“OoohhhMMMMAAAAAAHHHH-oooohhhhMMMMAAAAAAHHHH”
“Let the sacrifice of the Dark Lords begin,” Nicoli said in a long, slow monotone that sounded at least an octave lower than the average man’s voice.
“OoohhhMMMMAAAAAAHHHH-oooohhhhMMMMAAAAAAHHHH.” Their voices passionate, shaking with emotion.
“We offer this sacrifice to our god, Lucius, in the name of our father,” Constantino sang as he raised the dagger above his head and held it out…over the girl’s heart. “And this gift is only the beginning of our gratitude.”
Constantino paused, lowering the blade, holding it with both hands as he turned the razor-sharp edge downward and ran it across his palm. Bright red blood spattered onto their struggling, blindfolded sacrifice. The brothers watched as the crimson liquid dripped onto her exposed torso, formed little red beads across her body, and then ran down onto the table.
Constantino passed the ancient, glimmering blade to his brothers, each in turn repeating the act.
They removed the girl’s gag.
She gasped for a full breath of air, then screamed for her life. As she screamed, Nicoli clamped his hands on her jaw and forced her mouth to stay open, while, one-by-one, the brothers held their dripping wounds above her and watched their life force slither down her throat as the girl gagged and choked. Once they were convinced the blood from each of them had indeed entered her mouth, and was swallowed, they halted the chant. Then each man pulled back his hood, exposing their faces…the sallow skin and excited ghoulish eyes glowing in the candle light.
Then…slowly, methodically, the brothers stretched open their own mouths, revealing sharp, canine-like teeth…and lunged forward, each plunging his fangs into the soft skin of Sarah Little’s neck.
***
“What should we do now?” Rachel asked, her nerves uncomfortably tight as they sped down Ocean Street along the beautiful Santa Cruz coastline. “Maybe we should go to John’s house up in the hills?”
“Frankly, it’s way too risky, love,” Valentine said. “The Stelino family has moles working throughout the police department, which means they have access to phone records. They also have access to all of the FBI’s servers, with the entire database at their disposal. That’s a ton of information and I’m quite sure they have already linked the two of you together which means no cell phones or no credit cards from this point on, and neither of you can go home. Please, trust me on this, my friends. It’s not worth the risk. What we need to do is take some time to study the log book before we go public by contacting the media.”
“You’re probably right,” Rachel agreed.
“Do either of you have a cell phone or credit cards on you now?” Valentine questioned.
“Nope, I left them at home,” Stanic replied, patting down his running clothes as if there were pockets.
Rachel pulled her cell from her pocket. She thought about making an argument for keeping it, but instead, rolled down her window and then tossed it out, cringing at the sound as it bounced against the pavement.
“Well done, love,” Valentine complimented.
“Well, at least we don’t have a cash flow problem,” Stanic pointed out with his two friends nodding in agreement.
“I think we do need a different car, though,” Rachel said.
“Excellent idea,” Valentine said. “Let’s ditch this vehicle straight away.”
“The only question is how?” Rachel mused. “We’re sorta stuck. We can’t use our cell phones, we can’t go home.” She gave a helpless shrug. “And if we go to a dealership, they will report the sale to the DMV and the first cop that sees us will pull us over.”
“Well, we can always steal a car,” Stanic suggested facetiously, but seeing Valentine’s eyes light up, it was obvious he saw the suggestion differently. And that made him wonder again about Valentine. How much did he and Rachel really know about the man who suddenly seemed to have control over their lives? “But that probably wouldn’t go over very well with your FBI bosses, would it?” Stanic said.
Then he added, “And since we’re talking about the FBI, how did a Brit come to work for the US government, anyway?
***
The Dark Lords stood over the girl’s limp body, blood still dripping from their mouths. They knew very well each time they successfully performed the ritual the gods offered a unique gift of power to each participant. They stayed in place, eyes darting back and forth between them as they awaited their transformation. Anticipation hung in the air like black smoke, each eager to behold a new dark power.
Constantino’s lips curled into a grimace, the ecstasy of a well satisfied hunger showing in his bloodshot eyes. He felt a new power welling inside and his body quivered with pleasure as the energy began to increase in strength.
Psychic visions swirled in Constantino’s mind, manifesting as a kaleidoscopic pattern, shifting and rotating with bright colors. He focused his thoughts with anger and revenge in his mind. The visions were distorted and broken due to the daylight hours, but he was able to feel the presence of Thomas Valentine returning to his apartment. Then he caught a glimpse of the girl called Rachel, and her location as well. With both eyes closed, Constantino smiled wider as he understood the immense power of the new gift he had just received. He had been granted the power to see into the future.
He took a deep breath and let out a slow sigh of relief. The ritual had again been a success.
Nicoli swung his arm back and forth, flexing his muscles. Then the threads on his shirt stretched taut as his muscles began to bulge underneath, threatening to tear the thin silk. His neck swelled with new muscle mass as buttons popped off and bounced across the floor.
