivia. She is being held in an interrogation room rather than standard holding cells. The reason is the same as before: they don't have her on the books. There are no windows directly to the interrogation rooms, but there are a few nearby."

  Kara looked over the blueprints, trying to glean a plan of attack or at the least a way to reach Olivia without being seen, but they might as well have been hieroglyphs. She couldn't make heads or tails of what to do.

  "What would you suggest?" She asked Vasha.

  "It all depends on how you wish to make your mark. Use your abilities and you could wreak a special kind of havoc, and escape with Olivia before anyone knew what to do with you. However, if there are psychics in the police force, and their numbers are plentiful, you might not make it too far. If you prefer to avoid injury or confrontation, then you could cause a distraction."

  "What kind of distraction?"

  "That's up to you to decide, but," Vasha stood up and moved over to Kara, and then pointed at the tablet, "here on the other side of the building is where the holding cells are. If you were to use your powers to break the locks, the prisoners could attempt an escape, drawing everyone's attention. Then, in the confusion, you could go through the window closest to Olivia and make your escape."

  "But then there's a chance of a criminal escaping."

  Vasha smiled and pat Kara on the head. "Oh my dear, that's the point." She went back to her seat and sat down again. "They'll all be caught before they can get anywhere, and besides, these people are only there for misdemeanors. The real criminals are taken to prison."

  Kara couldn't help but think that Vasha was generalizing and assuming it wouldn't be an issue, but she didn't have time to care about what ifs. Olivia needed her, and this was the best option without fighting through a few dozen people with guns and psychic powers.

  "Can this be printed off?" Kara asked.

  "Why don't you just keep the tablet?"

  "Are you sure? Aren't these expensive?"

  "It's a trifle. They come out with new ones every few months. I'll just get the newest model."

  Kara pouted. Wish I had that kind of disposable income. I'm lucky to get clothes on the salary Mr. Montgomery gives me.

  Vasha called to one of her bodyguards and he grabbed a nearby backpack and handed it to Kara. She looked inside; it was empty save for vials filled with blood.

  "Those are for Olivia. I'm familiar with your… peculiar tastes. She might need her strength back, so you can give her those."

  Kara nodded and shoved the tablet into the backpack, zipped it up, and placed it over her shoulder.

  Vasha lifted her glass. "To your success," she said with a smile.

  Kara nodded and left the restaurant. She went to the police station, and along the way she had time to steel herself for what she was about to do. Despite being a vampire, what most fictional accounts considered automatically evil, she managed to stay out of trouble for the most part. Today she was about to assist felons in escaping to help her friend escape.

  After the cab arrived in front of the station, she drew in a deep breath then let it out. Let's do this.

  She left the cab and went to an alley just to the side of the station. She counted the number of floors, and the fifth floor just happened to be the top one. She took out the tablet from the backpack and looked at the blueprint on it. The alley corresponded to the side the prisoners were in. Kara looked up and could see small, grated windows on the fifth floor. That also meant that the adjacent alley was the one with windows next to the interrogation rooms.

  Kara put the tablet away, watched the sidewalk and street for traffic, and when there was a slight moment of inactivity, she knelt down and used her vampiric strength to vault herself up the side of the building.

  There was nothing to hang onto, so Kara had to grip onto one of the steel grates on the fifth-floor windows and use her powers to stabilize herself. From her vantage point she could see a lot more of the city than normal. The air seemed a bit cleaner this high up, and she could actually see the sun off on the horizon. She was in a precarious position, however, and there was no time to admire the view. If she lost her grip and couldn't focus in time, even she could be hurt from this height.

  Kara pulled herself up to look inside the police precinct. She could see the various thugs and afternoon drunks locked up in the holding cells, biding their time for release or incarceration. There were also a few people in suits who felt out of place amongst the other rabble.

  Where's James? Kara thought she would see the drug dealer she and Olivia had visited in the morning, but he was nowhere to be found. Maybe he's also being interrogated. Kara didn't ponder on the oddity for long. James was none of her concern, only Olivia mattered.

  She made visual contact with the lock of the first cell. Kara concentrated on the metal of the cell and applied pressure to it with her mind. The metal of the lock was strong and she was having trouble crushing it. She held her breath and tensed her body to will the muscle in her head to work harder. She could feel the headache she had been trying to ignore coming back into focus and ruining her concentration.

  Kara had to let go. She relaxed and let out the breath she had been holding in. She leaned off the side of the building, her hand steady on the steel beam of the window. She took a few deep breaths to push the headache away again. Focus, focus! Olivia is counting on you.

