Drift (Drift Series)

by Dean, Michael

  I tucked my wings away in an effort to keep my real identity under wraps. Sandra and Scruffy were so scared they hadn’t even noticed my arrival, but there was no doubt my presence was noticed by the motley crew of bloodsuckers.

  None spoke a word. They only glared in bewilderment. Oddly enough, it was Scruffy who broke the brief silence.

  “Leo! Dude, how the hell did you get here so fast?” Scruffy kept a wandering eye on the gaggle of bullies staring at me.

  “Now’s not the time for explanation, Scruff. You and Sandra need to start the car and get out of here!” I ordered as the thirsting vampires closed in around their newest threat…me.

  “What about you, Leo? What are you going to do?” Sandra asked as she fired up the engine.

  “Yeah, get in here with us, man. We’ll run over them if we have to,” Scruffy added.

  “Running them over will be of no use you two! Shut up and go…now! I’ll be fine!”

  “Leo…”

  “Go!” I yelled again.

  Very quickly Sandra backed up her car and threw it into drive, squealing the tires and kicking up rocks as the scared couple fled the scene. I was now left alone with the hoard, who didn’t seem fazed that I just chased off their meal.

  Silence filled the night as we sized up one another. The curious predators surrounded me. The fanged stalker that had held up Scruffy moments before approached, breaking their perfect circle. I could only assume he was their leader.

  He was wearing very baggy black pants that nearly covered the black army boots. They were so loose and wide at the bottom that they scraped the ground as he walked, causing dirt to stick on the hems. Multiple chains hung all over the loose fitting jeans; they swayed and clanked as he walked. The entire group, including a girl that sported green and blue hair, nearly matched their leader in attire. Although the hairstyles differed a bit from each other—some long, some short and spiked—they all pretty much looked like they’d stepped out of the front row of a death metal concert. Overwhelming amounts of pant and belt chains, rings, rigid thick silver necklaces and spikes, everything they wore could be used as a potential weapon against me if we locked horns. It was intimidating. I was sure confrontation would happen since all had fully exposed their feeding fangs.

  Although their bite isn’t fatal to a demon, it does act like a poison that could paralyze my physical body for hours, giving them ample time to find, let’s say, an angry demon boss with a grudge, and a demon-killing dagger to finish the job. Forgot to mention…the pain from their bite is agonizing. I’d much rather avoid their chomp altogether, if I could.

  With a sinister smile, the head thug spoke up, flexing his spiritual muscle at me. “Lookie what we have here, guys, a demon to the rescue?” His cronies chuckled as he took his place in front of me, giving me the once-over.

  “I thought demons were the most fearsome creatures on the planet, the most reviled, but it appears we have a straggler here. He looks weak. He must be, if he comes to the aid of a couple of petty humans. Tell me, demon, are we lost? You should know better than to stray into a vampire’s domain, especially when it’s feeding time.” His tongue grazed his blood-sucking fangs slowly as his followers again let out another spurt of laughter mixed with some more hissing.

  “What is your name, fallen one?”

  “Leo.”

  Again, sporadic laughter broke out. Only their leader didn’t flinch as he kept those flaming volcano red eyes fixated firmly upon me.

  “What is yours, scavenger?” I asked.

  His eyebrows jumped up. He gave me a cocky half-grin as he snorted in defiance.

  “Leo, huh?” He looked around at his lackeys for support.

  “Sounds like a weak name for a demon.” He walked amongst his chuckling allies.

  “This is Tony.” He brushed his hand across the shoulder of the first smiling hooligan. Then, pointing to the next two grinning male vampires, he announced their names. “This is Steven and Gibson.” He approached the female vampire, stopping to place his fingers into her curly, multi-colored hair and scanned her as if she was a steak. “And this beautiful specimen is Beth. Say hello to our guest, Beth.”

  She hissed at me again, showing me her dagger-like fangs. I took this as her way of telling me hello. He smiled and she peered at him lovingly.

  “And I,” he paused arrogantly as he tossed his hair to one side and patted both hands on his chest, “am Nelson, the head of this order of vampires.”

