by Joe Fowler
“Oh well, I guess we take the streets.” Rosalyn announced.
It took a few minutes of killing strays to get the attention of the rest of the vampires. Once they realized we were a threat, they attacked in force. It was the usual thing I was accustomed to. Masses of vampires rushing at us only to meet our machetes. We were cutting through them with ease when bodies of headless vampire began flying our way. Josh was joining us after making quick work of Badal.
“Did you get him?” Rosalyn asked Josh when we were close enough to speak without shouting.
“Yep. As well as a couple of hundred vampires in the house with him. They looked to be having some kind of meeting.” Josh said in his ever creepy voice.
“You killed Badal and hundreds that quickly?” Ekram was so shocked he almost lost his head. He scrambled and regained his focus.
“Josh is a whole new level of badass, Ekram. I promise you have never seen anything near what he can do. I am twenty-four hundred years old and I wouldn’t last ten seconds against him.” Rosalyn said.
“That is mind blowing. You were the toughest I ever met. At least that I know of.” Ekram was doing ok with the fighting. He wasn’t as accustomed to facing these kind of numbers as we were, but he was strong and fast enough to handle it well.
The night passed quickly. We finished up with a little time to spare. Josh, now in human form, called our contact to inform the President. Josh told them about Ekram and how he would be in New Delhi to help with any further vampire problems. Josh took a picture of Ekram and gave the address where he would be spending the day. We were reassured that Ekram would be welcomed by the local authorities.
“I can’t thank you enough for helping my people. I know I am a vampire but I came from this culture and still see the humans as my people.” Ekram shook hands with each of us in turn as we prepared to board our plane.
“It was good to see you again, Ekram. I hope things go well here.” Rosalyn said.
“Thank you, Rosalyn. We should be alright now thanks to you guys. Farewell, my friends.” Ekram sounded grateful. I knew I would be.
We took off heading for Mumbai with high hopes of ending this trip quickly. Rosalyn and I were forced to sleep as the sun rose during the flight. Josh definitely did his part to end things quickly. He was hoping to work with the soldiers hunting again.
Rosalyn and I woke to the sound of Josh’s snoring. We left our bed trying to be quiet when we headed for the front of the plane. We found the stewardess and asked how long Josh had been asleep. According to her, he arrived back on board about two hours ago. Rosalyn and I were thinking of going out on our own and letting him sleep when he woke on his own. He got up and joined us where we were.
“You need more sleep, Josh. Why don’t you let us handle tonight on our own?” Rosalyn suggested.
“No. It will be ok. Besides, there will be plenty of time to sleep on the ride home in the morning. The worst is already over. We found most of the lairs here. I would point one out and the soldiers took out the vampires while I looked for the next lair. It saved a lot of time. We mostly need to clear some buildings downtown, one residential area, and some of the docks. I think we should split up and each take an area.” Josh sounded eager.
“What if there is an old one? I don’t want Austin at risk.” Rosalyn said.
“I should be ok. We don’t find old ones very often.” I was more than willing to risk it if it meant we would be going home sooner.
“All it takes is one time. I will go with Austin. Maybe we can get through the area fast enough to go to the other.” She offered.
“I understand. We can try. I will take the docks. I think you should start downtown. When we finish those, we head to the residential area. We can meet up there. If you don’t finish then be sure to get back here before sunrise.” Josh said as he pulled out a map and handed it to us. He had another that he would use.
There were three vehicles outside the plane for us. Josh was prepared in case we had each went on our own. Rosalyn and I headed downtown to get started on our assignment. It was standard fighting for us in the beginning. We were well through the area and making good time when I became really happy she was with me.
