“Yes, but you know that,” Blake said.
“Unless they’re invited in by the rightful owner,” Mary corrected.
“Meaning only Clara could invite them in,” Pete said.
“So even if one of us did invite them in...” Carl began.
“Yes, although I’m not quite willing to test that theory right about now,” Blake interjected.
The baby was settling down now, rocking in Mary’s arms.
“You think she’s all right?” Pete said.
“Um, it’s a boy sweetie,” Mary responded.
“I meant his Aunt Clara,” he said.
“Oh, right. I think so. Or at least she will be.”
“I hope so,” Pete said, “She didn’t look too good.”
Once she was done peeing, Clara washed her hands, and then her face, splashing cold water on it several times. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she said to herself, “I have to be dreaming.” She splashed some more water on her face. When she looked up again, there was a man in the reflection with her.
It was the fiend that had almost killed her baby, except now it had a gaping hole where one eye should have been, raw and blood-filled against its ragged edges.
“You’re not dreaming,” Kristoff said. She started to scream, and then he snapped her neck, twisting it so violently that although her back was still to him, her shocked, horrified face looked into his.
The air was different. They all sensed it. All but Svetlana who was human. There were no barriers to hold them any longer. They could now enter the Lynd household uninvited.
“Something’s wrong,” Blake said, “It’s too quiet.”
And then the glass in one of the windows shattered, and one of the vampires came through. The door splintered and broke, and two more entered.
“I thought they couldn’t come in uninvited!” Julia said.
“No, not without the owner...” Blake started.
“What?” Mary said.
“Unless the owner was dead.”
“Oh shit!” Carl said.
“Oh shit,” Blake agreed. Another vampire crashed through a window. “Grab your weapons! Protect the child!”
Two more vampires came in through the back door, entering the living room from the right. Svetlana Kurylenko was the last to enter through the front door on their left, casually stepping in over the fallen doorway.
All but Mary, who cradled the baby defensively to her chest, had their weapons raised. Blake, Julia, Carl, and Peter formed a ring around her, with Mary at the center, and they were, in turn, surrounded by the vampires.
Svetlana looked through them at Mary. She surveyed the fallen vampires, and asked, “Where’s Kristoff?”
“If you’re talking about the baby-killer,” Carl said, “He’s wandering around the house with one less eye.”
He noticed an odd twitch in the woman. Carl wasn’t sure whether she was reacting to the baby-killer comment, or the fact that her group’s leader was injured.
“Ah,” Vladimir said approvingly, “It is Kristoff who has killed the home’s occupant.”
“Yep,” Carl said, “And it’s Jerkoff who’s going to get you killed tonight.”
Julia snorted. It sounded funnier coming from Carl, who was short and stocky, saying it to this guy, who was tall and built like Ivan Drago.
Blake only had the chance to reload one gun, and with the vampires shifting about from left to right, angling for the best position to attack, he didn’t yet have a steady target. He had a gun in one hand and held the sword in the other.
Mary couldn’t get to any weapons, but she held a cross in one of her hands, the baby in the other. Ryan had begun wailing again after the racket the vampires made coming in.
Despite the surprise home invasion, the vampires
became quickly aware that they were at a distinct disadvantage. Their enemies all held weapons that could be fired or used at a distance, and they needed to get close enough to strike at them.
Blake fired off a shot, taking a vampire in the side of the neck. He dropped.
“Kurt!” Ilyana shouted.
The next thing Blake knew, his gun flew out of his hand, as if someone had lassoed it.
“It’s her!” Carl pointed with his spear at Svetlana, who now held the gun and began to raise it.
Julia fired her harpoon, piercing her through the gut. Svetlana fell against the wall near the doorway, clutching her stomach, just as Ilyana launched herself at Blake. Now relieved of his gun, he grasped the sword in both hands slashing through the air above him, as she soared over his head, all claws and teeth. The blade split her in half, slashing through her waist, her torso going in one direction, and her legs another. They continued to squirm on the ground, independent of each other, and still quite alive. Ilyana’s face contorted with hate, as she pushed herself along the ground with her hands, her innards leaving bloody snail trails in her wake.