  I scoffed at his ego. “Order? Only the five of you? You call this rabble you lead an order? Do you think you’re some kind of mini-Shimmer or something?” My abrasiveness appeared to offend him. A look of stone broke the humor across his pasty face.

  Tony spoke in furious defense of his leader, “Nelson is one of the strongest vampires in the world. You would do yourself well by holding your defiled tongue, demon!”

  Before I could rebut, Nelson smiled again and attempted to put out the fire by placing his hands, palms up, in front of him. “Easy, Tony. Easy, my friends. It seems our uninvited guest has no manners. But that’s just fine, I think we know how to teach an ill-mannered guest the art of respect, don’t we?” Nelson faced his loyal admirers, searching for support. They didn’t disappoint him.

  Backing his play deeper, Beth spoke with a shrieking voice, “C’mon, baby, show the winged-vermin where the real power lies.”

  Again the gang, including Nelson, patronized me with their humiliating laughter. In an effort to push back, I joined in their laugh-fest with some of my own. Then suddenly, I turned serious and glanced at Beth. “Keep your hole shut when you address me, tramp.”

  The bellowing laughter came to a screeching halt. The mood turned unequivocally foul. “It appears that the time has come to bid our discourteous drifter farewell,” Nelson said and suddenly the vampires stood in attack mode. Nelson, for the last time in our brief discussion, addressed his small army.

  “No need to hold back, give him everything you got, my friends. I have always wanted a piece of a demon.”

  “Well, then, c’mon and break you off some, boy.”

  Nelson showed me his teeth and ordered his clan to attack.

  They closed in at a high rate of speed, being that vampires were brilliantly fast. I unveiled my wings and expanded them completely as I knelt. I spun in a full three-sixty, hitting each of the approaching predators in the chest. Their bodies buckled from the blows to their abdomens as they flew backwards several feet. This allowed me the time to thrust my wings forward, giving enough momentum to fly backwards away from the airborne vampires. This gave me some more room to prepare for what would come at me next.

  A furious Nelson demanded, “Get up, you idiots! Send him back to Hell. Prove yourselves worthy of your master and mistress, and when you finish, bring us his wings! Don’t make Beth and I have to do the work for you fools!”

  Steven and Gibson came for me in a dead sprint. When a vampire runs, they can be on you in mere seconds—that’s if their target is standing on the west side of a major metropolitan city. So the rapid approach of a vampire barreling from only yards away gave me zero time to think.

  My backside was close to a handful of pine trees. As soon as Steven and Gibson were within my grasp, I used the force of their momentum to usher them into a couple of the tree trunks. I stepped between the dashing duo and politely placed my hands on the backs of their speeding heads, forcefully slamming them into the trees face-first. The impact knocked a barrage of pinecones to the ground and shook the trees with a vengeance.

  I casually walked up to the stunned blood-brothers, who were trying to remove their faces from the bark, and grabbed them by the backs of their necks. “Here, let me help you, boys.” I picked the pair up, letting them dangle freely in my grip.

  “You see, there are more uses for those sharp fangs other than sucking on soft human veins.” I flew up into the air, “Now, suck on this!” I shoved their faces back into the trees. As soon as their teeth were stuck in nice a
nd deep, I began sliding them downwards while keeping pressure on their necks.

  Their torsos wiggled and writhed as tree bark and wood broke off into chips and filled their mouths. As bark flew from their mouths, I stopped the sliding and looked up to see two perfect scrape marks on each of the trunks. I let go of them and allowed them to thrash in anguish trying to free themselves.

  “Now, how’d that taste, fellas? A little dry? You two…ah…hang here, while I go play with your friends.”

  Just then, I noticed Tony scaling the tree next to me. He crouched and used its trunk as a springboard while I was still hovering in the air. His hand snapped out and grasped me by the throat. He thrust us viciously back to the earth. We hit the ground and kicked up all kinds of gravel. I was on my back with Tony straddling me, clinging to my throat. I couldn’t help but wonder what this moron was doing. He couldn’t kill me. Sure it hurt and stunned me a little, but I wasn’t going down by being strangled to death, I’m already dead.