I was on one side of the street and she was on the other when an old one attacked me. He knocked me off my feet sending my machete flying from my hand. He then ordered the other vampires to concentrate their attack on Rosalyn. I regained my feet as he came at me. He was immensely strong. His speed was somewhat lacking though. His attacks were straightforward but I was able to avoid the worst of it. My attacks on him were futile since I didn’t have my machete. I managed one quick cry to Rosalyn but knew she was under heavy attack. The old one and I circled trading blows as we went. He kept cutting me off when I tried to recover my blade. He knew I was too fast for him to make a grab at the blade himself. Our fight continued with him slowly wearing me down with his heavier blows. I was getting close to the end and we both knew it was almost over when Rosalyn stepped between us. I looked around to see that we were the only three beings still alive. The old vampire took one step toward Rosalyn and she killed him before he could lift his foot for the second step.
“Perfect timing.” I moaned. She knelt beside me to see how bad my injuries were. I was fairly sure all of my ribs were broke. One of my shoulders was useless making that arm hang limply by my side. I could feel the other bones mending and knew it might be a few minutes before I was ready to stand up.
“No more splitting up, ever. Like I said, it only takes one.” She was relieved that I was healing so fast.
“I was much faster than him but he was so damn strong I couldn’t do anything without my machete. He wore me down in the end.” I said feeling a little ashamed, even though I know how extraordinary I am as a new vampire able to hold my own against old ones.
“It was amazing that you lasted that long. I was trying to get to you but they were getting in my way trying to protect him. You have got to quit scaring me like this.” Rosalyn helped me to my feet.
“I will try.”
We moved on once I was in fighting condition again. We finished the downtown area with almost three hours left before dawn. We headed over to the residential area like we had agreed to do. Josh wasn’t there yet but we got started anyway. This area was proving to be easy. The groups of vampires were smaller and they were spread out a little more. We almost had the area clear when Josh showed up.
“Hey, y’all already got this one handled. Great job.” He cheered.
“This part was easy.” I said.
We put the last of the vampires down before heading back to the plane. We would be flying home now. We had made better time than expected. Rosalyn and I slept the day away while the plane took us home.
Chapter 29
We rode home from the airport in Josh’s Challenger. Alicia had been waiting when we got off the plane. It had taken us longer to get home because of a delay at the airport where we refueled. We didn’t mind little inconveniences like that after all we had been through lately. Alicia was a little pissed though.
“You would think they could refuel a plane and get it back in the air without making people wait like that.” Alicia was still complaining as we got out of the car at Josh’s house. Even when she was mad she was adorable.
“There they are. At least they didn’t keep you away too long this time.” Jimmy greeted us with a smile.
“No, this trip wasn’t so bad. Not like the others anyway.” I said as we shook hands. I wondered how long before he asked for some stories.
“Seth said what he was doing was easy but he would need to stay for another week or so. I was afraid they were going to fly you three over there to join him in China.” Jimmy said as we sat on the porch.
“I asked Seth about that. I figured since we were so close, we should go help him. He told me he was bored most of the time. They were only hunting the vampire lairs in the day. They were keeping the humans away from the problem areas the best they could.
He isn’t having to fight at all. That’s why he sent us on home.” Josh had told Rosalyn and me this same thing on the plane before we landed.
“The news said New Delhi was saved overnight by you guys. The anchors went on and on about how drastic the change was from one day to the next. They estimated like fifteen thousand vampires were killed by you in one night.” Sarah said as she joined us. Crystal and Anna were getting the beer.
“It was more like ten or eleven thousand and about eight thousand more were killed during the day while they slept.” Josh admitted.
“To us more or less normal werewolves, that is still unbelievable.” Jimmy had a point, although ‘normal werewolf’ didn’t seem natural.
“We actually made a friend in New Delhi. An old vampire Rosalyn knew. He fought on our side for most of the night.” Josh told them.
“No way, you didn’t tell me that.” Alicia was surprised Josh would leave something like that out.
“How did that happen? Did you see him and recognize him or something?” Crystal asked. She had passed out the beer.
