“I’ve spent a lot of time there off and on. It’s like Mecca for vampires. There’s a lot more of our species there than anyone realizes, but it’s not for everyone. There’s a very dangerous underworld influence, a dangerous element where the strong eat the weak…sometimes literally. I have a lot of old acquaintances in New Orleans, and occasionally I feel a need to be around my own. I prefer the weather in this part of the country, but there’s something about New Orleans that puts me in touch with who I am…and what I am.”
“I’d like to go there sometime,” Amp said.
“I’ll take you there, after our deal in Alaska is completed,” Nikka said. “You’ll enjoy it if we go together. I’ll introduce you to vampires that are almost as old as time, from near the beginning. It will be educational for you, a true history of our species. You will walk away from the experience changed, aware of what you were created to be. We can be formidable together, Amp. I’ve been alone for a long, long time, but now I am feeling a bond…a friendship, and that’s a blessing to a vampire.”
Nodding, Amp moved towards the door leading to Nikka’s suite. “I would like that, to visit New Orleans with you. I’ll get that phone tomorrow before the stores close. It’s a smart idea. I’m going to take a shower. Are you sleeping with me tonight?”
“Is that an invitation?” Nikka asked.
“Gold plated,” Amp replied, disappearing through the doorway, leaving Nikka with a smile on her face.
------
It took the man in the bathtub three days to come around, the girls watching an early evening movie on the television when they heard thrashing and mumbling from the bathroom. Nikka got through the door first, seeing the man pushing himself out of the tub.
“Stay right there,” she said in a calm voice, Amp joining her in the room. “One second and let me explain.”
“Who the hell are you?” His gaze traveled back and forth, his look inquisitive. “Where am I…and why the hell am I naked?”
He stood to his full height, his sculpted body beautiful in the nude. He was obviously excited; his penis erect and formidable looking. His face wasn’t handsome, but it strong looking. He had high cheekbones and a straight nose that gave the thought of Greek and Native American heritage. Nikka hadn’t noticed the scar that started above his left eyebrow and ended below his left ear; a knife wound, she realized.
Nikka quickly handed him a towel to cover himself. The blood of Nikka had healed him, but it had also changed him, his body with greater definition; hard and solid. His stomach, tight and fit before, was now a perfectly shaped washboard.
“You had an accident,” Nikka began. “Do you remember what happened?”
“Sure, some punks tried to roll me when I got off a bus. There were three of them and…let’s see…we got into it in an alley and I was gonna kick the shit out of them and…that’s it. I go blank right about there.”
“You’re right; you were kicking the shit out of them,” Nikka explained. “Only you got blindsided. One of them snuck behind you, and shoved a knife into your spine. You were instantly paralyzed, you dropped like a rock. It was a fatal strike, and you were minutes from death, maybe less than minutes.”
Amp backed out of the bathroom, followed by the other two. Standing in the bedroom the man had a dozen questions, trying hard to control his curiosity.
“That can’t be right. Obviously I’m standing here…you know…not paralyzed, not dead…not even wounded. If that’s me I was just looking at in that mirror, I look better than I have in ten years. Maybe better than I ever looked. I gotta tell ya, I’m starved, but I’m not hungry, which makes no sense. What the hell is goin’ on…and when could three street bums ever get the best of me? That would be never.”
Nikka laughed at the man’s self-assurance, expecting nothing less from a Ranger. “Sorry, but it happened. If the knife hadn’t put you down, they would have shot you. One of them had a 9mm automatic. They planned on killing you no matter what.”
“So if all that happened, how come I’m in a fancy hotel room, naked, hungry and with two little girls? What about the three punks?”
“They’re dead,” Nikka began, jerking her head at Amp. “That little girl over there on the bed. She dropped down from a ten story rooftop, and finished the job you started…which included ripping one’s throat out with her bare teeth, and taking the other two heads with the most beautiful sword work you can imagine.”