  His red eyes and saliva soaked fangs glowed with enthusiasm. I could hear Beth screaming in the background, “Now you have him, Tony. Save some for me so we can finish him off together!”

  Her cheerleading must have burnt into him a false sense of security, because he confidently pushed off the ground with his legs, still holding my throat. He stood us up in one fluid motion. This was a big mistake, being that I’m a demon and much stronger—other than another demon or angel—than anything ever created. Standing me up played right into my hands and Nelson knew it. He actually uttered the word “idiot” at Tony’s momentary lapse of reason.

  Just when he thought he had control, I balled my fist and thrust it forward like the spring pull on a pinball machine. My fist hit him dead in the stomach. It went so deep I could almost feel his spine on my knuckles. His confident and proud smirk turned to fearful surprise as he vaulted backwards and smacked at the base of the particular tree Gibson was still stuck on. The force of the impact knocked Gibson free. He came crashing down upon the weary Tony, who was hunched over at the foot of the towering pine.

  Tony came to his senses with a shake of his head, and, much like the mistake Steve and Gibson made, got to his feet and charged me. This time, I bent and swung one of my wings around. As my wing made contact with his head, it decapitated him, causing his torso to do a reverse cartwheel in mid-air. His separated head bounced at my feet.

  Like I mentioned to Shade, in order to kill a vampire one had to take the heart. Tony could still completely function and would, sooner or later put his head back on, so I did what I needed to do, make poor Tony an example to his buddies.

  His headless cadaver rose off the ground and started searching for its head. I grabbed the body by the collar of its skin-tight black shirt and penetrated my hand in through the ribcage. I reached in and squeezed his beating heart. Tony screamed and I saw the panic in his severed head as he realized what I was doing.

  In one maneuver, I ripped his heart out, literally. The limp cadaver dropped to the dirt like a pillowcase full of lard. Tony’s red, fiery eyes, faded to dark black pools of nothing. The mild but slightly chilled breeze blew Tony’s face, body, and the still-beating heart, into dust that dispersed in the wind. I had to admit, it shocked me. I stood in awe for a moment and stared at the empty hand that once held his beating heart. This was a tactical mistake on my part. Beth took advantage with a shriek.

  The next thing I knew she was on my back, her teeth sinking into my exposed neck. The sudden shock caused me to shout in pain. It would be just a few seconds before I became paralyzed by her eternal bite. I lunged forward, reached over my shoulder with one arm, and grabbed the feasting female by the hair. With all the strength I could muster, I stepped back and used the momentum to pull the aggressive vamp-girl off and slam her on the ground. I rubbed my neck, feeling the holes, and the chunk of flesh that was taken from me.

  I massaged it and realized that my forceful disposal of her did little in slowing her down. Beth leaped up and vaulted through the air by way of a reverse somersault. She promptly landed back on her feet. Something told me this little firecracker was a bit more powerful than her predecessors. To one side, a disgusted Nelson was ordering Gibson, with one hand, to stay put. Steven was still thrashing around; stuck in the tree I had smashed him into.

  As we stood peering at each other, I noticed the shocked look on her face. My physical body had yet to be paralyzed by her venomous bite. This perplexed both of us. I never heard of a demon bitten by a vampire that remained in motion. I wasn’t sure what to think.

  Apparently my immune state upset Beth. She looked furious. Next, she lunged and rammed her shoulder into my chest. She carried me like an empty sac over her shoulder. She blasted me into, and through, a boulder lodged into the ground that was way off in the distance only seconds before. Her speed was remarkable. The impact shattered the rock into hundreds of smaller pieces, nearly turning the large stone into powder. The momentum allowed me to flap my enormous wings. I used them like springs while kicking my legs into Beth’s body, slinging her over the top of me and sending her to land end over end behind me. I rolled onto my stomach and waited for the tumbling predator to roll to a halt. She ended up on her back.

  Beth immediately recovered, looking to see where I went. Once she spotted me, she folded her powerful legs. We sprang up again and rushed at one another, no holds barred.

