Escape To Vampire Dam (Dark Heart Heroes Book 1)

by S. N. McKibben

  I helped Minna's mother up and we started running. I could see the bridge and Blaze. He was standing at the entrance ready to burn whatever came out the woods.

  "Blaze!" I waved. "It's me Noir! Don't smoke us--we're not zombies."

  "Yeah?" Blaze looked me up and down. He didn't seem convinced we were human.

  "Fuck Blaze use your nose or whatever super vampire power you have." Memory of Jason's skepticism after I'd been chased by zombies flashed to mind.

  "All I smell is Perennial trash."

  "Don't make me strip naked to prove I don’t have bit marks, asshole."

  Blaze chuckled. "Jason might have issue with that."

  The anger bled away.

  Blaze jerked his head and aimed his nozzle up.

  I looked behind me. The survivors started climbing to the entrance.

  "No!" I stood in the line of fire.

  "They smell Perennial bonded." Calif stood next to Blaze.

  "Please, they're human." I thought he'd be happy to have more humans. Instead he looked wary of the survivors.

  The Georgia boy smiled. "Where's Jason?"

  I was beginning to understand this side of Calif was more dangerous. I said nothing and looked into Calif's eyes. I felt a tingling in the back of my head.

  Georgia boy was gone fast as lightning and Calif's eye twitched. "I see."

  In the distance Perennials shrieked. It was their hunting call.

  "Please!" I was not beyond begging on hands and knees.

  "Keep them on the bridge." Calif's voice rumbled. The head vampire stepped forward and howled the force of a tornado. I raised my hands to my ears.

  "Come on!" I waved to the survivors. "Hurry!"

  People poured onto the bridge, Pirate Steve, as usual, the last.

  The leader of the survivors and Calif's eyes locked.

  Pirate Steve paled.

  Calif nodded and I thought I saw respect and approval.

  Grey loose skinned bodies crawled out of the forest. Giant spiders coming after us would've been more comforting.

  Perennials shrieked. Calif roared. Streaks of color flew towards the grey nightmares. Vampires and Perennials collided.

  "Get them down to the cellar." Kabal waved people past the end and down the stairs.

  Pirate Steve pointed to Calif. "That one said to stay on the bridge. I'm doing whatever he says."

  Kabal gave his best tolerant priest smile. "Your eye wound doesn't look new so I suppose you don't need medical attention, but others do."

  Pirate Steve gave Kabal a once over and his eyes landed on the old man's facial scars.

  Pirate Steve lifted a hand to his own scars.

  Kabal sighed. "Vampires are much different from Perennials, but stay if you must."

  Pirate Steve looked back. I know he thought about it.

  Molly started going through the crowd assessing who needed her nurse’s skill the most. Those who could wait were told to go down the stairs.

  Daylight started its ascent past the mountain range.

  Blaze flamed his torch. Calif looked like something between a man and knives. Claws stretched out his fingertips much like the Perennial claws and Calif used those claws in true ninja vs. Samurai desperation.

  The familiar lion's roar breathed hope in my chest. I couldn't tell you how, but I knew it was my lover.

  The largest cougar I'd ever laid eyes on sprinted from the forest. Its graceful deadliness was breath-taking. On the cougar's back, clinging to fur and skin, sat a small lump hunched over in exhaustion. Tears welled in my eyes.

  The beast made a direct path to me, leaping over combatants, driving faster once it saw me. Jason. It was him. I felt it.

  He ran so fast I wasn't sure if he was going to stop. But I felt his intention. He was coming to me and he was bringing my son. I choked in gratefulness and let this otherwise dangerous animal make his way to me.

  None of our vampires prevented his ascent and Jason leaped up the path. His beauty mesmerized me. Grace, power, lethal force all in the package of a giant cougar.

  Claws scratched the concrete ground and the great cat came to a sliding halt lifting his head a neck so the bundle riding him wouldn't fly over his head.

  Yiran.

  I grabbed my boy. Skin and bones never felt so good in my arms. He was breathing but his eyes were closed.