Nicoli looked to Constantino with a demented grin. “I can feel the surge of power flowing through my entire body,” he growled in a low raspy voice as he cracked his neck from side to side, then flexed his muscles once again. “I can lift a car if I wish, tear a tree out of the ground!” he shouted in full throat, throwing his arms toward the ceiling. Nicoli shifted his gaze toward Dominic. “My gift from our God is raw strength.”
Dominic watched and waited, preparing to showcase the extraordinary abilities he had received from the ritual. His eyes began to glow red, then a flash of bright light illuminated the dark chamber as his body vanished…replaced by a massive Rottweiler. The huge animal let out a low growl as it stared back at the other men with familiar eyes. Then another flash and his shape shifted again…the form of the dog transformed into the shape of an enormous bat flapping in place, each of its great leathery wings pounding against the other as it hovered in the air. Then, with a third flash, the bat changed back into a human form. Dominic, obviously pleased with his new gift, turned to Constantino with a slow nod, denoting a successful ritual.
Constantino spoke. “Valentine will inevitably return to his home. This much I know with all certainty. Nicoli, you will go to his apartment at once. Bring Renzo along with you. Valentine may be armed, so take no chances. When he does return to his home…terminate him on sight.”
Constantino brought both hands to his temples, attempting to channel more visions of future events. “The doctor…will return to her place of employment today,” Constantino growled with both eyes still closed. “This much will surely come to pass.” His muscles were suddenly weakened by the heavy strain of pushing his powers to their limit during the daylight hours and he fell to one knee, overwhelmed with exhaustion as his strength drained away. He looked up through narrowed eyes. “Dominic,” he snapped. “Go to the medical office and wait for the woman. Bring her here to me.” With eyes flashing toward his brother, he said, “I would like to watch her die.”
Having received his orders, Nicoli’s body disappeared in a flash of light, replaced again by a black bat. The animal let out a shrill cry and flapped away through a high open window.
Dominic clenched his fist with rage, his eyes gle
aming orange in the candlelight. He had received his orders from Constantino, and now, with an uncontrollable lust for blood, he leapt toward the castle door and was gone.
CHAPTER TEN
John Stanic parked the smashed up Cadillac on a side street, not far from a local Kinko’s print shop, and their motley crew walked into the building. He bought a “pay as you surf” card from the kiosk in the front lobby, found the nearest computer, and logged on. He found a local listing for a 2012 Ford SUV, then went outside to a pay phone and called the seller. Within the hour they’d made a cash purchase and drove off in their new SUV.
“Well, bloody ‘ell! That did the trick, then,” Valentine chortled as they got settled into their new vehicle—with Rachel behind the wheel this time. She stomped on the accelerator and the SUV lurched forward, speeding south onto Highway 1 in search of a safe place to hide out for a few hours and figure out what do next.
***
A tall man dressed in a black suit stood in the shadows behind a tree on the far side of the parking lot. He observed the three people exiting the print shop, lifted his high-tech Nikon, with telephoto lens already in place, then zoomed in as close as possible, the camera clicking and spinning in multi-shot mode. Confident he had the needed photos, he retrieved a small notepad from his pocket and quickly wrote down the car’s make, model and license plate number.
***
Constantino sat at his kitchen table, yearning for the night to come. In front of him lay a large plate of raw chicken livers. He picked up one of the bloody livers and examined it, savoring the moment. He placed it in his mouth, tasting the sanguine texture as he chewed through the sinew, too entranced to notice the chicken blood dripping down his lips.
After finishing his meal, he wiped the blood from his hands using the table cloth, then walked to the window, massaging his aching temples with both hands as he waited for the darkness to come. He desperately needed his psychic powers to increase to their full strength. He gazed at his pocket watch. Four twenty-five in the afternoon and he’d not heard from his brothers since he sent them into town to dispose of the vermin who’d murdered their father. It had been hours. He had prophesied exactly where the infidels would be, but the visions were weak and shrouded by the power of daylight. It wouldn’t be long now before he had the clarity to see the future events of his choosing, but the waiting was agonizing.
Constantino always felt more alive right after performing the ancient ritual. His body was stronger and rejuvenated, his mind sharper and clearer, and he reveled in the thought of his renewed powers. But this time was different. He now possessed one of the most coveted dark gifts anyone could receive.
The gift of clairvoyance.
This ability to see future events would allow him to control the city with brutal and ruthless precision…but only after nightfall.
He craved the darkness, beseeched it to come as he paced in front of the window. Even though he had limited access to this new power in the daylight hour, he was determined to keep trying. He rubbed his temples, trying once again to focus his thoughts.
Eventually, powerful visions manifested in his mind. He smiled. He was now channeling his gift… another glimpse of the future involving the woman from the hospital. He saw her standing alone at a popular highway rest stop taking a drink of water from a fountain. Constantino smiled wider as he picked up the telephone receiver on his desk and called the private number for Officer Duprey.
Duprey answered on the first ring. “Yes, master?”
“There has been a new development. Go now to the rest stop on Highway 1 near 17th Avenue. You will find the doctor there. I want you to bring her to me at once.”
***
Thomas Valentine had the logbook open in the back seat and was pouring over it. Rachel alternated glances from the road to the rearview mirror to look at Valentine. She could tell by his expression and body language that something wasn’t right.