The one she had referred to as Kurt was on the ground writhing, feeling the silver course through him. Carl took him out of his misery, spearing him through the heart. Julia ripped the harpoon out of Svetlana’s gut, the point tugging her halfway toward Julia, releasing a jet of blood and viscera. She was alive, but still very human. She would ultimately bleed out and die. Julia Stevens had no qualms about letting her die slowly.
Pete Whiteman fired his crossbow at the giant Vladimir. Despite his stature and unsteady gait, he moved with uncanny speed, snatching the quiver from the air, and snapping it in two.
“Johann,” the vampire said. The vampire Johann
looked at Vladimir and nodded. Johann started speaking some odd words that seemed to be part Russian and part Latin, his eyes turning to slits, and Pete found himself paralyzed. He wasn’t frozen so much as it felt as if invisible hands held him at bay. Yet the spell seemed rather weak, as if he could almost break free if he tried hard enough. It turned out he didn’t have to.
Carl Napier thrust his spear forward, jabbing it through Johann’s forehead, as he was still deep in concentration, breaking the spell. He tore it out, and before the body had a chance to fall, he quickly thrust a second time, piercing through the vampire’s heart. The spear went all the way through and out his back, momentarily lodging in the plaster of the wall behind him. Johann fell forward, impaled in such a manner that Carl was unable to free his weapon, and left it there, grasping for something else.
Meanwhile, Blake was reloading his other gun. The top half of Ilyana was speed slithering toward him, her fingers gripping the wood laminate like suckers. Pete shot her in the eye with his crossbow. It made a sound like a water balloon exploding. When she began coming toward him he fired again, this time hitting her in the throat. He finally aimed low enough, and on the third try hit his target. The arrow stuck out between her breasts, blood soaking through her clothes, fanning out like a Rorschach pattern. She fell over backward, all the fight gone out of her, flashing her bloody entrails on the way down.
There were only two left standing, the giant Vladimir, and the as yet unnamed vampire. The witch lay on the floor, dying.
Blake shot at Vladimir and the other vampire, firing each successive round in an arch, trying to cover the both of them. And then something happened. Everything was still. When they looked the bullets hung in the air, suspended. Like in that movie The Matrix, Carl thought, he’d watched in spring. Svetlana, visibly weak, spoke. “Do
it, do as I taught you. I can’t hold them for much longer.”
Vladimir grinned and nodded. “Yes, do it Sergei!”
The other vampire concentrated, and as Pete was about to fire his crossbow, it waved its hands and the four bullets suspended in the air turned on them, firing close to the same speed they’d been fired from the gun. Pete was struck in the shoulder, the arm holding the crossbow canted upward, the arrow flying wild and hitting the chandelier. A trickle of translucent jewels showered down on them. Blake was hit in the side. Julia was hit in t
he leg, immediately going down. Carl was grazed on the side of the neck, deep enough to leave a furrow. And Mary, who’d been standing behind them, holding the child, uninjured, now stood alone, unprotected. She held the cross up to ward them off. Although Vladimir and Sergei smiled, they did not make a move toward her or Ryan. But their smiles also betrayed them. She knew someone was creeping up behind her.
As Kristoff moved in to grab her and snatch the child from her arms, she glimpsed him from the corner of her eye. Holding Ryan firmly under one arm, she bent her other arm behind and over her shoulder, planting the cross on Kristoff’s forehead. The vampire screamed as it hissed on his skin, sending up curls of smoke, and blackening his head above the missing eye.
Vladimir and Sergei watched this intently, unaware of Svetlana moving weakly, but determinedly toward the action. Mary turned toward Kristoff, planting the cross with increased ferocity. Kristoff cried out, falling to his knees. Mary stepped backward with the child, holding the cross up. “Now back the hell up!” she told him.
