The question was, to what purpose did any of this serve other than to create a sadistic game for a monster’s guilty pleasure? The instant he had been dropped in the parking lot, he had been vulnerable. If his death is what she truly sought, she could have ended his life in the fountain out front, or the second he opened the door and stepped inside. She could come at him from the shadows, force herself upon him, and drain his blood dry before the vampire hunters even knew what hit him. The only reason for any of this was for dramatic effect and he was not in the mood; he wanted this done and over, no matter what the result.
Bring it on already!
The emergency lights were the only source of illumination and he wondered if they had a security guard on duty, and if so, where the hell they were. He was probably already dead as Amanda would not want their time together interrupted, so he started to mourn the loss of another innocent at the hands of his psychotic soulmate. That would make three dead that he knew of and possibly three more within the next hour, the trail of bodies in her wake was growing higher by the hour. He couldn’t imagine how many more would die if they didn’t stop her, nor how it never got noticed if this was what vampires were capable of. You’d think someone would have connected the dots at some point; serial killers with less body counts had a harder time slipping through the cracks than vampires apparently did. The BAU should have been all over this shit already.
“How you doing, Derek?” Renny asked.
“What, no code name on open comms?” he snarked, trying to dispel the jitters with a bit of humor. “And no, guero is not it. I will never answer to that.”
“Damn, I was already getting shirts made,” Naomi responded. “Guero’s All You Can Eat Buffet.”
“Reina Perra, do you have to be a bitch all the time?” Renny sighed.
“Pretty much.”
“We have two security guards down on the upper terrace. Securing their corpses now,” Ezio’s voice announced, confirming his earlier fears. “They will not be rising anytime soon.”
“This bitch is rabid, she needs to be put down,” Naomi snarled.
You mean she actually gives a shit about someone other than herself?
“Is there no cure for vampirism? Like, find the one that turned her and kill him?” he ventured, trying to nurse hope against the tides of despair in his heart. “Kill the Master, restore the fledglings to life?”
“Someone has seen Fright Night too many times,” Naomi’s voice laughed over the comms, getting him angry. She didn’t need to mock him, he was just asking what should have been an obvious question for a newbie.
“There is no known cure,” Renny told him, his voice sounding resigned. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a whole division of doctors working on that right now. Just haven’t had any positive results. The virus changes their DNA and advances in gene therapy have shown promise; we just haven’t advanced enough to make a breakthrough yet. Trust me, no one wants to kill your wife. We just have no other option available to us.”
“Speak for yourself,” Naomi snarled.
He had to bite off his retort. He didn’t know how any of them could stand being around that woman for too long, she’d have driven him nuts long before now. That she appeared to be in charge only made it worse, there was no one there to rein her in.
Nearing the part of the aquarium where he’d proposed to his wife, his feet slowed, his eyes straining to detect any sign of movement in the darkened interior. He stayed in the middle of the walkway to keep from banging into any of the numerous displays that lined the walls, but also because the dimly lit aquariums were making him uneasy. His hearing wasn’t being overly helpful either as all he could pick up was the constant flow of bubbling water, the occasional beep from some device down the hall, and the eerie silence of being in a contained space by himself. The silence was growing louder than the thrumming of his pounding heart.
“Hey you! Stop!” a voice called, a flashlight striking his body and making him stumble to a stop. “How did you get in here? Hey Jack, I’ve got an intruder in the west wing lower level.”
Glancing in the direction of the light, he put an arm up to shield his eyes, but he could still only make out a dark silhouette, his eyes blinking rapidly as they struggled to adjust. “I saw someone drag a couple of kids in here and thought I’d check it out. You looked closed, no reason anyone should be coming in here,” he replied rapidly off the top of his head.
“And you didn’t call the police? Just decided to check it out on your own? You got a hero-complex or something?” the male voice asked in a heavily sarcastic tone, making it clear he didn’t believe a word of it. “Jack? Did you copy? I’ve got an intruder here claiming someone brought a couple of kids in, thought he’d check it out. You got anything on the monitors? Hello?”
“I’m telling you the truth. They already hurt two of your men. That’s probably why no one is answering you,” he shot back, trying to get the man to lower the flashlight for just an instant, his eyes retina burned so bad he could hardly see.
He saw movement as the man made to pull a weapon of some kind off his belt, but then the flashlight fell and struck the ground, the cone spinning a few times before coming to a rest and illuminating the right wall.
His eyes had grown accustomed to the dim surroundings, so it didn’t take long to readjust; he wished it hadn’t and that the darkness would return. Five feet before him stood a man in his late twenties in a blue button down and slacks, a Downtown Aquarium patch on his shirt, a walkie talkie barely held in one hand as fingers spasmed around it. His head was cocked at a weird angle and he felt fear strike into his heart as he locked eyes with his wife. She had her mouth embedded on the side of the man’s neck, one hand holding his head sideways, the other grasping his shoulder and keeping him in place. Despite her mouth full of flesh, he could see her smile as tiny bits of blood began spilling over his collarbone and down his shirt. The faint light dancing in her eyes was full of so much pleasure, she could have been getting off while doing it. For all he knew, that’s exactly what she was experiencing.