The man stood in the middle of the room, a stunned and disbelieving look on his face. Then he broke into a grin, his face lighting up at the joke these girls were playing on him. “Yeah, okay, jokes on me. Big laugh…now tell me what really happened, and I’ll get dressed and get gone.”
“You’re craving something, but you can’t put your finger on what it is, isn’t that right?” Nikka asked, stepping closer to the man.
He nodded, keeping an eye on the girl. “Yeah…so what?”
Bringing her wrist to her mouth and smiling, so that her razor-sharp fangs showed, she ripped her skin, opening a vein, the blood covering her arm and dripping onto the carpet. The man’s eyes lit with hunger as Nikka put her arm to his mouth, the man not even thinking, his canines dropping and started sucking hard at the blood…at the food. Finally, Nikka pulled away, the man watching as she showed him her wound closing, healing without a mark.
“What the…what the hell is happening? Blood…I just drank your blood…shit, I loved drinking your blood.”
“You died, your human body died and I saved you…and now you are vampire...we are vampire. It is my blood that is flowing through your veins. I am your sire, your creator. The relationship will evolve…I know not how or where, but we will worry about that as it happens. Your identification says that your name is Bobby Juby. To us you are Robert. We have much to explain, many lessons to learn in a short time. Get dressed in the clothes we’ve bought for you, and then we will go out…and find you something to fill your craving.”
“I’m really confused…and I know this is like a dream where I’m gonna wake up at the good part and it will piss me off. Two questions, and I’ll do whatever it is you want.”
“Shoot,” Nikka said, smiling.
“Can I still drink beer and screw?”
“Good news, bad news answer,” she smiled. “The beer thing is not very good news. You can drink it, sipping will be more comfortable, but Vampires don’t void, so when you drink anything, blood excluded, it just fills you up, like a water jug without an outlet. One or two beers and you feel awfully uncomfortable, and you won’t want anymore. Amp and I know a group in another town that drinks all the time. What they do is get full and then force themselves to vomit. Way nasty. So that’s something you’ll want to experiment with.”
“And the other?”
“That’s the good news. Vampires are very sexual beings, and sex is a casual thing…not many emotions attached. You can do it as often as you like. You can enjoy sex with vampires, but you will absolutely love doing it with humans, although you have to be aware of your strength…and your endurance. Humans can break, and you can’t. You’re going to find you can go for a long time…more than several times in a row. Your body has changed a bit, for the better, including your little love tool…it’s a bit larger than before. I know, I undressed you after you died. Be careful with that thing, it’s a dangerous weapon. Oh…and you can’t impregnate anyone, vampire or human. It’s not possible. Also, you can’t catch any disease, nor spread disease. You’ll find vampires enter and exit sexual encounters very casually, looking mainly for the gratification. Any other questions before we leave?”
Robert looked thoughtful, and almost amused. “So, like if I asked you to screw me tonight, you’d say…?”
”I’d say sure…and if I like it, I might do it again. Just sayin’.”
“And you, cutie?” he asked Amp.
“Nope. Sorry slugger, but I bat for the other team.”
“Okay then…let’s go do this other thing. I’m starting t
o enjoy this dream.”
Amp laughed. “Not a dream, handsome. This is the real deal. Your other life was the minor league. Welcome to the Show.”
------
Over the next several weeks, Nikka and Amp found out exactly the type of man Robert was. He was disciplined, talented in the ways of battle, and a lethal and extremely capable killing machine. Nikka had been correct when she said the man would love his new powers. He had spent 14 years as an Army Ranger, had seen constant action in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as secret missions in Africa and South America. Killing didn’t faze him. He had not trained to fight; he had been trained to kill.
New vampires, invariably, have a hard time during the first few months, controlling themselves around humans in non-threatening situations. Nikka and Amp stayed close to find how much time Robert would need before they were comfortable leaving him alone. After a week of hunting and testing his powers on the rooftops of Seattle, the three walked out the front door of the Paramount and strolled down Pine Street, smiling at the pedestrians as they went in search of a shopping area.
