by R. M. Garcia
“I don’t know what that is,” Abbie answered. Donnie could see that there was something very odd going on. Why was Abbie answering all her questions?
“Who birthed you, girl?” Cassandra asked Abbie.
“Hulderich, Hulderich Von Strauss,” Abbie replied. Donnie could see that she was shaking now, and her nose began to bleed.
“I have heard of him,” the boy said. “He’s high among the Reich.”
“So have I, Frances, but why is this is child unsupervised?” Cassandra asked.
“Whatever you are doing, stop it!” Donnie started to walk toward Abbie.
“He is free!” Frances yelled to the other two children in the room. “Secure him!” Donnie was perplexed by the comment as he had not been one bit restrained. The two other children in the room bared their fangs and lunged at him. As Donnie spotted the children’s fangs, his own ejected in response. The two children tackled Donnie, bringing him down; he was shocked at both their speed and strength. They held him down and smothered him, one holding his arms and the other his legs.
“We’re going to detain her until the Reich claims her,” Cassandra said as she walked over to Donnie. “But who are you?” He could feel her gaze alone, placing incredible pressure on his head.
“He’s a tough one. I have never seen anyone resist your mesmerisms,” Frances said.
“I have, but it was one much older than I,” Cassandra replied.
“How old do you think he is?” Frances asked cautiously. “Should we do this if he’s an elder?”
“The girl claimed he was her child.” Cassandra looked more intently at Donnie. “He is not an elder, just very strong willed.” She began concentrating only on Donnie.
“Let him go!” Abbie screamed as she collapsed to the floor.
“Frances, take her to the holding cell. We will alert the Reich that we have one of their numbers,” Cassandra ordered.
“It will be done,” Frances said as he started walking toward Abbie. Donnie could see that Abbie was trying to get up but was unable to maintain her balance.
“I will break this one and deal with him accordingly. Foundling or not, you will tell me your secrets,” Cassandra said. Donnie gathered his strength and looked at Cassandra.
“Let us go, little girl!”
“Little girl? I am over four hundred years old,” Cassandra replied, slightly vexed “You are nothing to me. I see something now, New Jersey.”
“Get out of my head, you little witch!” Donnie said as he freed one of his legs and brutally kicked Cassandra in the head. The blow sent her flying straight up. She hit the ceiling of the suite, but it offered little resistance, and multiple crashes could be heard as she traveled up through every floor of the three-story resort.
“Tear him apart!” Frances ordered as the two children outside the room ran in and jumped on Donnie.
“Donnie!” Abbie yelled as the vampiric children assailed him. She could see straight; her equilibrium was completely gone.
“Be quiet!” Frances delivered a kick to Abbie’s head. Donnie could tell that she was still disoriented. The blow knocked her face down into the carpet.
“You are going to pay for that!” Donnie yelled.
Frances looked smugly at Donnie. “Canadian or American?” he replied mockingly. Donnie became enraged. He got his arms loose and grabbed one the children by the hip and armpit and pulled him apart. Blood sprayed as the child screamed horrifically. The other three children were momentarily stunned by what they had just witnessed. It gave Donnie more than enough time. He delivered a punch to a second child and an elbow to a third and quickly rolled forward, regaining his footing. He grabbed the fourth child as it tried to try to grab him and punched her head clean off. Instead of turning to sand as Hulderich had, she burned up instantly like a piece of flash paper. The first two children regained their feet and charged Donnie once again. Donnie remembered a move that Hulderich had used against him and timed his strike. He caught them both in midair by their tiny necks. With a swift and violent squeeze, he beheaded them both simultaneously. He spun around to face Frances as the bodies burned up behind him.
“What are you?” Frances asked in terror.
“American,” Donnie said softy. Frances ran for the door, but Donnie caught him just as he exited the suite and yanked him back in by the collar of his jacket. While Frances was still floating in the air from the tug, Donnie brought down his other hand and severed Frances’s head with a karate chop motion.
“Donnie,” Abbie called out weakly. “I can’t move.”