  I stuck out my arm and clothes-lined her. The vamp’s body spun topsy-turvy four times in the air before crashing, yet again, at my feet. This time I must have hurt her a little. She let out a distressed moan. I took no pity on her. With both hands, I picked up her weakened body and pressed it over my head. Her back was hovering just above me; her face was turned to the sky.

  She commanded me to let her go. In response, I pulled my two hands that were holding onto her neck and butt, together. This forced her body into a reverse V. Her vertebrate crackled and snapped. She screamed, then-dangled, almost lifeless, above me while I took my time locating a place to discard her mangled, but not dead, body.

  A short distance away, Steven was still fighting to get unstuck from the tree. Below him, Gibson stood there recovering, watching Beth and I fight. It looked like he was about to disobey his master and rush in to help, so I discouraged his plan by hurling the limp Beth at him. Her twisted body rocketed into his chest, sending them both into the tree where Steven continued to writhe about. The impact of the two flying vampires shook loose more pinecones that rained to the ground, along with Steven, who had his landing softened by his two weakened, blood-loving pals.

  I stomped with purpose towards them so I could finish them off and deal with their leader. But just as I was closing in, an agitated Nelson yelled, “Enough!”

  I never stopped.

  “Stop now and we’ll leave, permanently. Just let them be and you’ll never see us again.”

  I stopped in my tracks and pondered his offer. “Never?”

  “Never.”

  “I let you go, spare you your earthbound eternal lives, and you leave Miller’s Hill—make that Mountainside—forever?”

  “Forever. We’re gone. Just leave what’s left of my entourage alone.”

  Killing them all and sending them to Hell would serve a better purpose than leaving them still alive. Their fates were in my hands. I could, and should, finish them off. Even so, I decided to show them mercy, mostly because an innocent Shade was looking on from the forest. So, more or less on her behalf, I permitted Nelson the terms he requested.

  I pointed to his fallen foes. “Fine. Take your trash and go. But if I see any of you around here again, I’ll send you all to Hell first class. Get it?”

  Nelson lifted his head in agreement while locking his fingers together across his chest. I took our agreement totally for granted that it was concrete between us. But as I dropped my guard and headed for the deep forest, I felt something wasn’t right. I swung around and thrust my arm forward with great force. A bewildered Nelson’s face was just inches
from mine, wide-eyed and open mouthed. My arm had impaled his body completely like a shish-ke-bab. My hand, behind him, gripped his still-beating heart. His eyes were a mask of surprise. A stream of drool fell from his mouth.

  “You should have let Beth run your herd. It seems you are the weak one here.”

  The brisk, breeze swept his body into the air, completely evaporating it into dust that rained down on me.

  I brought my hand in and curiously looked at it, as if Nelson’s heart was still in my grasp. With no remorse, my eyes darted to the remaining three that were now staring at me in fear. Just as I marched toward them to finish the job, they bolted. Beth screamed for mercy and yelled that she and the other two would honor the agreement Nelson and I made. I could tell they would honor the agreement for sure now, plus I wanted to get Shade and make sure she was okay. I also needed to catch up to Scruffy and Sandra to check up on them, not to mention let them know that I was okay, too.

  But once again, before I could get more than a few steps towards her direction, something else in the darkness distracted me. At first I thought it was Beth and her clan returning to try their luck again; surely they weren’t that stupid.

  The sound was getting closer. All at once, out of the shadows of the forest, a familiar sight appeared, a sight I’d seen before that made me wish the vampires were coming back for me. But that wasn’t what it was.

  It was the shining silver ball at the top of Christian’s cane, bouncing back and forth, reflecting the moonlight. The sound was him clapping his hands. I could only interpret his actions as sarcasm. When he spoke, he confirmed it. “Bravo, Leo. Bravo! A brilliant performance by a brilliant underachiever.”

  Christian continued to clap as he neared, smiling with tremendous pleasure.

  “But nonetheless, a pity. If only you could have showed such tenacity under my good graces, you could have become more powerful than you could have ever dreamed. You had the potential to be my number one. What a disgrace you’ve become. I did have such hope for you, my lad.” He shook his head as if he was actually feeling hurt for me. But I knew that was far from the truth. Every demon knows Christian never delivers good news and never shows mercy.