“If I concentrate, I can actually hear the blood pumping through someone’s chest,” Robert whispered to Nikka. “It’s incredible.”
“What’s incredible is not that you can hear, but you haven’t tried to grab any of them to find out how that blood tastes,” Nikka said seriously.
“I’m a Ranger. The discipline that we have to master is like nothing you’ve ever seen. I can do a forced 25 mile march without thinking about it; can lie in a field for twelve hours waiting for an order to kill. I know you expect me to jump on top of somebody, and you guys will have to pull me off, but it’s not gonna happen. You’ve laid down the rules; I’m man enough to follow them.”
It was a relief to the girls that he was everything he told them he was…and a lot more. Their first impression he would make a good ally was spot on. The more difficult and dangerous the situation they placed themselves into, the more he rose to the occasion. After the first month with Robert, the girls decided it might be time to begin formulating
------
“I find it reprehensible they used shotguns to put Riley down. That’s not an accepted way for vampires to battle other vampires. It’s not honorable,” Nikka said.
“It might not have been acceptable or honorable, but it was damn sure effective,” Amp said. “And Lord Morgan told me that more and more vampires are using human weapons. Silas even teaches a firearms class. Danner got sucker punched, never saw it coming and was dead before the fight started. Riley…oh my god…Riley was incredible, and if they hadn’t shot him, he was going to clean Wilson’s fighters out. He killed a ton of them by himself. He was so unbelievable. I got to tell you, I have no problem killing these bastards any way I can with whatever weapons are available.”
Nikka, Amp, and Robert were sitting at the kitchen table of the furnished three bedroom ranch house they had rented outside Everett, Washington, just north of Seattle. It wasn’t fancy, and the furniture was worn, and few pieces matched, but it was comfortable. It was located off the road with a wooded area bordering the rear, a deterrent against nosy neighbors.
Amp had rented a vehicle before leaving Seattle, a Honda Pilot SUV. It had enough room for the three plus all of their baggage.
They moved out of the Paramount for two reasons. The newspapers in Seattle had started running a piece on missing street people, and they had no desire to be anywhere close to that investigation. The main reason was to plan and supply themselves for the mission to Alaska. They needed storage space and a bit more privacy.
They had set up house, each having their own bedroom, and moved in only the essentials that they needed to live, including a large flat screen television, and a laptop computer that Robert wanted. Chances were they would be leaving all of the furnishings behind when they left for Alaska, and there was no guarantee they would be alive to come pick them up later.
“I respect your philosophy, Nikka, the whole honor thing. I also think, in this case, it’s a bit out of date,” Robert injected. “The last thing we want to do is show up at a gunfight holding a knife. Honor is great, and I’m sure somewhere in the history of warfare and in vampire lore it was the most important. First of all we’re going to be way undermanned, like three against twenty. Second, I am just starting out in this life. The Army was finished with all of us, cutting down troop levels. They threw us out with no skills…except killing. I was heading for a mercenary job I found in Soldier of Fortune when you found me. I like what I’ve become, although no way I ever believed in something this incredible. I don’t want to give it up so soon. Third, we have three people with very diverse fighting skills. Mine happens to be with every weapon in the arsenal of our military. Don’t waste my contribution.”
“So what do we do, Robert? What’s your suggestion?”
“I’ve thought about this a lot. First off, we need to score some weapons. It won’t be hard with the connections I have. Second, we cross train. You both are experts at several different hand-to-hand techniques. You’re awesome warriors, both of you, and I’m in awe of that. The first time I saw you guys fight, I thought I was in a dream, some kind of Bruce Lee nightmare. Incredible isn’t enough of a word to describe either one of you. I do all right, hand-to-hand, but my forte is weapons I can shoot, and bombs I can detonate. We have to teach each other as much as possible in the time we have. If Amp told me to fight with her sword, I’d cut my leg off before I ever hurt somebody with it. If I handed you an M-4, you wouldn’t have a clue how to fire it. Nobody can kick box like you. We teach each other. Then we’ll see where we are.”