“It’s OK. I’m here,” Donnie said as he ran over to her. He picked her up and grabbed the duffel bag and turned around.
“What have you done?” Cassandra yelled from the open doorway. Donnie placed Abbie on the bed and looked at Cassandra.
“They went poof,” Donnie said, making an explosion motion with his hands.
“I see,” she said. He could that she was concentrating again. Before he could react, he was hurled back against the wall of the suite and was pinned against it by some unseen force. Cassandra’s concentration increased, and the wall exploded behind him, and he was hurled out of the resort several hundred feet into a nearby copse of trees. Donnie began to get up; the blow had dislocated his shoulder. He heard it pop back into place as he regained his footing. He could now hear the sound of wood cracking and snapping behind him. When he turned around, Cassandra was a few feet from him. She turned her neck sharply and the tree that had been floating unseen above Donnie came crashing down on him. The winds began to pick up as Donnie lifted several tons of bark and wood off him. He hurled the tree at Cassandra, but with a flick of her hand, the tree violently deflected away and exploded into a million splinters. Donnie charged at her, but she repelled him back as if blowing a feather away with a tilt of her neck. Donnie landed harshly as he dug a thirty-foot trench in the ground with his body. He tried to get up, but before he completely stood up, something heavy hit him from behind. The object struck repeatedly, and when he finally saw what it was, he was angered ever more. Cassandra brought down the golf cart on Donnie over and over as rain began to fall.
“Why is it always a car?” Donnie yelled as he grabbed the cart as Cassandra lifted it. The trick worked, and he was again standing. He ripped a tire off the cart and hurled it at her like a Frisbee. It almost connected as she barely managed to deflect it in time. The cart began to fall once her concentration was broken, and Donnie grabbed it and hurled it at her. Cassandra stopped it in mid-throw and shoved it back at Donnie with her mind. Donnie leaped and impossibly contorted and spun his body through the wildly spinning cart. Cassandra was momentarily caught off guard by the display of agility, and he managed to get closer to her. She again had enough time to react, but she could tell that he was moving faster and faster. Donnie felt himself flying up into the sky, picked up by unseen hands. Up and up he went, when he finally reached his apex, gravity began to pull him back to the earth. He began to feel an additional pull on himself; it was as if he was also being pulled down. His speed accelerated until the wind was whistling by his ears. He hit the ground hard. He was now lying at the bottom of a ten-foot-deep crater created by his impact.
“That hurt, definitely definitely hurt,” he said out loud as he tried to get up. Many of his bones were shattered, and the crater was filling up with rain water fast.
“You are an impressive opponent, Donato, but I need to destroy you now,” Cassandra said as she walked to the edge of the crater. Donnie could feel himself being pulled out of the crater and back up into the air. Cassandra levitated him close to her to gloat. “Now you go, poof.” Donnie’s arms and legs were spread apart as he floated in the air before her. He felt a force pulling his arms and legs out of their sockets. To fight the forces on his limbs, he began to pull his arms and legs in toward his body.
Cassandra made fists as she concentrated harder on tearing Donnie apart, but he was stronger. “This is impossible. You are resisting me?” Donnie man
aged to pull his arms against his chest and brought up his knees up to his chest. “You are strong, but I have never lost a fight against a Foundling.” Cassandra took a deep breath, and Donnie could see blood streaming out of her nose and ears, and she was beginning to shake.
“Getting tired? I can go all night. Maybe you should have developed a little more before coming out to play with the grown-ups.”
“How dare you mock me?” Cassandra said enraged. “I am Cassandra Deveraux, proud member of the Breton Bloodline, and you are no more than a Foundling!” Donnie had hoped that his words would distract her, but getting her angry only made things worse. His legs and arms extended out again, and now he could hear ligaments tearing under his skin. Cassandra yelled at Donnie as he was being torn apart, “I will enjoy watching you die!” The pain was intense. Donnie cried out. His cry was followed by an intense churning of the winds around them. He looked up to see a funnel cloud descend on Cassandra. She was sucked up into the vortex and thrashed about violently inside its column; she was hurled about and battered by the debris the tornado was pulling into its mass. Rock, wood, and metal, all impaled, crushed and skewered her tiny body. The cyclone suddenly dissipated as quickly as it had formed. The rains ceased, and Cassandra’s body fell back to the soggy ground. Donnie limped over to her; his body was in no better shape.
