by Eve Paludan
Undaunted, he asked, “Ever have a feeder, Samantha?”
“One. That ended some time ago.”
“Did you kill him slowly?”
“Her. And no, I didn’t come nearly as close to killing her as you did with Amber.”
“That’s why I’m leaving. I don’t want to sentence anyone to an eternity of this vampire anguish. On the other hand, I obviously can’t be trusted to have a mortal lover.”
“You probably shouldn’t until you can distinguish between your meal ticket and your love life,” Sam said.
A sudden realization suffused his face. “Kingsley Fulcrum is your boyfriend. That freaking werewolf man who roughed me up, only to let me go, is your squeeze. You can’t have a mortal lover either. Ding, ding, ding!”
“You bastard! You stabbed him in the chest!” Sam started her vehicle and put the van in gear, so she wouldn’t get out and cut him with her silver dagger.
“But he’s okay now, right?” Kevin asked without a whole lot of concern in his voice.
She put the knife back in its convenient hiding spot. “Goodbye, Detective Holden. Have fun with the FBI.”
As Sam was pulling out of the hospital parking lot, he shouted after her, “Well, now that the infidelity case is over, can I hire you? I want to find out who made me a vampire!”
She flipped him off without looking back.
Chapter 16
As Tammy and Anthony continued walking from the Metrolink lot toward the high school, she took two Halloween masks out of her black backpack. “Remember when Mom and Dad wore these costume masks to take us trick or treating when we were little?”
“Sure do. Where did you get them?”
“Mom saved them in the garage. I think they were expensive, and you know how she saves all the ‘good stuff’ forever.”
“She does, but I can’t believe you found them.”
“They were buried at the bottom of a box that Mom labeled ‘Halloween Costumes’ so it wasn’t that hard to find them. Here are some gloves, too. Batman and Catwoman gloves. The Catwoman gloves even have claws. How cool is that?”
“Very. Mom’s pretty organized for a hoarder,” Anthony said.
“She’s so organized I think she has OCD.”
“But she has it in a good way, right?” Anthony replied.
Tammy rolled her eyes. “I washed the masks and dried them off with paper towels, so if they’re still a little damp, I apologize.” She handed him the Batman mask and kept the Catwoman mask for herself. They put on the gloves as they walked.
“This is so we won’t leave any fingerprints, and no one can see our faces, right?” he asked.
“Right. So, before we get to the traffic camera area of the high school, we need to put on these masks.”
“We’re still a block away. I think I would feel dumb walking down the street in this mask.”
“You’ll feel dumber if the police come to our house asking questions about a bunch of dead bodies on my campus. Let’s conceal our identity early and not take off the masks until I say so, when we’re safely off campus again.”
“Okay, sis.”
They put on the masks.
“What else is in your backpack?” he asked.
“Not much besides hand sanitizer wipes except for a couple of those cool flashlights Mom bought when the house had scorpions that one summer.”
“I remember Dad and I had to hunt down the buggers and smash them. Those are kind of old, though. Do they still work?”
“I put in fresh batteries and tested them. We’re good to go.”
“Hmm, I wouldn’t count on using those as weapons against vampires,” Anthony said.
“I guess if they’re a fail, we can always use them to club the vampires.”
“My weapons are my fists and feet, and I need them free. You can use the flashlights if your hands aren’t doing anything else but don’t count on them.”
“Okay, I won’t. Can you see out of your mask all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, the eyeholes are perfect. Because they fit over our heads, it makes me feel like a superhero.” He looked at her. “How about you, Catwoman?”
“I can see just fine, too, but I feel like a super villain.”
He laughed.
“Wait a sec. Hold up.” They stopped, and she stood on tiptoe to straighten one of Batman’s ears.
“What are you doing to Batman’s head?”
“One of your ears was crooked.”
He pushed her hand away. “Stop messing with my bat ear. That’s the least of our worries.”
She lowered her hand. “Sorry.”
“So, no one can see our faces or even our heads, only our eyes and lips. But do we throw away the masks and gloves when this is over?” Anthony asked.