“I’ve got company,” he whispered and from the look on her face, she had heard every word; apparently her hearing was extraordinary as well.
Thanks for the heads-up guys.
There was a soft sucking sound, like that of a child feeding off a woman’s breast, and his insides groaned as they urged him to relieve his stomach contents upon the floor. He fought it back, along with the sudden desire to take flight, to just run and pray that he could get away before she was done feeding. One look at her though made it quite clear, she’d gladly toss the security guard aside the moment he broke for it; he was stuck.
The man’s body jerked once or twice, then was tossed unceremoniously to the ground as his wife finished feeding, her eyes blazing with passion. Her hair was teased up and she was wearing the same bright green blouse she’d worn that night, indicating that she’d gone home to change before coming to meet him. If not for the slight bit of blood on the corners of her mouth and the darkened aquarium around them, it could have been their first date all over again. He’d been a nervous wreck then too, but out of fear of fucking up, not being that night’s dessert course.
“So, I guess going out to dinner is out?” he asked, his voice slightly shaky there at the end. “I was going to suggest a steakhouse, but I’ve lost my appetite. Could probably do Taco Bell if you want though.”
“You’ve got a large set of cajones, guero. I’ll give you that much.”
“Now that’s the husband I remember,” Amanda purred, stepping to the side, away from the spasming feet that were knocking against her ankles as the man’s life came to an end. “Not the frightened trembling church mouse you were on the phone.”
“That’s funny, because I was going to say the exact opposite.” They were cracking jokes while a young man died at her feet; this was seriously fucked up. “The woman I fell in love with would never take a human life. She wouldn’t even allow me to own a gun,
said it invited more violence than it prevented.”
“Become like me and you’ll never need a gun to defend yourself again,” she responded, her smirk growing wider. “Don’t make me endure this life without you.”
“I’ll pass Babe. As tempting as that is, I can’t. I want to die as the person I am, not the monster you’d make me into,” he told her firmly. “Where are the girls?” He had little hope that they were still alive, but maybe there was a chance that some of her humanity remained, at least enough to stop her from making this atrocity worse.
“Oh, they’re around,” she purred, taking a step closer, his own feet retreating a step in response. “Didn’t want to make it too easy for your friends. Though, if they don’t hurry, it might be too late. I let them play with the alligators while I came to meet with you, and I’m not sure those beasts have fed as recently as I have. You know, I kind of like the young, their blood is a bit saltier than Hailey’s was.”
“They were right, you are truly lost to me,” he muttered.
“On my way to get the girls,” Ezio’s voice told him.
He prayed that the man got to them in time, but he was sure that he only had a minute or so left to care either way. “This isn’t you. I know that this virus changes your body, makes you into this monster, but there has to be something left of the woman you are, the woman I love. If you remember all of this,” he said, gesturing to the aquariums around him, “then you remember why we were here, what this meant to us. Come on, Amanda, you could have met me anywhere, but of all places you chose this spot. You can’t tell me you’re not in there somewhere fighting this monster off.”
Amanda came another step towards him, her smile not faltering, “you know, that was one trait of yours that I found so adorable in life, your constant drive to find the best in people. You were naïve. Sometimes people are just dicks. I chose to meet you here because it seemed fitting. This is where we began, and this is where we will end.”
His heart was thudding in his chest as his adrenaline began to flood his system, his biological need to survive overriding his determination to see this through to the end. He could feel her mind trying to probe his, flittering across the outskirts of his thoughts, but unable to latch onto anything of substance. The smirk faltered a bit as her eyes searched his own, trying to spy the reason for his sudden ability to resist.
His fingers clenched, his first thought being to fight, but he wasn’t sure that he could ever strike her. Despite what she had become, despite the man dead at their feet, she was his soulmate and reason for living; he could not harm her. “It’s not too late. The people I came with, they’re working on a cure for this, you don’t have to be a monster,” he plead, trying once more to reach the woman he loved.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, guero.”
“Oh, shut up,” she snarled. She had been moving like a cat playing with a mouse, but now her façade had fallen, and her true self revealed as her mouth opened, her fingers turned into talons, and her knees bent, like a cougar ready to strike.
A dart appeared in her neck, making her flinch and jerk her attention away from him. Her hand came up and swatted at it, the dart tearing free as she flung it away with fury. Her head whipped back towards him and she sprang, her mouth wide, her hands reaching to draw him close, and not into a lover’s embrace.
He dropped to the floor faster than he should’ve, his knees banging against the hardened ground, a high-pitched scream erupting from his throat as he fell forward, hands stinging as he struck the hardened surface below. Weight struck his thighs and pinned him against the tile, his back unable to twist around to see her or what she was doing. He was going to take it in the back like a fucking coward.
Please don’t let me die this way.
“Target neutralized,” an unfamiliar voice said over the comms. “Suggest you get there quickly and apply another dose, not sure how much she got before it was extracted. You could have seconds.”
