He was on the verge of falling into a deep sleep when he felt a chill and the hair on his neck stand up. He opened his eyes to see Benny sitting across from him with a gun pointed at his head. All of a sudden, time seemed to slow down. In-stinctively, he jumped from his seat and he hit the floor seconds before he heard the bang of the pistol like a sudden rolling thunder breaking the calm silence of a cool summer night. Looking back he saw a man with a monstrous face fall to his knees, smoke rising from a hole in his forehead.
“BENNY!” he shouted, pulling his own gun from the waistband of his jeans. He put two bullets into the chest of another vampire who crept in from the hallway that led to the staircase.
Benny was on his feet and moving around the table quickly toward the dark living room where the first vampire came from. He groped blindly along the inside wall until his hand fell on the light switch. He flicked it on and discovered the living room was hiding seven more vampires, none of them looking very happy.
Jack let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a moan. He waved to the vampires nervously and said to his brother; “Christ on a cracker, Benny, how long have these things been here?”
Benny didn’t answer, he only stared at the vampires with an expression of rage that Jack thought looked complete-ly foreign on his brothers face.
Autumn decided to crawl under the table and stay out of the way and a second later Benny and Jack began firing repeatedly into the living room. For a moment she couldn’t turn away from the ensuing carnage. She had never seen this kind of violence before and never thought her Benny would be a part of it. Her attention was suddenly caught by three vampires coming out of the hall and moving swiftly toward her husband and brother-in law.
“LOOK OUT!” she screamed, but they couldn’t hear her over the gun fire and the earsplitting shrieks coming from the dying creatures. The three newcomers were nearly on them.
Suddenly the back door crashed open and an Uzi spoke out in three quick burst. Benny and Jack hit the floor at the sound of the weapon. The remaining vampires fell dead.
“Frank,” Autumn said happily as she came out from beneath the table, “your okay.”
Benny and Jack picked themselves off the floor and saw the Old Man standing in the doorway like a weathered warrior. Guns and silver shrapnel grenades seemed to hang from every article of clothing.
“Come on,” Frank said calmly, “we’re leaving, now.”
As they were walking out of the house, Jack patted his father on the back, “Way to go, Dad, I knew you were a bad ass.”
“Yeah, thanks Dad,” Benny added with a smile.
“Frank, can we take your car?” Autumn asked.
The Old Man stopped, “All I have is my pickup truck, and we won’t all fit.”
“Are you serious?” Jack said, exasperated “I never realized all three of us have pickups. If anybody looked at this family from the outside they’d think we were a bunch of goddamned hillbillies.”
“We’ll just have to stick with the hearse,” Benny stated.
They all piled into the old death cab (Benny and Au-tumn climbing into the back) and hit the road. Frank took over the driving chores and as he pulled out of the driveway, he noticed Jack was shaking badly and Benny was even more pale than usual, although before now, Frank wouldn’t have thought that possible.
“Are you guys okay?” he asked.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever killed…anything,” Jack said in a daze. “I’ve never even shot a gun before today.”
“Well I tried to get you to come target shooting with Benny and me when you were younger,” Frank stated, “but, you always had other things to do. You know, smoking weed isn’t the only recreational thing to do in life.”
“Somehow, I don’t think shooting at paper targets would have prepared me for slaying vampires. However, I am glad you brought up weed, I could definitely use some right about now,” with that Jack pulled a cigarette case from the inside pocket of his jacket. He opened it revealing six neatly rolled joints. Pulling one out, he looked at his father with a smile, “See, you’re not the only one who’s always prepared.”
Frank gave him a comical smirk, and then looked through the sliding window at Benny and Autumn, “How about you two, are you doing alright?”
“I’m fine,” Benny said quietly.
“Me too,” Autumn added, laying her head down on Benny’s chest.
Frank turned his attention back to the road, “Where are we heading, Autumn?”
“North, toward Gary, when we get closer I’ll be able to give you an exact location.”
Jack took a deep drag off of his joint, “So, Dad, what happened at your office?” he asked through inhaled lungs.
Frank gave them all a surprised look and then re-membered Autumn would have been able to tell Odin was there. He glanced back at the road, then turned to Jack and said; “Let me have that thing.”
For a moment Jack wasn’t sure what the Old Man was talking about, but then realized he wanted the joint. After much hesitation he handed the loopy stick (as Autumn some-times called them) to his father.
To everyone’s surprise, Frank stuck the joint between his lips and took a large hit. He held it in his lungs a moment, exhaled, and began to recount his night at the office without explaining his sudden urge for weed. “In the seven years I worked with these people, I’ve mostly dealt with a man named Odin Sway. Tonight, he showed up at my office with four other vampires, intent on killing me. I was able to eliminate the four goons, however, Odin is a different matter altogether.
“I’m sure you all have noticed, vampires are quicker than regular people, but still within the boundaries of physics,” The others nodded their agreement, “Odin is much faster. I had a hard time even getting a bead on him and when I finally did, I missed. He can dodge bullets for Christ sake. I had him point blank, dead to rights, and he still managed to twist his body out of the way, while he was in mid air. I pulled a second pistol and started firing where I thought he might land next. Eventually he gave up and flew out the window.”