  Kara released the concentration she was using to hold her steady on the wall, and directed all her thoughts towards breaking the lock. She could feel the metal shaking like her hand was directly over it. She placed one hand on her temple to force the headache away and as a visual for what she was doing.

  The lock buckled under her psychic pressure, compacted inward, and broke off the door itself. The crushing metal sounded like a head-on collision. The prisoners jumped back from the noise, and all eyes focussed on the lock.

  Oh, God, that was too hard. I don't know if I can do that again. Kara noticed the cell door squeaking on its hinges, and it made her facepalm. Of course! I don't need to break the whole lock, just the hinges or the metal holding the door in place. Kara moved her attention to the next cell. Focus!

  This time Kara tried to push the door off its hinges. She pushed and pulled with the motion of her free hand, and it helped her focus, which she found surprising. I thought it was stupid in movies, but it actually works… I hope nobody sees me, though.

  With one final push
the cell door flew off its hinges and hit the wall. She did the same for the other cells in the room that she could see as the prisoners attempted their escape. Beyond the holding cells Kara could see police officers with their guns out, running this way and that. There were two exits to the holding cells, and the prisoners were trying both in an attempt to leave. They didn't spare any time pondering what strange phenomenon had broken the cell, and just used the opportunity given them. Some did stay in their cells though, either not wanting further trouble, or too scared to try to escape.

  That should do. Quickly now!

  Kara jumped off the wall of the precinct to the other building in the alley, and deftly jumped from wall to wall to move to the adjacent alley while staying at the height of the fifth floor. She made her final leap towards the last window, fifteen feet from the edge of the building.

  With one hand she grabbed onto the edge of the window, and used her telekinesis to keep herself from falling off. She pulled herself up and peeked through the window to see officers running in hysterics and she could hear shouting in all directions. There was no one in the hallway of the interrogation rooms, as she’d wanted.

  She lifted the window from the inside and tore off the mesh screen and threw it into the alley. She pulled herself into the police station, falling without grace in a heap on the floor. She had to catch her breath for a moment. Using her powers was mentally exhausting. After a few seconds, she rose to her feet and went down the hallway to a large open doorway which led into the detectives’ department.

  Kara could see dozens of cops running around, guns out, shouting orders into the holding cells. She knew that, with their firepower, she wouldn't have long before they rounded up the escapees and came back to check on their other prisoners.

  After making sure none of them were looking her way, she ran across the open doorway to the other side of the hallway. There were six interrogation rooms in the hallway, and Olivia was trapped in the third one from the back of the building where Kara had entered.

  She grabbed onto the door handle and twisted the knob, but it was locked. She could feel sweat all over her face. At any moment, a cop could come walking around the corner and it would be over. She wiped her face and then gripped the knob again. She twisted hard, using her superior strength to break the lock meant to impede normal humans. She scanned her peripheral vision just in case someone had heard the noise. No one came. She opened the door.

  Inside the interrogation room there was a man in dishevelled clothes, looking at her with concern.

  "Whas goin' on out there?"

  "Sorry, wrong room."

  Kara pulled the door closed in one swift motion, then rushed to get the tablet out of the backpack again. After a quick check of the blueprint again, Kara shook her head.

  Third from the front of the building.

  Kara ran to the correct interrogation room and broke the lock like the last one. She opened the door, entered the room, and closed the door behind her.

  Inside she saw the person she went through all this trouble for: Olivia.

  "Liv!" Kara shouted, and ran over to her friend to give her a tight hug. Tears formed in her eyes as relief washed over her, and half of the stress that had piled up over the day fell away.

  "You came," Olivia said in a weak, hoarse voice.

  Kara pulled away from her embrace. "Of course I did."

  She took a look at Olivia. It looked like they were torturing her. She looked tired, and there were several cuts on her face and arms, and small bruises elsewhere. Her cute clothes were torn, and a chunk of her hair was missing. Kara could also see something was off with her lips.

  "Olivia, what's wrong with your mouth?"

  Olivia looked away from her, shame written on her face. "Nothing."

  Kara pulled Olivia's face back and made her show her teeth. Her left incisor was missing. Kara gasped and covered her mouth. "Liv!"

  "Yeah, I know. Those bastards took out one of my teeth when I bit them."

  Kara balled her fist in anger, and more tears washed down her face. "I'm sorry I didn't come for you sooner, Liv!" She embraced Olivia again, this time harder, and she winced in pain. "This is all my fault."