“You still with us Derek?” Renny’s voice panted; he was running somewhere.
“I think so,” he grunted, struggling to free his legs from beneath the body holding him down. He was trying to be ginger about it, but it was difficult. Still, he couldn’t make himself kick at her; he just couldn’t. “If you’re going to—harm her, I can’t be here for that.”
She had to have gained weight since coming back from the grave, I don’t remember her being this heavy when on top of me before.
It’s the dead-weight.
Oh, ha ha.
“Gonna—need a hand,” Ezio grunted.
“On my way,” Naomi responded.
Large hands gripped him by the biceps and gave him a yank. He growled in pain as his knees slid across the floor, the weight of his wife suddenly gone. The hands let him go and he twisted around to see a tall muscled man with dark skin, a brown leather vest, a black short-sleeved shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He had a sniper rifle over one shoulder and a pair of tomahawks clipped to his belt. His black hair was barely visible on his shaved dome, he was free of any sign of facial hair, and had warm amber eyes. The serious look on his face made it clear he didn’t smile very much.
“She’s out cold,” the man told him, stepping away and out of sight.
Renny was suddenly kneeling at his side, a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”
“I don’t know,” he confessed, getting himself into a sitting position and turning to look at his wife’s prone body, the large man down on one knee, a needle in hand. “I thought you were going to kill her. Is this how you do it? Like, lethal injection being more humane or something?”
Renny gave him a sympathetic look. “She will die, just not until we learn everything we can about this Master who made her.”
“The girls,” he suddenly exclaimed, remembering why he was there. He got himself to his feet, his knees wobbling as they protested their use, his eyes searching for signs to point him towards the Louisiana exhibit.
Instead, what he saw nearly stopped his heart.
A seven-foot beast with wet brown fur clinging to his body, an elongated snout, and overly large claws was standing ten feet to his right, the water pooling up at his feet. Large fangs were visible as it panted rapidly, as if out of breath. The pointed ears and fierce eyes made it clear that he was staring at a werewolf; a monster of legend become flesh.
What else would it be? Come on, man, get it together!
Yet, that wasn’t what had frozen his heart in place, it was the two little girls cowering before him, embracing one another and refusing to look at the world around him. Their faces were buried in the enormous thighs of their savior, and he wondered if they were standing on Ezio’s feet, letting him carry them around on his thighs rather than walk themselves.
“Mykala, Jasmine,” he called, rushing forward.
Mykala glanced his way, then she screamed in fright, turning towards the wet wolf standing protectively over them, as if he was the real monster here and not Ezio.
He drew up short, dropping to his throbbing knees and reached out for them. “Don’t be afraid, it’s Uncle Derek. You’re safe now. I’m here.”
Jasmine’s eyes found his, her bottom lip trembling as a sob hitched in her chest, then she broke from her sister and thrust herself forward. He caught her and held her close, trying to soothe her with the soft baritone of his voice, Mykala watching with apprehension and terror as they embraced. He reached out and pulled her close, both of them breaking into fresh sobs against his shoulders.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered to them. “I’m sorry about everything. You’re okay now, you’re safe. She can’t harm you anymore.”
“Ezio, you’re getting water everywhere,” Naomi scolded, thrusting white armor against the wolf’s chest. “Go dry off and put some clothes on, these girls don’t need an eyeful of your junk on top of everything else. They’ve been put through enough tonight. Rapido!”
He felt Ezio move away, but he didn’t watch him go, he had enough to deal
with already.
“Scalps, help Hoops get her into the Humvee. I want her bound and gagged as quickly as possible, she’s fed for the last time,” Naomi ordered. “Speedy, we need a cleanup crew. Target is bagged and tagged, heading back to base in ten. Have Benji on sight in case an alarm got tripped, I don’t want to deal with any trigger-happy cops tonight. Not in the mood.”
She then came to stand next to him; he could feel her eyes drilling into his back. “Mr. Crawford, thank you for your assistance, we will take it from here. I’m sure these two little ladies have a next of kin that you can call, but I would stay with them for the remainder of the morning. They’ve been through more than they ever deserved to. I wish you luck, guero.”
Shocked, he looked up at her, “you’re not leaving me here.”
“Oh, I assure you, we are. You have done your part, your wife is no longer a problem, you can go home. Your services are no longer required,” she said dismissively. “Trust me, you’ll want no part in what comes next.”
He got to his feet, letting the girls hug his waist as he turned to face her. “That is my wife, where she goes, I go. You don’t like it? I’ll call the authorities as soon as you leave, tell them everything I know.”
“I don’t put up with threats, gringo. There’s nothing that you can do that we can’t easily squash and make as if it never happened. Want to join him?” she asked, nodding towards the dead body nearby. “Arrangements can be made.”
“You don’t scare me,” he told her, and actually meant it. He had just faced his vampiric wife, had nearly had his throat torn out, and somehow that made her bullshit less of a thing to suffer through. “Threaten me all you want, I don’t care, but I am going with you all the same.”
The Legacy Series (Book 1): Legacy [Sanguis] Page 8