“Yes, we have to get rid of evidence. Not in our home trash can, though. I’m thinking I’ll throw them away where I’ve seen people show YouTube videos about trash-picking in the dumpsters at a mall behind an Ulta store.”
“What’s Ulta?”
“It’s a makeup store.”
“You’ve thought this through,” Anthony said.
“I just hope I haven’t forgotten anything important.”
“You won’t. You’re like Mom. Both of you are focused on details I would never think of in a million years.”
“If it’s any comfort, that’s because you don’t have a mind that’s jaded by anything worse than video games and Internet hotties.”
Anthony laughed. “There are worse things than that?”
“What we’re about to do this morning is one of those things.”
He nodded, and his eyes turned serious. “Vampires are going to die. Or we will.”
“It’s us or them, Anthony. We can’t let this local infestation spread into a pandemic of Southern California and beyond.” She paused. “More than 800,000 kids are reported missing every year in the U.S. That makes me wonder if vampires are responsible for some of the missing kids. Or maybe even some of the vampires are those missing kids.”
“Either way, that sucks. Is that even a real number?”
“Yes. That’s why we’re doing this.”
They kept walking.
“You’ve done all the planning, and you did a great job, Tam. But when the going gets bad-ass, I’ll tell you who walks point and who follows.”
“Will do. You still remember the way to the north stairwell?”
“Of course. It used to be my school, too.” He paused. “I just have one serious problem with my part of the mission.”
“What did I forget?” she asked.
“That I never, ever hit girls. Not even vampire girls.”
“Not even vampire girls who are trying to kill your sister?”
“That’s right. I only pulled on Emily’s arms when Fang grabbed her hair. I never hit her. I didn’t want to hurt a female, not even a vampire female who was attacking my sister. I am wired to never ever do that.”
“Then, I hope there aren’t any girl vampires,” Tammy said.
“You and me both.”
They arrived at the crosswalk across from the school. “All right, bro. We’ve arrived at vampire ground zero.”
He replied, “Let’s hit it before any cheerleaders show up for Saturday practice and get killed or turned.”
“Yes, by all means, the perky cheerleaders must be saved above all other humans.”
“You have a dark sense of humor, sis.”
“That’s why we complement each other.”
“That wasn’t a compliment. Complement each other means—oh, never mind.” She held up a gloved fist. “Do it for luck.”
They bumped fists and, under a gray pre-dawn sky, crossed the street onto the high school grounds.
Anthony and Tammy skulked around the campus, looking for hidden vampires. It turned out they didn’t have to look too hard because, in the last minutes before dawn, the weak and hungry vampires were out and about in the open and looking for blood.
> One vampire called to another one, “When do the cheerleaders get here?”
Another voice came back, “Any minute, I swear. They come every Saturday morning.”
Anthony and Tammy kept to the shadows, flitting behind hedges and trees when they could.
When they walked past the closed concession stand outside the gym, Anthony recognized the doorman lookout he’d punched when they’d rescued Emily. He was leaning against a fat palm tree looking at his phone. “Look at the time! Why are girls always so late to everything?”
Anthony stepped out of the shadows. “They’ll be here soon.” He motioned for Tammy to stay behind him, and she moved up and peeked around him at the vampire he was confronting.
“Hey, I know your voice. I can’t see your face under the stupid Batman mask, but I know you, right?”
“We’ve met,” Anthony said. “Once.”
“You do know that Batman isn’t a vampire, right?”
“I know that.”
“Then why the dumb costume, cosplay dude?”
“Because I’m Batman,” Anthony said.
“No, you’re not.”
“Come closer and see.”
“I’m not interested in you, comic book geek. Who’s in the Catwoman mask? Is she food or is she competition for food?”
“She’s Catwoman.” Anthony got right up in the guy’s face and saw that he wasn’t bruised. And he should have been. But there was a change in the teen’s face. Not only was it very, very pale, but the guy’s eyes were now just black voids with a little flame in each eye—that meant he had a vampire entity inside of him.