“What is it, Valentine? Is something wrong?”
“It’s written in code. It’s completely encrypted!” Valentine slammed the book shut, then made a noise in his throat that sounded like a strained growl. After a moment, and in a calmer voice, he said, “I’ve studied cryptology and code-breaking at the academy, but this data is unreadable. They did a peach of a job of encoding it. There are only numbers, and it’s utterly useless without some sort of key code.”
The words hit Rachel like a jolt of electricity. No evidence meant no arrests. And no arrests meant their lives continued to be under threat…targets of the next mafia hit. Her stomach churned. All she wanted was to go home, go back to work…go back to seeing John… She missed that. Missed it more than she’d realized. And now…thanks to Valentine sucking them into this mess, they may never have that chance again. “So you’re saying we have no evidence?”
“Righto, love.”
Righto Love? His Brit flair for understatement grated on her nerves. There was a time and place for that and this was not one of them. Their lives were at risk. Rachel tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Hell, how much did they even know about the guy? He’d never mentioned a thing about himself, only that he was an agent. How did they know he was telling the truth? There’d been no time for chit-chat about personal lives…and there wasn’t now. “Well, that’s just perfect. Now what do we do, Mr. FBI expert?”
“Is there a way to get the key code?” Stanic asked. “Do you at least know where it is? Can you call for backup? Should we consider leaving the country?”
John’s voice was calm and his logical questions brought Rachel’s anxiety down to a manageable level. It wasn’t Valentine’s fault he spoke the way he did, she reasoned, and she’d been around him enough now to know he was a decent man…whether he showed it or not. She glanced at Valentine again.
“Actually,” Valentine said. “Now that I think of it, I have seen another similar leather-bound logbook. I’ve watched them exchange logbooks from time to time.” His forehead furrowed. “It’s very possible one of Vincenzo’s sons possesses the counterpart to this logbook. And…if that’s the case, then we need both books to decode this information.” His frown eased a little, and then he smiled as if he’d had some new revelation. “Well, then. It’s simple. We must get the key codes and decipher the book.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes as she glanced to the backseat again. “Simple? Oh, wait…I think I see. We just waltz in and ask a murdering mafia family for the key to decode a book that will put their entire family on death row.”
She laughed, but didn’t bother to disguise the sarcasm in her tone. “Oh, yeah. Piece of cake.”
***
Valentine took a deep breath, reflecting on the information he knew about Vincenzo’s three sons. The top-secret intel he held about the Stelino brothers was classified, not to be shared with anyone outside the FBI. And even inside the FBI, not without having a security clearance.
On the other hand, he had dragged two innocent civilians into this God awful mess. Conflicted, he hesitated as he considered the situation, then made a decision, “Okay, I should have told you about this sooner but I really couldn’t, plus, you would have never believed it.” He’d even found it hard to believe…until he’d gone undercover and seen some of their victims. “But now that the FBI has been compromised, I might as well try to explain.” He squared his shoulders.
“They…the brothers—” He took a quick breath. “—are vampires.”
A deafening silence flooded the SUV. No one made a sound, each of them apparently contemplating what he’d just said. He had to admit, it did sound like he might be a bit delusional.
But…he’d gone this far, might as well go all in. “People have been going missing from town…girls. The bodies we’ve recovered had puncture marks on their necks, all of the blood d
rained from the victims. The FBI has been trying to figure out how and why for the last two years, and everything leads back to the Stelino family. We can’t prove anything, so we were trying to lock them up for something like racketeering to at least get’em off the street. That’s why it was so important for me to go undercover and infiltrate the family…and why we must get key codes.”
Seeing their skeptical expressions, Valentine knew his new friends, understandably, did not believe him, but he had to press on in hopes some piece of information might convince them this was not a crazy man’s fantasy, but a reality going on right under their noses.
“I know it’s hard to swallow, but it’s true. Vincenzo Stelino’s three sons are actually…modern-day vampires.”
***
Rachel threw her hands into the air. “Ridiculous. Totally ridiculous,” she said, but seeing the serious expression on Valentine’s face, she knew that however crazy it was, the man seemed to believe it. But the FBI?
Stanic shook his head from side to side. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“And what the hell do you mean by vampires, anyway?” Rachel said. “Are these men in some sort of dark cult? Maybe they’ve been exhibiting violent, psychotic or bizarre behavior?” Her voice cut through the still air and no one spoke for a long moment.
“You don’t really think something as preposterous as this could actually be true, do you?” Rachel finally said, looking over her shoulder. “You didn’t really think we were going to believe this little fairytale, did you? Are you insane?”
“No…and no. As I said before, I do not expect you to believe me, but in time, I think you will,” he replied, inspecting the clip of the Glock in his hand.
Rachel saw a freeway sign indicating an approaching rest stop and turned off the highway, having more questions than answers at this point. She considered the possibility that Valentine was simply crazy, or whether there could really be some kind of a paranormal occurrence happening. As a doctor, she knew there were people out there who were crazy enough to believe this type of phenomenon. She had heard of a few rare cases where people were convinced they were vampires and had actually killed before.
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