“Austin met him the hard way. Josh and I were clearing the streets while Austin cleared the buildings. Ekram was in one of the buildings. Austin hasn’t really told us how everything happened.” Roslyn looked at me expectantly.
“Well, I was going through the building killing small groups as I found them. I was fighting one small group when one of them surprised me. He had been lagging behind the others but when I attacked him he fought very well. He might have been a little faster than me. We circled studying each other when I killed the last two vampires that were with him. Once they were dead he asked if I was one of the Americans that were helping fight the vampires. I told him I was and he put his hands up like he was surrendering. He told me he knew Rosalyn and she could vouch for him not being one of the evil ones. So he helped me finish the rest of that building, with me keeping a constant eye on him. When we went out into the street Rosalyn recognized him. It was nice to have a friend on our side.” I related the story with all eyes paying close attention. I didn’t mean to keep the story from Rosalyn but we were busy at the time.
“Hey, you didn’t say you had fought him.” Josh said. “I thought he was older than what you are used to handling.”
“Ekram is sixteen hundred or so. He is way too old for you to be fighting.” Rosalyn sounded worried again.
“I didn’t have a choice at the time. I think he might have been taking it easy on me now that I think about it. Once he saw who I was he didn’t want to kill me. He waited until the last of the other vampires were dead to speak to me. I wonder how old that strong bastard in Mumbai was. He was tough.” I said and then remembered how easy he was for Rosalyn. “Well he was tough for me.”
“He was probably around eighteen hundred or so judging from what I saw. Those I was fighting were so persistent I almost didn’t get there in time. I was impressed by how long you lasted against him.” Rosalyn smiled at me before adding, “But you better not scare me like that again.”
“Yes ma’am.” We kissed briefly.
“So I’m really glad we didn’t split up like I said. You guys didn’t tell me Austin almost died.” Josh sound hurt.
“I was trying to put it out of my mind. I’m sure Austin didn’t want to relive it so soon after it happened.” Rosalyn was right.
“It sounds like Austin is getting tougher though. He started out with a limit of a thousand to twelve hundred. Now he is fighting fifteen hundred to two thousand. That’s a huge increase.” Sarah pointed out.
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t always survive those fights. Two more seconds and I would have died in Mumbai if not for Rosalyn. I hope my fighting days are done for a while.” I took a drink of beer thinking how nice it would be to relax for a month or so.
“I was taught that vampires would fight for no reason at all even if they knew they were going to die. Now I hear you saying you don’t want to fight.” Alicia said.
“Almost every vampire is like that. Even some of the good ones. I never understood why. That’s one of those things that has been bothering me for a long, long time.” Rosalyn sounded frustrated about it.
“It’s a good thing I don’t want to fight in the first place. No one will let me within a mile of a fight. Y’all act like I am as fragile as a piece of glass.” Alicia complained.
“Sweetie, you shouldn’t be within a hundred miles of a fight. I’ve known you for two months and I love you like a little sister. I know it must be even more so for the pack members.” I told her.
“Thanks for the sentiment but I get tired of being treated like I am that weak. I am still a werewolf.” Alicia argued.
“Speaking as the one who has known her longest, we all agree with you Austin. Alicia, it has nothing to do with whether you are weak or not. Anyone who has known you can’t help but care about you. It would break everyone’s heart if something happened to you.” Jimmy tried to explain.
“I still remember Carl warning me about what would happen if I hurt you.” Josh smiled sadly. “I wish he was still with us.”
“To Carl.” Jimmy said holding his beer up in salute.
“To Carl.” We all said in unison. I never met him but this wasn’t the first time his name was said. From what was said, he must have been a very good man. I sincerely wish I could have met him.
“You said he died during the whole demon father episode, if I’m remembering right. That’s too bad, he sounds like someone I would have liked.” I really meant it and I think they could tell how sincere I was.
“It is so strange how well you fit in with us. I have fought vampires since I was turned. I never would have thought I could consider two vampires among my closest friends.” Jimmy stated what several of us were thinking.