“You’re cruising for a bruising, vampire,” said the guy. “This little section of the campus is my assigned turf and whatever cheerleaders or teachers cross into my zone, they’re mine.”
“I’m not a vampire,” Anthony said.
The guy put up his fists. “Hey! I know who you are. You’re that guy who cold-cocked me and zip-tied my feet!”
“You were the lookout for the vampire kidnappers, but now, you’re a vampire, too.”
“Because I wanted to be one, not because anyone made me do it, asshole.”
“You know what they say. Lie down with dogs. Get up with fleas.”
“Shut up.”
“So, how do you like it so far, vampire lap dog? I see you’re still a lookout. A mere pathetic watchdog. You haven’t advanced higher yet in your creepy cult, but that’s okay, right? I’m sure they have you on the list of dumbasses who will soon qualify to step up to the rank of ass-kisser of whoever’s in charge of this shit show.”
“I’m warning you, Batman! Run now, while you still can!”
“Holding out for a cheerleader, huh? While you’re waiting, come and get a piece of me,” Anthony challenged. “You know you want my mortal blood and you think you’re stronger now, but you’re not.”
“Am, too!”
“Then, swing, mutha! Take your best shot. Swing or turn tail and run like the flea-infested rat you are!”
“You just signed your death warrant! I know this is some kind of trick to protect Catwoman. I don’t want your blood, but I’ll take a sip of Catwoman, maybe show her the vampire ropes after I have my way with her and get her turned into the vampire queen. My vampire queen, and then, I will be in charge of this shit show.”
Anthony lost his cool and pummeled the vampire to the ground, even though the vamp’s fists moved fast, too. But Anthony’s well-trained fists were a blur.
The dude rose with a nosebleed, hissing and spitting, and punching the air. “You’re going to regret that you ever laid a hand on Vampire Sergeant Damien Dolpern!”
“Regret isn’t in my vocabulary,” Anthony said.
Swaying on his feet, Damien shouted an alarm to the other vampires. “Guys! Help! It’s the thug who hit me the other night. And that random girl. They’re the ones who stole Emily from us. Our Vampire Queen! Let’s get them!”
As vampires rushed out of the shadows, Damien clapped his hands and chanted, “Fresh blood! Fresh blood! Fresh blood!”
“Now, Anthony?” Tammy asked softly. She was shaking with fear.
“Run, Tammy! Run to you know where! I’ve got your back.”
She took off and as soon as she did, Anthony ran right behind her. And as the vampires tried to aim for tackling Tammy because she was easier pickings, Anthony jabbed out with his highly trained fists and feet and dropped her would-be attackers to the ground.
They got up, enraged, and continued the chase, all while chanting the chilling, “Fresh blood! Fresh blood!”
“This is like a horror movie!” Tammy said.
“Keep running! I’ve got your back!”
When Tammy got to the north stairwell, she took the stairs, two at a time, and headed for the top landing, which was the third floor. When she got there, she quickly began to climb the iron ladder to the roof hatch.
“Go, go!” Anthony yelled. He jumped on the ladder behind her and kicked off their attackers, bloodying their noses with his feet.
When she got to the hatch door security pad, she keyed in the combination that she’d stolen from the janitor’s mind, the one who came up here often for unauthorized smoke breaks and to take naps on lawn chairs he’d dragged up here.
The bloodied vampires were almost right behind them, all screaming for a taste of their blood, but at the same time, all of their phone alarms went off.
“Two minutes to sunrise!” they started screaming at each other. They began to argue whether or not they had time to kill the guy in the Batman mask and make the girl in the Catwoman mask into their new vampire queen.
“She’s mine!” Damien shouted. “I saw her first, and she was in my turf’s grid!”
The vamps started fighting among themselves to see who would get up the ladder first.
That, and the fact that Anthony had a powerful kick that kept them at bay, gave her time to make it to the roof. He scrambled up after her and nodded, his signal for her to set the hook.
