by David Page
Richard nodded, tensing for the inevitable wave of nausea and dizziness as Beth removed the cross and dangled it in front of him.
Nothing happened.
“I don’t understand.” Richard squinted as if that would somehow help. It didn’t.
Beth held it closer. Again, nothing happened.
Richard reached his hand towards it but stopped short. Just because it had not burned him once, did not mean it would not burn him now. Seeing his trepidation, she put her hand on the cross and waited.
Richard wrapped his hand around hers, the warmth of her skin sending tingles up his arm, but not bringing forth any further visions. After a moment, he withdrew.
“There is nothing there, no pain, no energy, no memories.”
“Maybe Colette is too tired right now.” Beth tucked the cross back into her shirt.
“Perhaps we can attempt this again, later.” Disappointment tainted his hope, but he pushed it back.
“Definitely. In the meantime, shall we?” Beth motioned towards the door with one hand.
Richard took a deep breath and nodded. “There will never be a better time.”
She led him through the narrow aisle between the cardboard boxes and piles of old junk.
Richard’s fangs ached with anticipation.
When she neared the stairs, she paused and turned to face him. Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
“The kiss was nice, though….”
“Yes.” Richard smiled and a small weight lifted in his soul.
***
“Why you take so long? Is not safe here.” Modin, clad in the yellow overalls, stood next to the open driver’s door of a large, white van.
Puget Sound Cable was written across the side of the vehicle in bright green letters. It was parked behind a coffee shop several blocks down from Richard’s building.
“We had a few things to discuss.” Beth stopped near the Bosnian and looked up at him innocently.
Modin muttered something and then nodded.
Dan came around the van, also dressed in the yellow jumpsuit. He raised his eyebrows and looked from Richard to Beth and back again. He chewed on his lower lip nervously.
Modin motioned to the van. “Is time to go, yes?”
Beth nodded. “Yes.” She turned to Richard. “All right, my friend. Let’s roll.”
Richard cast a look at the dark building behind him. Standing several stories high, the brick structure extended back, slanting into a smaller wooden shed with a tin roof that may or may not have been part of the original building. He scrutinized the chimneys and anywhere else an Agent might hide, but from his vantage point he could see no one. Behind him, the parking lot behind the coffee shop was dark and empty. A soft breeze whipped up a crumpled newspaper, tossing it around like tumble weed. He listened, but heard only the dull buzz of the city as it slowly awoke with the coming dawn. Looking up, he knew the sun would rise in a little over an hour.
“Is something wrong?” Beth put a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m not sure.” He glanced at her and saw his unease mirrored in her eyes. “I keep expecting something to happen. The city is too quiet for what has happened this night.”
Beth listened for a moment and then shrugged. “Maybe we’ve finally caught a break. Either way, we can’t change our minds now. Time’s running out.” She did not sound convinced, however.
Dan cleared his throat. “Standing out here in the open isn’t cool.”
Beth nodded and climbed into the back of the van. Richard followed her inside and discovered that the interior was lined with metal shelves to either side, each of them stacked with tools, electronic gadgets, and a large amount of coaxial cable. He doubted they would need any of it, but it certainly leant authenticity to their covers.
As Richard scanned the interior, Dan climbed into the passenger seat. Modin assumed the wheel, started the van and slipped it into drive. As they pulled away, Richard cast a look out the back window and caught a glimpse of his apartment building in the distance. He wondered if it would be the last time he ever saw the place and was not sure if he cared.
***
Modin guided the utility van down Broadway. Capitol Hill was one of the busiest neighborhoods in the city boasting dozens of shops, restaurants, and bars within a several block radius. This early in the morning, however, the street was empty. As a vampire, Richard was used to the empty places of the early morning and had always found them relaxing but there was nothing soothing about it today. They were going after an ancient and most likely insane vampire in an area that was crawling with agents and police. It would take a miracle for them to succeed and a lot of luck for them to survive at all; and he was out of both.
There was no place to sit in the back of this van, so he stood gripping one of the metal shelving units. Beth stood in a similar pose across from him, staring out the front window intently. Richard mused over her versatile personality changes. Each new trait she displayed, each new truth he discovered about her, made him like her more. She was a good and passionate woman.
A spasm of wrathful pain interrupted his thoughts as it wracked his body from the inside out. His viral shield fluctuated, filling him with a sliver of hope. If the shield came down again, he would be able to take the blood of the other vampire without difficulty. Unlike the last time, however, the shield did not go out. It shrank, squeezing the power beneath like a vice. His heart convulsed. He screamed and dropped to his knees.
The van lurched, throwing him onto his side.
“Richard!” Beth grabbed his shoulder, trying to steady him.
His eyes teared as fire burned through him. The van faded away as his peripheral vision collapsed into darkness. He clutched the sides of his head and continued to scream.
“What the hell’s wrong with him!” He heard Dan ask.