  Olivia pulled away as best she could. "Hey, hey! That's not true. This is nobody's fault but the corrupt fuckers who did this to me," Olivia said, her strength and voice returning. "How did you get in here anyway?"

  "We can talk about that later. We've already wasted enough time." Kara took off the backpack and took out the five vials of blood from Vasha.

  "How…?"

  "Vasha helped me," Kara replied.

  Olivia gave Kara a wary look, but didn't comment on it. "I need your help. The detectives that were keeping me here used their powers to bind my hands, and I'm too weak to break it.

  Kara looked at Olivia's hands on the table. She could feel the energy emanating from her wrists and holding her in place. She tried to probe and prod the binding, but she wasn't able to break it. She went over to the other side of the table.

  "What are you doing?"

  "I learned something earlier, and I think I can use it here. You know how in the movies when they show people with psychic powers waving their hands around as they move things with their mind?"

  Olivia laughed. "You always said it looked stupid."

  Kara chuckled and scratched her face. "Yeah, but I tried it today and it seems to work. I think I can use it to augment my normal strength as well. So, if I punch with my psychic powers aiding me, my punch will be stronger. I think I can break the binding on you if I do that."

  "Are you sure this is safe?"

  "Only one way to find out."

  Kara lifted her fist up in the air, and gathered energy around her arm, wrist, and balled fist. After she had coated her whole arm she slammed it down on the table like a hammer. The table—which was also bolted to the floor—split in two with a thunderous noise like an explosion.

  "Holy shit!" Olivia shouted.

  Kara couldn't help but burst out laughing at the wreckage she’d caused. She had never felt such power in her fingertips before. She was weak by vampire standards, and always tried her best to avoid fighting.

  The vials of blood had busted open on the floor from the force. "Damnit! Alright, come on Liv, let's get out of here before anyone checks on that noise."

  Kara went over to Olivia, picked her up from the chair, and put her arm around her shoulder. Before they could even reach the door it opened and a man in a suit rushed in. He had a badge at his hip, and a gun drawn.

  "Freeze!" he yelled, pointing the gun at them.

  Kara focused on the gun and flung it out of the detective's hands and through the mirrored glass on the far wall. The gun broke through and shattered the glass.

  The detective glanced from where the gun had gone over to Kara. He swiped his hand over, and a force pulled Olivia away from Kara. Olivia hit the brick wall and fell to the floor with a thud.

  "Liv!" Kara shouted.

  Kara's neck felt constricted like she was being choked, but there were no hands on her. She groped at air as she tried to remove the invisible constraints, to no avail. She looked at the detective to see him with his hand out like he was grabbing air, and she knew he was a psychic.

  "I never thought I'd see the day when a psychic was friends with a vampire."

  Kara struggled for breath, and used her powers to loosen his grip on her. "You don't know the half of it," she managed to squeak out.

  Kara focussed and pulled the binding apart, but a real hand replaced the psychic one right after. The detective, Simmons by his name tag, was strong—too strong, in fact. He was using his powers to augment his strength, just as Kara had learned to do not a moment before. The difference was he was a full psychic who knew how to use his powers, and probably a stronger psychic than her anyway.

  But he didn't know that she had the strength of a vampire behind her.

  Kara gripped onto his hand with both of hers. She used her psychi
c abilities and her strength in tandem and ripped his hand off her throat. He came back and tried to grab her with both hands. She grabbed his wrists and the two struggled against each other for supremacy.

  Kara gritted her teeth and pushed with all her might against Simmons. He pushed back with an equal force no normal human would have been able to muster. Kara protected her body with a barrier so he couldn't kick her. She could feel him attacking her wall with his mind, trying to overpower her as each second passed.

  It was a standstill, but she could tell that he was the stronger psychic. Despite the adrenaline masking the headache, she was still fatigued from not feeding, and she was mentally exhausted from using her powers so much. If it went on for long, she would lose, and then both she and Olivia would be captives.

  Before Kara could think of a way to end the stalemate, Olivia appeared behind Simmons and bit down on his shoulder. Simmons let out a scream of pain. She drank his blood like her life depended on it.

  Simmons didn't waste any time, and used his powers to pull her teeth out of him, then he threw her across the room again. Olivia fell to the floor again, and this time she was out cold.