“He can fly?” Benny said, clearly amazed by Frank’s story.
“Yes, but I’m pretty sure all of them can. The thing that worries me most is; he always mentioned he had supe-riors. I’d hate to see the kind of power they have.”
“What does he look like?” Autumn requested.
“Tall, pale, handsome, long blondish white hair, walks with a cane. Sound familiar?”
“He’s the one that killed me,” she replied in a horse voice. She could feel Benny tense up behind her.
“That’s right,” Frank continued, “he admitted it to me before we fought.”
“Then the other five must be his superiors.” Benny added.
“That would be my guess,” Frank said, “These guys are going to be tough to kill while their awake. I think our best plan would be to get in their home while they sleep during the day and stake them in the heart.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Benny said.
“Well, if we time it right, we should get to Gary by about sun up. We should have plenty of time to stop for a bite. Is anybody else hungry?”
Without waiting for an answer, Frank pulled into a Taco King drive through. He ordered a family pack (four tacos and three burritos), two burritos without meat for Benny, and three diet drinks. Jack tried to hand a taco to Autumn.
“No thanks,” she said, waving it away, “I don’t need to eat anymore.”
“You don’t?” Benny asked biting into a burrito.
“No, all my beeps and whistles have stopped work-ing,” she replied pointing to her stomach, “that’s what happens when you die.”
As Frank pulled the car back on the road, Benny reached out and shut the sliding window, so he could talk to his wife in private. He only stared at her for a long moment, as he tried to find the right way to ask his question.
“What is it?” Autumn inquired with some concern.
“What did it feel li
ke? Dying, I mean.”
She looked down at her feet and thought back to the night she was slain by the mysterious vampire, Odin Sway. “When I realized there was no way for me to escape from our room, I was terrified. But when I looked into his eyes, those beautiful, dead eyes, all of my fear seemed to drop away. I was calm, relaxed, I looked at his handsome, emotionless face and felt completely at ease. Then he cut my throat and everything went black,” she looked up at Benny as if she had just come out of a trance, “The next thing I remember is being in the coffin, it was almost as if I had just woke up from a deep sleep.”
“Were you scared?”
“No, I knew I was already dead and in no danger of suffocating. I tore through the coffin and dug my way out of the grave, which is where that super human strength comes into play I guess.”
“Do you still have this strength?”
“I don’t think so. As a matter of fact, I’m beginning to feel weaker with each passing hour.”
“Are you sure we have as long as a week?”
“No, I’m not sure.”
Benny let out a defeated sigh.
“Now let me ask you a question,” Autumn said.
“Okay.”
“Will you be able to make love to me again, knowing it would be with a dead woman?”
Benny looked away from her, “I, um-”
They were suddenly interrupted by rapid knocking on the sliding window. Benny pulled the window aside.
“You two need to be in on this,” Frank said.
6. A Brief History
Jack was holding up his cell phone and Benny could see it was on speaker.
“We have James on the phone,” Jack stated, “he’s about to fill us in on everything we need to know about vam-pires.”
James’ distorted voice came over the phone, “I have a pretty big file here, are you guys sure you got time to hear it?”
“We have a long drive ahead of us,” Frank replied, “so go on and get started.”
“Where should I begin?”
“Give us some history; separate the legends from the reality.”
“Well, that’s a hard thing to do, really, because most of the old stories are believed to be true by most vampire ex-perts. There are many stories dating as far back as ancient times that contribute to the vampire history.
“There is a Hebrew legend that tells of a woman named Lilith, who would lure men into her lair, seduce them, and then feast on their blood. The Romans believed in similar beings known as the Lamia. The Arabs and ancient Irish spoke of blood eating spirits and demons.
“Stories are told within the vampire enthusiast circles of a woman claiming to be Lilith, the queen of vampires as she put it, terrorizing rural areas of West Virginia as recently as 1989. I know a couple of vampire hunters who claim they tracked her down and killed her, but there is no real evidence of her death.”
“Do you have reason not to believe these hunters?” Frank asked, as he pulled on to I-465, which would take them half way around Indianapolis to I-65.
“Well, in the five years I’ve known them, they ha-ven’t killed anything. My guess is that this woman was an ordinary vampire with delusions of grandeur. Most of the evi-dence I’ve seen points to Lilith dying sometime in the early 15th century.
“Now the more traditional vampires first appeared in the 16th century when vampire activity increased rapidly in Europe from the Balkans as far as Greece.
“When Bram Stoker wrote his novel, Dracula, it’s well known that he did a lot of research on vampires and Vlad the Impaler. Some believe that he interviewed vampire hunters and possibly even a vampire or two that knew Prince Vlad who went by the name Dracula at times.
“Vlad Tepes was born in 1431 and was the prince of Walachia (one of three Romanian provinces) at three different times, although his longest rule was from 1456 to 1462. It was then that most of the bad things happened.”
“What sort of bad things?” Jack asked.