He closed his eyes tightly as the shield continued to shrink. In the middle of the ocean of flame, understanding dawned on him. Frederick’s alterations to the Department’s original virus had merely finished what they had begun ten years earlier, what they had meant to do all along. He opened his mouth to speak. He had to tell them; tell Beth, but no sound came out. His lungs seized and for an instant, his heart skipped several beats.
“What you want me to do?” Modin asked in the distance.
“Keep driving!” Beth yelled.
Richard could feel her hands moving around his body, searching for a wound.
“Richard!” Colette called to him. “You must survive!”
Richard tried to answer his love, knowing that she was not there and yet somehow, if he could just speak, she would hear him.
“Richard!” Beth cried. “What is it!”
The shield’s implosion stopped suddenly and the pain lessened to a dull ache. Richard’s lungs released and he sucked in several gasping breaths. His heartbeat continued at its normal post-Announcement rate.
“Are you okay?” Beth placed her hands on the sides of his head and turned him towards her.
He nodded, still struggling for air. He reached up and allowed her to pull him to his feet. “That was quite painful.”
“Damn, man. I thought you were gonna explode!” Dan said, peering around the back of the passenger seat.
Looking past him and out the front window, Richard could see that they had nearly reached the bottom of First Hill and were just passing the huge granite courthouse. They would soon arrive in Pioneer Square.
“Is it the approaching dawn?” Beth asked, her brows knitted with worry.
“No,” Richard managed. “It is the virus. I know what it does, what it was always meant to do.”
“What?”
Richard took a slow breath. "It was not supposed to simply block vampires from their unique abilities, it was meant to destroy us from the beginning… but it didn’t work and they were stuck with having to round us up rather than simply annihilating us.”
“Son of a bitch.” Beth punched the side of the van. “You’re talking about g
enocide.”
“Ethnic cleansing.” Modin did not turn away from his driving, but he had made his point.
Richard understood all too well what Modin’s people had gone through in Bosnia. He knew that if they failed in their quest this night, an entire species of man, monster, whatever you wished to call them, would die out forever and Richard along with them.
“And the new virus they gave you?” Beth bored into him.
“Frederick always has multi-tiered motivations. He is a brilliant tactician and an admirable foe. For all that, I have come to hate him over the years. The purpose of this new poison was to finish the job of the first, however it was time delayed to give me time to find you. He could not risk your organization finding a cure.” Richard had always had a grudging respect for the man’s relentless pursuit.
“Are you going to make it?” Beth held onto his arm and squeezed reassuringly.
He nodded. “What choice do I have? I just hope I don’t have another shield episode before we can free the other vampire.”
“The plaza is ahead,” Modin interrupted.
Richard swallowed. As if he had not needed any more pressure, the lives of thousands of vampires now depended on him. The night was just getting better and better.
***
The Sinking Ship parking garage stood on the other side of a five-way intersection. The cement structure literally looked like the bow of a ship jutting straight out of the earth. Brick buildings stood on the corners of each of the other streets around it, each of them facing towards the convergence. Besides a few parked cars, there was no traffic nor were there any pedestrians in sight. Richard noted the lack of police as well. Everything seemed too quiet for what had transpired there a short time ago.
Modin drove the van towards the intersection, taking a left through the green light. They headed south between a series of rundown, one-story shops built with the aluminum, glass and wafer brick architecture of the 1970’s, and pulled over against the curb at the end of the block. Ahead of them, Occidental Plaza blocked any further progress by car. Built to be a village square, the brick-covered park had become the living space to a number of homeless people. Through the van’s front window, Richard could see several of them sleeping in rags on park benches. They could be agents, he thought.
“Okay. Richard, take the duffel.” Beth pointed to the bag. “Modin, open the manhole. Dan, keep an eye on the van.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Dan agreed.
Modin got out of the driver’s side, while Beth threw open the rear doors.
Richard took the straps in his hand and lifted the bag. It was not unbearable for one man, but it was surprisingly heavy. He carried it out of the van and stopped. Beth and Modin were using a special metal hook, similar to a crowbar, to pry open a manhole cover on which the words ‘Electrical’ had been forged.
“Got it.” Modin lifted the lid up and gently lowered it over next to the hole. He looked at Beth and frowned, an expression that brought out more of his wrinkles. “Good to go.”
“If we’re not back by sunrise, get the hell out of here.” Beth smiled at him fondly. “And keep yourself safe.”
Modin shook his head. “I’ll wait.”
“No.” She held up her hand. “If we’re still in there at dawn, we aren’t coming back. Even if we’re alive, we’ll have to go to ground for Richard’s sake.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Hurry then.”
She turned to Richard. The fire of purpose burned in her eyes, reminding him of the look he had used to inspire his knights before a battle. If only he had a hundred knights at his back now. Instead he had them. He sighed. They might not be knights or even soldiers, but they had proven themselves to be cunning and resourceful. He could do a lot worse. He smiled grimly.
“I am ready.”
“Then into the rabbit hole.” Beth motioned towards it.
Richard chuckled at the reference, knowing that their underground adventure would be far more dangerous than Alice’s in that modern fairy tale.