She shouted, loud enough for all of the gathering vampires to hear, “Oh, no! Running to the roof won’t do us any good because when the sun comes out, they can change into vampire bats and attack us! And then at sunset, they’ll change back to vampires!” She shot out that strong mind suggestion to as many of the vampires as she could. She sent it and sent it, again and again, until her head was pounding, and her eardrums were hot and pulsing.
“Oh, no! You shouldn’t have told them that!” Anthony said the script as they had rehearsed. “Now, the dawn won’t protect us! What were you thinking, letting them know?”
“Did you hear that?” Damien shouted. “Kill him! But she’s mine! Let’s get them!” There was a collective roar as the vampires fought to be the first up the ladder and jostled each other for position.
Above the voices of all the others, Tammy shuddered to hear Damien claim his rights to her. “Get out of my way, I tell you. She’s mine! She was on my turf, and I have the right to turn her and make her my property! She’s going to be the vampire queen, and I will be her king! And then, because I will have the only vampire woman, I will run this vampire clan!”
There were thuds, thunks, inhuman shrieks and terrible moans as they threw each other off the ladder onto the concrete below. Their bones crackled and broke, heads split open and vampire blood was spilled. But they got up again and again, desperate for human blood.
Anthony held them off at the hatch, banging it down on their heads and hands as they tried, one by one, to get through the one-person opening.
“It’s like freaking Lord of the Flies down there,” Tammy told Anthony.
“Do your job, Tam. Don’t get distracted by literature metaphors.”
Tammy kept sending that mind suggestion, hard, breaking into every vampire’s brain with the message that they had the ability to turn into vampire bats and attack, feed, and fly into the sun until at sunset, they would again become vampire men.
Then, Tammy and Anthony’s phone alarm
s went off at the same time.
“Thirty seconds,” he told her as he held down the hatch. “Run to the far corner, the most easterly one, and get ready.”
She gave a terrified squeal and rushed to the corner of the roof and dug into her backpack.
Anthony said loudly and winked at Tammy, “I’m sorry! I can’t hold them off any longer!”
And then, he let go of the hatch and ran to cover Tammy as the clutch of vampires poured onto the roof.
The vamps were fast, and it didn’t take long for them to reach him. But he hadn’t realized there were so many. As he used spinning hook kicks and ax kicks and lightning-fast, one-two combo punches to knock them down, another vampire would leap at him faster than he could take a breath. He bloodied them all and came back for more as the earth rotated ever closer to that first second of dawn.
But a couple of them rushed him at once and when he was in the air doing the split-kick, Damien rolled under him and grabbed Tammy. She screamed bloody murder and grabbed the flashlight in her pocket, turned it on, and hit him in the face with the beam.
He let go of her and shrieked as his skin blistered and bubbled. He held his face in disbelief, then he shouted to the others, “Run! It’s a trick. She’s got a black light flashlight! I tried to turn into a bat, and I can’t! The sun is going to burn us up!”
The vamps began to run for the hatch, but Anthony got there first and held it down so they couldn’t escape. He kicked and punched them away.
“Let us go! We’ve only got seconds here!” pleaded one of them.
“Too late, killers!” Anthony replied. He kept them from escaping down the hatch and looked up in horror when he heard Tammy scream.
With only seconds to sunrise, she was fighting off Damien! The bastard wanted to go out in a blaze of glory and take Tammy with him.
Anthony ran as fast as he could to her side, but Damien said, “She’s mine, now!” He ignored Anthony’s kicks and punches, and Anthony couldn’t pry his hands off his sister’s leather-jacketed arms without breaking them.
He grabbed Damien around the neck and squeezed, perhaps in the heat of the moment not realizing the vampire didn’t need air to breathe.
When Damien opened his mouth to bite Tammy’s neck, she wrenched one arm out of her jacket sleeve, then shoved the lit UV flashlight inside his mouth and down his throat. His eyes bulged, and he let go of her, clutched at his neck and fell, twisting and thrashing at the UV light shining down his esophagus. He shoved his hand down his own throat, trying to reach the flashlight, but it was too late because…