  Kara saw no other way around it; she had to use the one advantage she had on Simmons. Her fangs were the answer. I can't. I can't take the blood of the living. Kara could feel her strength waning. Any second now, Simmons would overpower her, and who knows what would happen to her and Olivia next. I have no choice. I have to save Liv! I'm sorry Mom.

  She used Olivia's distraction to push herself forward and sunk her own razor-sharp teeth into his shoulder. He grunted as the teeth pierced his flesh, and his blood began draining away.

  As the blood entered her body, she could feel her strength returning. It wasn't much, but it was there. The more she drained from Simmons, the weaker he became as well. She didn't know how fast vampires drained blood, but she knew it only took losing a couple of litres before a normal-sized human would pass out. Kara aimed for those two litres and drained Simmons as fast as she could.

  She felt a rush of another wave of adrenaline creeping from her toes all the way to the tips of her fingers. As the feeling of raw power flooded her body, she felt something else, something she had never felt before.

  She could feel memories that weren't her own invading her consciousness. She closed her eyes, and an image appeared before her. She was looking through someone else's eyes. Flashes of images from the new perspective rushed through her mind along with words in a voice she was unfamiliar with, but at the same time it felt like her own.

  She was looking at papers, a rap sheet… no, it's called a criminal record. "We got you on several counts of drug dealing, Mr. Moore," the voice said, and then faded away.

  A new image was quick to replace the last, and she could see the druggie Olivia got brought in with. "I'll do whatever you say, just let me go," he pleaded.

  Pathetic… But perhaps we can use him for something, Kara thought. Or was that even Kara's thought? She was unsure what her own thoughts were or who she was right now.

  A new image appeared. It was James again, but this time in a cop car. She knew it was further in time than the last image. "Remember, two-thirty-four Strike Street," Kara said, or Simmons said.

  Two-thirty-four Strike Street? That's where Raymond and the others live. Kara knew that was her own thought.

  Before she could see any more images, Simmons' body fell to the floor in a heap. Kara opened her eyes to see Simmons passed out beneath her feet. Blood was dripping off her chin, she was shaking, and she felt sick to her stomach.

  What did I just see?

  Kara lifted her hands and stared at her palms, trying to ground herself back in reality. It was like she’d lost all sense of self in the span of a minute. One minute she was Simmons and the next she wasn't.

  "Kara!" Olivia shouted. She ran over to Kara, and held her tight. "We have to get out of here."

  Kara nodded as Olivia's warmth brought her back to reality. "Right. Uhh, there's a window I came in just down the hall," she said listlessly while pointing to the back of the building.

  Olivia pulled on Kara's arm as she opened the door to the interrogation room. She glanced back and forth to check the hall, and then exited the room with Kara in tow.

  The police station was still in chaos, with people shouting and loud, heavy footsteps stamping about. Outside, the sounds of a dozen different sirens filtered through the open windows, and a different siren was blaring inside the building as well.

  Olivia went to the edge of the open doorway at one side of the hallway and peeked around the corner to see if the coast was clear. After being sure it was alright, she ran across. Kara followed behind at a close distance.

  Olivia went to the open window missing the frame and stuck her head out. She examined the alley, and then came back inside. "You need to go first and then catch me with your powers."

  Kara nodded, still feeling sick and not all there. Her stomach was aching and she was having trouble wrapping her mind around what had happened.

  Olivia slapped Kara in the face, and it stung. She grabbed her face and gave Olivia a dirty look. "What the hell was that for?" she said in a harsh whisper.

  Olivia smiled. "There you are. Now, jump down so you can catch me."

  Kara nodded, this time with more vigor. She went to the window, climbed out, and jumped down. She did the same thing she’d done when Olivia tossed her from the fire escape, slowing herself enough that she could roll on the ground.

  Her stomach churned as she rolled, and her sick feeling returned in spades. She looked up to see Olivia on the edge of the window. She motioned for Olivia to jump, and she did. Kara used her powers to slow Olivia's fall, but she caught her in her arms, and then let her gently down on the ground.

  Olivia immediately went down the alley to get away from the police station, and Kara followed. Before they could get far, Kara had to stop.

  Kara doubled over and threw up blood. She had consumed a lot of Simmons' blood, too much, and her body couldn't handle all that liquid that quickly.

  "Kara, are you okay?"

  Kara was breathing heavily and sweating, but she was able to rise to her feet with ease. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she stammered before giving Olivia a solemn look. "Liv, I think I can read minds."

  Olivia was in shock. "Huh?"

  "And I think Raymond and Damien are in trouble."

  5. WRITTEN IN BLOOD