Beth dropped down into the electrical tunnel first. Richard lowered the duffel bag down to her and then followed. At the bottom, there was barely enough room for them to stand single file and it was so low they had to crouch to prevent themselves from hitting their heads. Richard was glad he was not claustrophobic. After so many tunnels in so many different places, there was no way he could be.
“Good luck!” Modin whispered from above and then he slid the cover back into place, plunging them into darkness.
Richard swallowed.
30
A small light flared as Beth activated her flashlight. Richard blinked and had to avert his eyes from the sudden brightness. Beth did not seem bothered, but then she wasn’t a vampire. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that they were in a new tunnel made from formed cement. It was a stark contrast to the worn brick tunnels through which they had traversed so recently.
Beth unzipped the duffel and retrieved two pairs of night vision goggles. She handed one to him and kept the other. Richard slid his into place over his head, leaving them just above his eyes.
Next, Beth removed a sledgehammer from the bag, handed that to him, and then pulled out another one for herself. No wonder it had been so heavy, Richard thought as he took the implement of destruction and hefted it in both hands. Beth balanced hers on her shoulder with one hand, demonstrating surprising strength for one who seemed so petite.
“You are quite a bit stronger than you look,” Richard noted.
“Thanks, I think.” Beth kicked the duffel bag to the side. “We’ll leave this here.”
Richard frowned. “What if we need more ammunition?”
“Listen to you. A few days using a gun and you sound like the Terminator.” Beth laughed bitterly and shook her head. “We aren’t going to win this with bullets.”
“Point taken,” Richard acquiesced. Whether they fought the vampire or the Department, bullets would not be the deciding factor.
“I’m going to shut off the light,” Beth said.
Richard tapped his goggles with one finger. “It was my understanding that these glasses required background light to function?”
She shook her head. “That’s what I thought too. Jack proved me wrong. Don’t ask me how, but they work in total darkness.”
Richard arched one eyebrow. He had not realized that technology could come so close to mimicking the powers he had lost. He felt a stab of remorse at the irony.
“All right, give them a try.” Beth paused. “Assuming they work, then we head to the old storefront, you find the spot where this guy is buried and we dig. We get in and out fast. I don’t want us caught down here when the sun comes up.”
Richard heard movement as she slid her eyepiece into place.
“I understand.” Richard slid his own goggles down. The tunnel lit up with a bizarre greenish glow. It was not exactly vampire sight, but it would do.
“What if there are agents waiting for us?” he asked glancing around nervously.
“They might be watching the entrances, but they’ll never expect us to come in this way.” She paused, took a deep breath, and motioned to the tunnel. “All right, here we go.” She had positioned herself so that she was the first one heading south. She beckoned to him with one hand and started walking.
Richard followed.
“Will it not be an easy thing for these agents to hear our hammering?”
“Sound is funny down here. As long as they’re far enough away, they won’t be able to tell where it’s coming from. By the time they can find us, we’ll be gone… I hope. Anyhow, what other choice do we have?”
“An excellent point.”
As they walked, Richard probed within his soul and pressed against the constricted shield. His energies writhed inside him, beating against their prison, as desperate for release as he was to take a hold of them. This time there was no crack and, if anything, the wall felt stronger. He gritted his teeth. His only chance was to reach
the vampire and drink from him, before the shield shrank even more. He swallowed. The prospect of dying in such a way was not a pleasant one given the amount of pain one small contraction had caused. Setting himself to the task at hand, he tried to sense the other vampire. But without his power to bind them together, he felt only emptiness.
The passage continued for several hundred feet, finally stopping at a T-junction. Beth paused to look both ways.
“Are we lost?” Richard looked down each dark passage one at a time. Neither looked familiar.
“Modin was nice enough to swipe the maps from the city planning board. I’ve got these sections memorized.” She pointed to the right. “This way.”
Five minutes later, she slowed again. Richard could see that the left wall had partially collapsed outwards, leaving a gaping black hole just ahead. The debris had been cleared from the floor leaving him to surmise that this had happened in the past, perhaps in the prior year’s quake.
Beth reached out to clear a wispy cobweb from the hole. “This collapsed last year. It should lead us right inside.” She peered into the hole, hefted her hammer on one shoulder, again, and stepped through. “Come on.”
Richard admired her courage as he glanced nervously after her. After so many years slinking around the undergrounds of so many different cities, he was not sure why this one hole bothered him, but it did.
On the other side, older brick backed the cement wall. Debris from both lay scattered on the floor beyond. As with the corridors that had brought them to the Lab, this passage was wide enough for them to fit side by side and tall enough for them to stand in. The dirt floor was littered with garbage, as if a homeless person had bedded down there at some point. There was no one present now, however. The hallway extended to the right ending at a wall.
“It’s just ahead,” Beth whispered standing to one side. She pulled out her pistol and pointed it down, FBI style.
Richard reached back and pulled his own gun free. He balanced the sledgehammer on his left shoulder, chambered a round, and then gripped the hammer again.