“What Bloodline are you from?” Cassandra asked weakly.
“I don’t know,” Donnie replied.
“Filthy Foundling, as soon as I am healed, I will destroy you once and for all.” Cassandra spat at him. Donnie was having trouble healing himself, and he realized that the fight had used up a lot of his reserves, and he suddenly, for the first time as a vampire, felt hungry.
“I’m not going to give you that chance.” Donnie flopped down next to her on the soggy mud.
“You are in no shape to dispatch me,” she said.
“I’m giving you a permanent time-out,” Donnie said as he rolled on top of her and bit into her neck. The small remnants of blood still within her quickly found their way into his mouth.
“Stop, what are you doing?” Cassandra said, and then she closed her eyes and spoke no more. Donnie continued to drink until she was completely drained of every last drop of blood. When he was finished, he stood back up and looked at her; she looked so peaceful and angelic. With a swift kick, Donnie dislodged her head from her shoulders. Like the others before her, she erupted in a bright flash and was instantly gone. Now replenished of blood, his injuries rapidly healed, and by the time he reached Abbie he was again whole.
CHAPTER 23
Gaston
DONNIE REACHED THE suite and entered through the gaping hole in the wall. Abbie was still recovering from being disoriented. Donnie didn’t wait; he grabbed their bags, slung them over his shoulders, picked up Abbie, exited the room, and headed for the lobby. When he reached the lobby, there were several resort employees standing around, looking in the direction of their room. Jacques was wide-eyed behind the counter.
“We are checking out!” he said to Jacques. His tone was such that the other employees hastily made their way out of the area as nonchalantly as they could.
“How, was your stay, eh?” Jacques asked nervously.
“Get my fucking car!” Donnie yelled at the valet and then turned back to Jacques. “I won’t recommend it to any of my friends.”
“Then I will gladly comp your stay, it’s the least we can do, eh,” Jacques said nervously.
“Donnie, you can put me down, I can stand now,” Abbie said. Donnie placed her down and directed his gaze back at Jacques. He reached over and pulled him onto of the counter.
“Who, who were those children!?” he demanded.
“The Bretons, they, they run this territory, I had no choice I have to report anything strange to them,” Jacques said in terror. “Please, don’t kill me!”
“Donnie, did he call those creepy kids on us?” Abbie asked.
“Looks like it,” Donnie said, releasing Jacques. “I’m not going to kill you, but I want you to relay a message.”
“Of course, anything, what do you want me to tell them?” Jacques asked.
“Tell them that they lost six of their numbers tonight, continue to fuck with us and that number will increase,” Donnie said. “Now, get me a map!”
“Donnie, are you sure about that it might just piss them off?” Abbie asked as Jacques scrambled to retrieve a map for them.
“Here you go, sir.” Jacques handed Donnie a map. He grabbed it, picked up the bags, and began walking to the car with Abbie close behind.
“I’m done taking beatings, I swear if I get smacked around by another car I’m going to explode,” he said to Abbie.
“What happened to that little girl?” Abbie asked.
“Let’s just say Cassandra won’t be asking anymore questions,” Donnie said within earshot of the valet.
“You killed Cassandra?” the valet asked. Donnie stopped and looked at the valet.
“Yes, I did, want to make something of it?”
“Oh, we’re so screwed,” he said and ran inside the resort. Donnie tossed the bags in the back seat and opened the passenger’s door for Abbie.
“I don’t think this is good for us, Donnie,” she said as she got in.
“I know.” He closed the door of the car and ran to the driver’s side and got in. They sped off the property.
“What do we do now?” Abbie asked. “I think that girl was important.”