The former Ranger was excited about the trip to Alaska. His life was about fighting wars, and he was good at it. The idea of the three of them taking on a coven of vampires appealed to him; and his blood bond with Nikka drove him. He could feel how important this mission was, knew that Nikka and Amp had something to prove, some type of honor and vengeance thing going on. He hadn’t figured the whole vampire thing out yet, but he was damn good at the war part of the equation.
“So are we all agreed, we go in and kill everything there? We can’t leave anything alive, human or vamp. One mistake and one of us, or all us could lose our heads,” Nikka said forcefully. “I’m not ready for any of us to die.”
Pacing the room, Robert had a dozen things running through his head. “So how many fighters does he have? That is about the most important piece of information we need. Is it a dozen, two dozen, a hundred? What’s your best guess, Amp?”
Amp had replayed the fight over and over in her head hundreds of times, and she knew the answer. “We saw maybe 20, but I’m sure there were several standing guard during the fight. Riley took six or seven, I think; Danner never had a chance to fight. I killed three that I know of. My best guess is there’s between 12 and 15 there, not including Wilson, and the human woman. I wish I could remember the exact layout of the property, but I can’t.”
Robert sat down on the couch, picking up the computer and punching in some information. “What side of the island is the house, Amp? What direction?” he asked, his eyes not leaving the screen.
“East,” she replied. “It sits way back off the road, there’s only one road that goes around the island, and it’s maybe 4 miles out of town. Past the dump, past a boat dock, and you turn back to the northwest to get in his drive. You have to know it’s there or you drive right by it.”
“Got it,” Robert cried in triumph. “You can run, but you can’t hide.”
Both girls crossed the room, and stood behind the couch, looking over Robert’s shoulders.
“Oh my god, what is this?” Amp said, shocked to be looking at a picture of Beryl Wilson’s estate.
“Google Earth,” the man said, chuckling. “Ain’t technology a kick in the ass? Watch.”
As he manipulated the touch pad, the estate came into closer focus, switched to 3-D, and then a ground level view. The fence and lawn and landmarks around the property were clear
as a snapshot.
“I knew there was a reason Nikka wanted to turn you,” Amp laughed, the trio excited at the information Robert had gleaned from the program. “You’re just a hell of a lot smarter than we are. Now if we had somebody on the inside to let us know how many, and where they were stationed, we could come up with a real plan.”
“Speaking of,” Robert said, laying the computer down. “I’ve made a list of weapons we might need, and I did the cost work-up based on fours. I know there are three of us, but when you buy black market gear, it’s better to order heavy in case something comes in broken or worn.”
“Order by six,” Amp injected. “Money is not a problem, and I don’t want to come up short and have a delay.”
“Okay, six it is. Here’s my list, let me know what you think. I thought we might get some M-4 Carbines assault rifles fitted with m-203 grenade launchers, but I changed my mind. Sometimes a crew is too overloaded, and for close in fighting, I think we would be better off going a different direction. So here’s what I think: M-9 handguns and ammo and M-1014 shotguns and ammo. These types of shotguns are short stocked and short barreled, very easy to handle, and ideal for you guys. It’s almost like a long handgun, but the destruction they cause is incredible. Very deadly. I do think I’ll get a couple of the M-4s, just in case I need that type of weapon. I’d much rather be wasteful than dead. Anything heavier will be a hindrance in close action combat. What I think we should do is train with this gear, and then everybody decide what they want to go in with. Only you can decide what works best.”
The three sat, thinking about going into battle with guns rather than hands and feet and swords.
“You okay with this, Nikka?” Amp finally broke the silence.
“I wasn’t at first, seemed pretty distasteful to me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that, one, they killed Riley with a shotgun, and two, we need to even the playing field. We’re going to be so outnumbered, but this just might even things up a bit. Yeah, I’m fine with it.”
Kill Wilson (Petersburg Vampires) Page 10