  Jason’s mind brushed against my heart. He was there with me, inside. I could feel his triumph, his fleeting worry and then the burning core of hatred. The cat turned around and headed towards the fighting.

  I wished him a good battle with the Perennials. I hope he shredded them all. Keen approval and then I was cut off from the tie.

  "Yiran." I touched his face.

  My boy's dark face contrasted with his smile. "I knew you'd find me."

  I crushed my son against me and sobbed.

  "Let's go." Pirate Steve coaxed. "He needs rest and water."

  I nodded into Yiran’s shoulder and carried my boy down the steps.

  The day was coming. Full rays of light shined. Painful shrieks of Perennials and dire roars of the vampires made everybody edgy. Even Kabal.

  The survivors were ushered into the common room. It was the only room big enough to fit two hundred bodies. I slipped past the catacombs open mouth. Guards stood at the ready to slam the concrete door shut. They were waiting for Calif and the others. But I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to slam it on Perennials faces.

  Molly started work on those that needed things like stitches.

  Kabal lowered his head and raised his hands in prayer. "Come on Calif." He whispered. "We're all inside."

  At once a boom and a lion’s roar shook the earth above us. The concrete catacombs remained whole, but I’d remembered that roar making crevices out of naked earth.

  In answer to Kabal’s prayer vampires started running in. Nick, Gustav, and Kim-Chou all three vampires ran in and kept going down the tunnel to the water supply. A few more came in still simmering but their burns were healing.

  A smoldering cat hide draped over Jason. I wanted to go to him, thank him, hold him even if he was a frightening vampire skin-walker. But Yiran took priority.

  Calif entered last.

  Swearing under his breath, Kabal pushed in the access code on the wall panel and the doors rolled closed.

  My boy was home. Motherly instincts took root and I carried him back to our rooms.

  I took Yiran through the strange combination of metal and make-shift home. None of the doors were closed because Calif insisted they remain open.

  Rumor had it that if a door was closed, it became a separated part of the catacombs—thus being a “home” where vampires couldn’t enter. Instead, we put up curtains as separators.

  People milled down the corridor past computer panels and cots. The catacombs were a dissertation of conflicting technology and ‘getter done’ mentality.

  Jason lagged behind me.

  Scooting aside the curtain of our room with my shoulder I made it a point not to ask Jason inside.

  Putting his back to us, Jason stood as a menacing sentinel at the separator. It made me feel safe, but I ached for him. If Jason didn't hide what I meant to him, Calif would burn him in a bowl.

  "Much too late for that." Jason muttered.

  I stiffened. He could hear my thoughts.

  Yiran drank the offered water and went to sleep in his bed.

  I stared at my son for what might have been hours.

  "What am I to do with you, Jason?" Calif’s gruff voice said behind the cloth doorway.

  "What you will, master." Jason’s tone seemed to slump for forgiveness to his vampire leader.

  I kissed Yiran on the forehead and joined the two vampires. Looking pointedly at each in turn with my come with me stare, I walked to the main room.

  The common room was packed with survivors sitting on the ground. All dirty, smelly, and exhausted. Most were sleeping. Satisfaction griped me tight. This was probably the first time they’d s
lept in forever. A few of the survivors were awake and standing looking dead on their feet.

  Pirate Steve was checking on each of his people and gave me a nod.

  Kabal handed out bread to open hands.

  Mollie administered stitches to a woman’s arm slashed from shoulder to elbow.

  Being stuck with needles was a regular occurrence for me, but Mollie’s patient was fascinated by the procedure. She also showed no signs of pain from the stitching up. She might be in shock. In fact most the survivors must be in shock. From running for their lives, almost being eaten by zombies, being eaten by Perennials, and finally being safe from a horrible nightmare would put me in a state of dysfunction.

  Calif looked over at the refugees.

  Jason trailed behind us, his head bowed to the shorter, more ruthless master.

  "What do you mean, 'do with him'?" I stepped in front of Jason, putting myself between the two vampires.

  Noticing my movement, Calif turned his eyes to me and focused on my neck. "Where did you get your new puncture wounds?"

  My heart stopped. All the blood drained from my face and collected to the pit of my stomach. It was all I could do to keep my hand from grabbing my neck.