“Please look for that park on the map,” Donnie said as he drove.
“Yeah, the note, it said some park name,” Abbie said. “Oakes Park.”
“Do you still have the note?” Donnie asked.
“Yeah, I stuffed it in my pocket.” Abbie checked the map. “Here it is. We need to head northwest.” Donnie turned right and headed west. They arrived at the park within an hour.
“OK, we’re here, now what?” Donnie asked.
“Are we supposed to go in the park?” Abbie asked.
“I’m not sure, but we’re going in,” Donnie said. “We need answers and hopefully this Toby has them.” Donnie started driving into the park area. The park could have been a park anywhere; it had a baseball, soccer fields, and a track circle, but so far no Toby.
“Might be a wild goose chase,” Donnie said as he pulled the car over.
“How long do we wait?” Abbie asked.
“Not sure,” Donnie replied. “But we can’t wait all night.”
“Gee, you kookie kids sure are inpatient,” a voice said from the back of the car. Donnie and Abbie turned around to find what appeared to be a ten-year-old boy sitting in the backseat.
“Who are you?” Donnie demanded.
“Don’t go apes, my name is Toby,” he said. “What do you say we burn rubber and head north like.”
“We are not going anywhere until you answer some questions,” Donnie replied.
“Cut the tough guy bit,” Toby said. “It’s boss that you made it out of the resort alive, but you’re the ones that need my help.”
“Donnie, I think we should trust him,” Abbie said. “He did warn us.”
“All right, but I’m warning you, any tricks and . . .”
“Hey, big daddy, don’t worry I’m your bonafide hero,” Toby said as he got comfortable in the backseat. Donnie began driving north, and eventually they made it to a large storm drain. Toby got out and opened it and motioned for Donnie to drive the car inside. He locked it back up once the car was inside.
“Neat . . . o! This will work just fine,” Toby said as he got back in to the car. “Now head that way.” Donnie followed the directions and drove the car into a large drainage area. They reached a point where the car could go no further, and they were forced to continue on foot. They gathered their bags and followed Toby through a series of tubes and natural and man-made tunnels.
“OK, we’re here,” Toby said.
“Where is here?” Abbie asked.
“This is our home, E
asy Street.” Toby pushed aside a large rock and revealed a large underground cavern. He walked in and Donnie and Abbie cautiously followed. Within the cavern, there were several makeshift shacks made out of old plywood, aluminum signs and other assorted garbage. From the shacks, several children emerged and looked nervously at the newcomers.
“What the hell is this, Toby?” A young shrill voice asked. Donnie and Abbie looked in the direction of the voice.
“Just keep your traps shut while I explain what’s buzzing,” Toby said to Donnie and Abbie and then looked to the young girl that was walking toward the group. “Hi, Millie.”
“Don’t you hi Millie, me mister,” she said as she got right into Toby’s face. “You know, you need to clear new additions by me first. Gaston is not going to like this.”
“Gee whiz, I guess I will just need to take it up with him, won’t I,” Toby said smiling. Millie was about to say something else when Toby hugged her, and she returned the hug warmly.
“I’m sorry, I just get so worried when you go out alone,” she said.
“Baby, don’t ever worry about that, I’m just too slick, I’m always peachy keen.” Toby took her hand and began walking further into the cavern. “Follow me, big daddies.” Donnie looked at Abbie, and she shrugged, so they followed the child couple. They walked past several dozen shacks, each contained many small children. Abbie looked strangely at the kids as they walked past them.
“What is it?” Donnie asked sensing she was tense over something.
“Don’t you see it?” Abbie replied. “Half the children here are vampires and the other half are humans.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Donnie said. “How did you?”
“I can smell the difference, can’t you?”
“I really hadn’t tried to smell them,” Donnie said as he sniffed the air. “Nope, nothing.”
“That’s strange that I can smell them and you can’t,” Abbie said. “I can hear their heartbeats too, can you hear that?” Donnie concentrated and shook his head.
“Nope, I can’t hear them, not from here at least,” he replied.