“I’ve lived more years than all of you put together. I have seen some extraordinary things during that time. This bonding between werewolves and vampires is among the strangest experiences that I’ve had.” Rosalyn took a drink and continued, “My maker warned me on one of my first nights to always run from a werewolf until I was old enough to fight. Every vampire I ever knew hated you guys with a passion. You were the ones most likely to end their fun. Shifters, ghouls, and witches don’t pose much of a threat to our kind. The wolves were always the biggest fear to them.”
“What are shifters?” Sarah asked.
“They are mostly harmless as far as werewolves or vampires are concerned. They can change into the form of any mammal. They only carry the strength and speed of the mammal whose form they take. They are the reason for the whole Dracula turning into a bat thing. If I’m not mistaken, the bat is the only mammal that can fly. When a shifter is in real danger he changes into a bat and flies away. Don’t get me wrong though, even in your wolf form a lion or tiger would be a good fight for a younger werewolf. An elephant or rhino wouldn’t be all that easy either.” Rosalyn had us all captivated.
“How come we never heard of shifters then? Seth should have told us.” Alicia was saying what the others were thinking, if I had to judge by their expressions.
“They are extremely hard to find. They smell like a normal human, almost. There is a very subtle undertone to their scent. If you’ve never known a shifter, you would not be able to recognize the accent to their smell. You would ignore them as being completely human. I’m sure Seth didn’t say anything because shifters are usually good and don’t pose a real threat anyway.” We were all amazed by Rosalyn’s words.
Sarah and Crystal went to get us all another beer. I wanted to laugh when I thought of how much beer this group drank. It was definitely our beverage of choice. Since I could no longer eat food, drinking seemed to dull that lost pleasure somewhat. It was still hard for me to watch the wolves scarf down whoppers and fries or devour a pizza for a snack. Vampires couldn’t eat real food and werewolves ate at least three times the normal amount. It wasn’t fair. There were times I would kill for a plate of spaghetti with some garlic bread.
“Are there an
y other creatures we don’t know about? Bigfoot? Leprechauns? The jolly green giant?” Jimmy asked.
“I don’t know about bigfoot. There are no such things as leprechauns. I did see a golem once.” Rosalyn said with a shiver.
“What is a golem?” Crystal asked.
“They are animations made out of clay. It’s a Jewish thing. They are indestructible. They are too slow to catch one of us, but they will keep coming until their purpose is fulfilled or the spell breaks.” Rosalyn was talking more than I ever saw. She kept our attention with these tales of creatures even stranger than us.
“I’ve heard that witches were real but I don’t know much about them. Have you spent any time around them?” Josh asked.
“Yes. They can be scary but it is rare for a witch to come after a creature. I know some powerful witches have taken control of an alpha so they could control a whole pack. That makes for a formidable group of lackeys.” Rosalyn took a drink.
“Do they mix potions, cast spells, or is the magic controlled by their mind, like telekinesis?” Sarah asked.
“It can be any of the three. Anyone with the knowledge can mix a potion that can do things like make someone fall in love or to put a curse on someone. It takes a little inner power for someone to cast a spell. A normal person could say the words all they want. A witch with some power can say those words and do some amazing things. Those are the ones who can control others. The witches who no longer need words, the ones who control with their mind, are the most dangerous. They can put up a shield that even Josh couldn’t get through. They can lift you in the air which nullifies all your speed and strength. Their only weakness is how badly a spell drains them. They can only hold that shield for a minute or two. They can only keep you off the ground for a minute or two. They drain fast which is why they don’t usually attack either of our species. They generally stick to messing with the humans.” Rosalyn was educating us well.
Everyone was thinking of what Rosalyn just told us when I happened to see Josh staring at something and making a weird motion with his head. I became curious and watched him more carefully. He looked like he was having a conversation with someone who I couldn’t see. Then I knew!