Her friends were on the ground, injured. The words were spoken with as much fear as with rage. She didn’t know how she was going to get out of this.
Someone or something was crawling around, behind Kristoff. His eyes blazed at her with hatred; the burned indent of the cross seared in his forehead like a
brand. Svetlana raised the sword with what little strength she had left and swung, severing Kristoff’s head from his body.
Mary stood, stunned, at the crawling, dying witch. Svetlana looked up at her and said, “I’ve killed before. And I’m sure that I deserve to die. I’m evil, and a murderer, but I’ve never murdered anyone innocent. We are all guilty of something, but this child is not. I could not let him die. I could not abide it.”
Mary understood. Vladimir and Sergei set out toward them angrily. But Blake and the others were rising up. Svetlana had taken his sword, but Blake still had two rounds in his Colt revolver. Pete still had his crossbow, and Julia had her harpoon gun. Though Carl didn’t have his spear, he had holy water and stakes. They were prepared to fight if need be, but the sirens in the distance insured it wouldn’t come to that.
“Police!” Blake said, “We have to get out of here!” The vampires stood to either side of the entryway, as if they would not let them pass, but with weapons firmly pointed at them, they did exactly that.
“This is over,” Blake said, “Get out of town. Let the child be. If we see either of you again, we will kill you.”
Vladimir cursed in Russian, letting them through. They ran as fast as they could to their cars, supporting Julia whose leg was injured. Vladimir cocked his head toward Svetlana.
“What do we do with her?” Sergei said.
“She’s too valuable to us,” Vladimir said, moving toward her, bending to where she lay and propping her up. She’d lost a large amount of blood, and was barely breathing. He raised her head to his, and sunk his fangs into her neck. Her eyes opened wide. Svetlana became all too aware what was happening. Vladimir lifted the sword that lay beside her, slashing his own wrist, and raising it to her mouth.
“No,” she cried weakly, “No.” He forced the bleeding wrist to her lips. She was too weak to resist. The blood ran into her mouth, dribbling between her parted lips, and racing down her throat. Svetlana gasped. Vladimir lifted her up, taking her in his arms.
As they walked out the doorway a policeman stood there several feet away, legs spread and gun raised, and said, “Freeze!”
“I don’t think so,” Vladimir said in Russian, and they shot up into the air, gone in an instant.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE NEW ARRIVALS
“Are you sure?” Faraday asked again.
“Yes,” Ben said.
“You don’t want representation at the trial.”
“No, I know I’m guilty. I’m pleading as much.”
“Ben, you weren’t yourself.”
“Yeah, and who’s going to buy that?”
The detective shook his head. “You’ve got me there. But a good lawyer...”
“Will be able to convince a jury that I couldn’t possibly have committed those murders, but that would be a lie. I did.”
“Ben?” a new voice joined them.
“Amelia?” Ben said. She’d come to see him again. Apparently one of the other officers had let her through. Faraday wandered off to let them talk.
Ben smiled. “I like your hair.” She’d straightened it, and now had purple streaks running throughout.
“Thanks,” she said. “You should listen to him Ben. You shouldn’t go through this alone. You shouldn’t have to say anything. You can’t even remember what you did.”
Ben hung his head. “I don’t know. I’m very sorry for the other day.”
“I know,” Amelia said, “It must be really difficult to be going through this.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Well, I can’t put it into better words.”
“How about knowing there’s this part of you that you can’t control, and feeling like you’re completely insane because you can’t keep it from taking over you. That about sums it up doesn’t it?” he bemoaned weakly.
“Ben,” she said, putting her hand through the bar
and lifting his head. “You’re a good man. What this is, it’s something that you can’t be held responsible for. It’s as alien to who you are as...” She couldn’t find an example.
“An alien virus?” Ben suggested.