  "Ah...", was all I could get out. Not a great defense for Jason, but all I could think of was Calif making my lover a pile of ash.

  Calif thrust his hands into his hair. "Christ, Jason. What am I supposed to do!"

  Jason didn't defend himself, he sunk lower into his own self-absorbed brooding.

  "Did you...no don't tell me." Calif sniffed the air around me. "Damn it!"

  Jason flinched.

  "You've put me in a horrible situation, son."

  Jason stood up straight and looked Calif in the eye.

  "How has he put you in a horrible situation?" I pointed to each in turn.

  Calif’s lips became a white line. "If I let him be, with no repercussions, it teaches the others they can walk all over my rules if they take risks and win." He thrust a hand toward the survivors. "And, if I do what must be done, it will cause resentment in my clutch."

  "Damned if you do, damned if you don't." Jason echoed his explanation for bonding with me.

  "Kind of like killing the hero for saving lives." I said.

  "By disobeying orders." Calif spat.

  "I knew the risks." Jason stood tall. "I'll take the consequences."

  Calif turned to Jason.

  “He needed blood,” I said. “Starving and fighting those things wouldn’t have worked.”

  The master vampire looked me straight in the eye. “And you’re excuse for him fucking you?”

  Before I knew what I was doing, my open palm connected Calif’s cheek.

  The head vampire smiled in that charming Georgia boy way.

  An arm blocked any further contact between me and the master vampire. Jason stood beside me trying to push me behind him. Not this time buddy.

  “Wait!" I said, hoping Calif wouldn't attack his underling. "We don't know if they'll go, the survivors, they might decide to stay."

  "They're tainted." Calif kept his gaze on Jason.

  I could not believe what I was hearing. Would Calif turn them away? "Tainted!"

  "Perennials are notoriously hard on their food.” Calif said. “I'm surprised your survivors have any mind left. They won't want anything to do with us."

  "They are stronger than that." I slipped in front of Jason and reached out to Calif.

  Jason snarled at both of us.

  Calif snorted in disgust. "Fuck you, bonded, I have no interest."

  "Bullshit." Jason defiantly looked into Calif's eyes.

  I threw a harsh look at Jason that was ignored. I took hold of Calif's arm and made him give me all his attention. "Look at them." I pointed to the refugees. "They’ve come all this way. They’re strong. They might have nightmares for years, but they’re resilient. Even exhausted, starving, atrophied and blood deficient they had the will to fight. Don't dismiss that. They want to live and their minds are still flexible."

  Calif tightened under my touch. "You give me hope, Noir. But it's not enough."

  “And what about my son?”

  Silence.

  Calif didn’t even look at me.

  Jason’s eyes were wide and crazy. He looked like he’d lose it at any moment.

  Sitting in one of the more comfortable couches, Blaze held Minna’s mother in his arms. Half naked, with only my T-shirt on, she held a sleeping Minna. They resembled a Russian Doll, one holding the other in an infinite embrace. Minna’s mother laid back, curled, with an expression of peace. Minna lay limp with an arm dangling outside her mother’s arms.

  Blaze held a cup that spilled water because of his trembling hand but brought the much needed fluid to the mother’s lips.

  I pointed to them. "She doesn't seem tainted towards Blaze."

  "She's unconscious." Calif flatly reasoned.

  I turned to the head vampire and stepped closer.

  Jason rumbled a warning.

  I turned and glared. "Shut up. I’m trying to save your life."

  Jason stepped back and blinked. His face turned angry but he didn't say anything or growl.

  When I turned back to Calif, a sideways smirk slowly spread to a full smile. "I see you learn fast on how to handle large kittens."

  Jason huffed.

  Calif laughed.

  "Please, give Jason a reprimand, chop off an arm or something but don't make him the next marshmallow gathering."

  Calif lifted an eyebrow. "I'll decide what punishment he gets no matter if they stay or go."

  Kabal hobbled up with the help of an oak branch walking stick.

  "What do they say?" Calif said a bit too quickly and urgently.

  Kabal's eyes shone in mischief. "They say that they want a week."