“Old Vlad was one sick and twisted individual. He loved to impale people, no matter what the reason. Almost anyone who broke the law would end up on a pike, and Vlad loved to do it. He would even go out and eat breakfast among all his victims as they squirmed and groaned to their agonizing deaths.
“There are a lot of stories surrounding Vlad, but the most popular one is ‘The Night of Terror’. See, the Sultan of Turkey, having heard the stories coming out of Romania, de-cided to invade the country and remove Prince Vlad from power. The Turks had set up a camp near Tirgoviste, which was the Walachian capitol at the time. In a bold move Vlad led his army on a nighttime sneak attack against the camp, in the hopes of assassinating the Sultan. The attack caught the Turks off guard, but they managed to regroup and defend the camp. Hundreds of men were killed on both sides before Vlad realized he wasn’t going to get to the sultan and called a retreat.
“With Vlad’s army gone the road to Tirgoviste lay open to the Turks and the army began marching with the ulti-mate goal of reaching Vlad’s castle and terminating his rule. When the Turks reached Tirgoviste, however, they found it completely deserted. There were no people, no cattle, no food or drink, the Walachian capitol was burned to the ground and many Turkish soldiers found out the hard way that the wells had been poisoned.
“The Turks continued to the next town, only to find the same horrific site. Town after town it continued until final-ly they began to draw near Vlad’s castle. With the soldiers dehydrated and starving now, the sultan brought his army to a halt at a gorge near the castle and found the most sickening site yet. There in the gorge were….”
The phone line suddenly went silent. Frank and Jack looked at each other with concern.
“James,” Frank said, “is everything alright?”
At that moment a strange, deep, voice came on the line; “The subscriber you have dialed is currently out of ser-vice, or has left the service area.”
“Fucking cell phones!” Jack exclaimed with relief. He accessed the phone book and dialed James’ number. The phone rang once and then went to James’ voice mail. “Damn it, he must be trying to call us back; I’ll just wait for him.”
After a few minutes, Jack’s phone rang and he pushed the speaker button.
“Sorry about that,” James said, “fucking cell phones, right?”
The Writemans all looked at each other and grinned. Frank spoke up; “Anyway, you were saying the Turks came upon a gorge with a horrific sight.”
“Right,” James restarted, “what they found was near-ly twenty thousand impaled bodies. The rotting remains of men, women, and children from all of the villages the Turkish army had just passed through.”
“Jesus Christ,” Jack breathed in amazement.
“On a much higher pike were the bodies of two as-sassins sent by the Turks to kill Vlad before the hostilities began. The Sultan knew he could not defeat a man who could be capable of such insanity, so he and his army retreated.”
“So, was Vlad a Vampire?” Benny asked.
“No one really knows for sure,” James answered.
“What happened to him?”
“According to most accounts he was mistakenly killed in battle by his own soldiers. The Turks took credit for the kill and cut his head from the body. His head was sent to Constantinople, where it remained on display as proof that the Impaler was really dead. His body was laid to rest in the isolated island monastery of Snagov.
“In 1931, a genealogist and an archaeologist were assigned by Romania to dig around the island and study the historical monuments. When Vlad’s grave was dug up his body was gone, casket and all. There’s no telling how long it was missing or who would have taken it. The body is still missing to this day.”
“Creepy,” Jack said quietly.
“What about killing them?” Frank interjected, “Tell the boys the most effective ways to take the vampires out.”
“Silver bullets, decapitation, and a stake through the heart are all very effective, the stake being the surest and most s
atisfying way to dispose of them. The crucifix and holy water are good defenses against them; however holy water is only effective as a weapon in large amounts.
“In Romania, they have a ritual that’s still practiced to this day. When a vampire is captured, he is stripped naked; his cloths are placed in a coffin and buried in an unmarked grave. The vampire is then taken away deep into the forest where the heart is cut out of the chest and the body is torn limb from limb and burned in a great fire. Lastly, the heart is thrown into the flames. Those who have taken part in the ritual come near the fire so as to be fumigated by the smoke. All should be burned; flesh and bone, or else the smallest scrap could be enough for the vampire to materialize. Occasionally, the ashes are collected and mixed with water to create a powerful potion for the sick.”
“What about garlic?” Jack asked.
“Bullshit,” James responded, “complete and utter bullshit. You throw some garlic up in front of a vampire and he’ll grind it into powder and sprinkle it on your neck just before he sinks his teeth in.”
“Thanks, James, I think that will do for now,” Frank said.
“Not a problem, you guys just stick with those silver bullets and you’ll be just fine. I’m here anytime you need me, just give me a ring.”
“Alright, talk to you later.”
Jack ended the call and looked at his father.
Noticing the expression on his face, Frank said; “Don’t look so nervous, we’re going to be just fine. It will be daylight soon and we’ll go in, take care of these guys while they’re sleeping, and that will be the end of it.”
Jack still looked doubtful. Frank glanced over his shoulder and saw Benny was asleep with Autumn still laying against his chest, twirling her hair, an expression of deep con-centration on her face.
“Aren’t you tired, Autumn?” Frank asked.
“I don’t think I need sleep anymore,” she answered in a distant tone.
Avenging Autumn: Seasons Change Book 1 of 4 Page 5