“Yes, just like an alien virus!”
“You know what I don’t get?”
“What’s that?”
“How in the world you can still talk to me. I’ve killed people you knew. I killed your fiancé.”
She shrugged, summoning a half smile. “It wasn’t working out anyway.”
Ben shook his head in dismay until he realized she was joking. “That’s terrible.”
“I know,” she said. “No one said I was completely innocent. I don’t blame you for that, or for anything else you might have done while you were that thing.”
“That’s good to know, but I still feel it inside me, and it gets stronger the closer it gets to the next full moon. It’s not as easy for me to separate the two.”
“Yeah, it ain’t for me either,” Dominic Finch said from behind them. He pulled out a gun, pointing it at Ben.
Faraday ran in, grabbing his arms and twisting them from behind. The gun fired into the ground, and Dominic’s fingers opened, letting go of the weapon.
“Christ almighty!” Faraday shouted, “What the hell do they pay you people for?! Just let anyone walk in willy- nilly!!” Several officers rushed into the room, mouths agape.
“Yeah, I’m talking to you fucknuts!” Faraday said. “Can’t a man go take a piss without you guys screwing something up?!” The boy was struggling to get free of him, but the detective’s grip was firm.
“You killed my girlfriend!” Dominic screamed, raging against him. “You’re going to get yours too!”
“Ease up there son,” Faraday said, “I don’t want to
hurt you.” He slapped cuffs on the teen. He felt rotten about it, because he understood. But if there was ever a case of two wrongs don’t make a right, this was probably in the top percentile. Dave Faraday had to forcibly drag him into a cell three cages removed from Benjamin, and lock it, before he read the kid his rights.
“Yeah, yeah, I understand,” Dominic answered.
Amelia and Ben stared at each other, and Faraday glanced at them.
“I’ll remove the cuffs when you calm down,” Faraday shouted back to Dominic.
Ben looked at Faraday. “You have a cigarette? I haven’t had one in at least a week. I could really use one now.”
“I don’t smoke,” Faraday said, as he reached for his tin of chewing tobacco and put a fresh stack into his mouth.
She was close to finding her brother. After three long years of scouring the globe, following every clue, no
matter how vague, her search had finally led her here, to the borders of Mercy Falls, Massachusetts. Emily Killian had not given up on Thomas, and neither had his fiancée Meredith, who travelled with their three year old son Wesley, the son he’d never gotten to see born. She in turn arrived in town with her own fiancé Frederick.
Except for a similarity in the eyes and the mouth Emily bore little resemblance to her brother. She was plump where he was wiry; he had a thick red mane where her hair was a wispy almost white blonde to match her pale skin; he had freckles where she had none, and her eyes were light where his were dark. At one time while they grew up together they were inseparable, and the physical differences didn’t matter. Anyone could tell right away that they were brother and sister.
She didn’t understand why he’d left. Did he feel responsible for their parent’s death? Was he? She couldn’t believe it. She never had, but that letter he’d left-
I cannot escape what I am, but by leaving you I may at least spare you the same fate that has befallen the rest of our family.
He seemed sure of it. Emily needed to know the truth, needed closure, even if it meant only seeing her brother one last time.
But it was getting late. They’d need to get up early in the morning to with any luck conclude the search, so they booked a room at the Radisson. Despite her expectations Emily was cautiously optimistic. There’d been too many leads that had only wound up being dead ends. She held her lover’s hand, drifting off to sleep.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
HOME INVASION
He was surprised to see her there again, especially after their last encounter. Blake sat at his regular booth in the Dizzy Diva, and watched as Stephanie approached him with curiosity. If anything the girl was gutsy.
She stood in front of his table. He lay back watching her through the shadows.
“I know you’re there,” Stephanie said. “I don’t care if you want to listen. I’m here to give you information. You can do what you want with it.”
The Depths of the Hollow (Mercy Falls Mythos Book 2) Page 17