  "After that?" Calif motioned with his hand for Kabal to speed things up.

  My human leader clearly liked forcing anticipation upon his vampire counterpart. "You understand that they will need a lot of counseling. Perennials are terrifying and it can be years if ever before the effects of the mal-treatment they've under gone can be physiologically reversed or calmed."

  "But they will stay?" Calif picked up on Kabal's undertone as I did.

  Kabal stroked his chin. "They won't be ready to bond in a week."

  Calif swallowed and turned his eyes over to Blaze and the woman.

  Kabal continued. "Some are willing to try and bond."

  "How many?" Calif snapped his eyes back to Kabal.

  "Some prefer the needle method." Kabal ignored the question and continued to stroke his chin.

  Calif exposed his pointed cuspids. "Kabal!"

  The old man pointed to Pirate Steve. "I know the Perennial that bonded to him."

  The tension in Calif's body dissipated. Kabal knew the Perennial? The pits I saw on the old man's face became testaments of Kabal’s past. Comparing Kabal and Pirate Steve’s faces, the similarity of each man’s mangled battle scars were heart shattering.

  "He won't be bonding to anyone." Kabal wasn't smiling now.

  Calif nodded.

  My human leader glanced at me. "But he's staying."

  The amount of compassion in Calif's eyes astounded me. All the emotion of a man who fully understood another poured through Calif as he looked upon Kabal.

  "How many will stay?" Jason's soft inquiry jarred me.

  "All of them." Kabal turned, as if burned from our eyes.

  "Even the children?" Calif leaned ever so slightly forward.

  Kabal nodded. "Yes. Even the children."

  Jason sighed.

  Calif surveyed the survivors. I could almost hear the word "mine" from the look in Calif's eyes. "You're not off the hook."

  "Wait a minute." I said. "That's not--"

  "Fair?" Calif finished. "No. But he'll face it and be fucking happy about it."

  "You're a goddamn tyrant." My voice echoed off the walls.

  “Noir,” Blaze said. “Don
’t be blond.”

  My hair color never would be anywhere near a shade of light, but I knew what he meant. Vampire or not, calling me stupid was a mistake. I opened my mouth to rail.

  Blaze spoke first. “Look around you.”

  I could feel my eyes grow pointy and stab Blaze from looks alone.

  The fire-loving vampire pulled Minna’s mother closer to his chest.

  Scanning the survivors, I said, “I see tired brave souls.”

  Blaze snorted. “Not them.”

  This time I sighed when I scanned the area. Across the auditorium, Nick, one of the most patient vampires, stared at the survivors. Fangs exposed, body leaning forward and eyes crazy with want, I could tell Nick was about to lose it.

  “Is he going to be okay?” I whispered.

  Nick snapped his eyes to me.

  Oh shit, he heard me. And I’d just given him an insult. Asking a vampire if he was in control was like asking me to calm down.

  Nick leaned back, blinked a couple of times and ascended his pointy canines.

  Glancing at the other vampires, I could see them all scanning, honing in on a human then giving their peers vicious scowls.

  “What the hell?” I said.

  Jason took hold of my hand. “They’re counting.”

  “Huh?” His cool skin felt amazing. “You mean they’re jockeying for who gets who.”

  “Yes.” Jason said.

  “And if I don’t dispel their climbing interest in shucking off my rules,” Calif said. “Your survivors won’t have it any better here than they did with the Perennials.”

  “There has to be another way.” I gripped Jason’s hand.

  “The only reason why they’re thinking they can do this is because of Jason’s indiscretions.”

  Mollie gave me a sympathetic look and continued pampering those that needed tending. I was not going to be that hysterical woman that clings to her man in desperation. I had a son to take care of.

  Since both master and servant seemed hell-bent on said servants reprimand I said. “Fine. Go ahead, burn for all I care.”

  Both vampires looked at each other. Calif in an amused yet grim fashion said, “Collect his remnants tonight and take it to the waters underground.”

  Tears started skulking at my lower lids.

  Calif made a whistle only dogs heard clearly. Despite what many think, people can hear a dog whistle, just not from very far.