Love In Death

by Elizabeth Stokes

  “I’m worried,” Allison said softly.

  Xander pulled her close and kissed her. “I know,” he said. “I am too.”

  She wished she could say more, and she wished he would say more. But there was nothing to say without giving false hope. Instead, Xander held her tightly, then kissed her gently on the neck. He reached up to her head and twisted the towel covering her hair. In a quick, fluid motion, the towel came undone and her damp hair unfurled. Xander sniffed the towel and smiled. Then, without another word, he turned and headed into the bathroom with it.

  As Allison heard the water start running, she took off her robe and began to get dressed. She knew that Xander didn’t need a shower the way most people do. He didn’t sweat, and he didn’t have the same skin secretions that a living person does. However, that didn’t stop him from feeling the grit of the day. Even if you aren’t a normal living person, a shower can help revitalize you a lot.

  Allison quickly got dressed and let her hair air dry. While Xander was still in the bathroom, she walked over to her desk and opened a drawer. Inside, she found a small box, which she dumped onto the desk. Twenty light-wood pencils rolled onto the blotter. Allison picked up one and looked at its base. Just above the eraser were black letters: GBPI. It stood for “Georgia Bennett, Private Investigator.” Georgia had given her a box of these when she started working for her. They were pretty lame swag, Georgia readily admitted, and they seemed to be a not-very-secretive way of advertising yourself. She had bought them when she had started her business and had dozens of boxes still lying around. Even though they outlasted their initial usefulness, George handed them out to repeat customers.

  However, in the age of computers, tablets, smart phones, and the Internet, Allison rarely found the use for them. Still, her habits from college, where she learned to always have something to write with, had paid off recently. Had she not had some pencils with her in that parking garage, she would be as dead as the man on Euclid Beach.

  Forget her service weapon. These were very effective weapons where she was going.

  Allison opened another drawer of the desk and pulled out an automatic pencil sharpener and started to sharpen each one of the GBPI pencils to a thin point.

  CHAPTER 26

  They were in the air again, heading to the warehouse in the Flats for the second time in 24 hours. Like before, Xander flew like he had a purpose. The flight was more directed and faster. Allison knew part of this was because he felt more determined, but she also knew he was becoming better at flying with a passenger. That, and he was more secure, knowing that Allison would hold on tightly and he didn’t have to worry about losing her.

  It took them only minutes to reach the warehouse. Even though they saw no activity on the outside, Xander landed more than a block away. Sure, the strategy was to go right at them, but they weren’t stupid enough to walk through the front door without a least a little reconnaissance.

  Together, Xander and Allison crept slowly along the street. They got to the corner and saw the warehouse towering over them across the street. A soft amber glow came from the windows, a sign that someone might be in there.

  “Okay,” Xander said. “I need you to go to the windows at street level and see if you can see inside.” He pulled out his phone and held it in front of her. He dialed her number, and Allison’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and answered it. “Tell me what you see. I’m going to the roof,” he said.

  Allison nodded. She pulled out a Bluetooth headset and stuck it in her ear. She then slipped her phone back into her pocket, still connected. Xander stepped out into the street and lifted off. She could hear the rush of wind come through the Bluetooth as he flew away. Allison stepped back into the deserted street, almost crossing it to the bank of the Cuyahoga River. She watched as Xander lighted atop the roof’s edge. He did so lightly and carefully, barely making a noise. Then he started slowly creeping to the skylight for the warehouse.

  Allison walked silently across the street. She pulled out her service weapon, even though she knew it would be of little help. It’s just that the idea of her sneaking up to the door of a warehouse armed with a sharpened pencil just seemed so ridiculous to her right now. She needed a little more confidence, even if it was misplaced.

  “Okay,” she said just loud enough for her Bluetooth microphone to hear. “I’m coming up to the side. There’s a small window near the front door that looks clean enough that I might be able to see inside.”

  Allison stepped up to the warehouse and put her ear against the wall. She heard nothing. Not even the sounds of machinery or footsteps.

  “There doesn’t seem to be any activity inside that I can hear,” she said softly.

  “I can’t hear anything either,” she heard Xander’s voice come quietly over her Bluetooth.

  Allison looked up to the window, which was several inches above her head. However, a few feet away was a parking block. She stepped up on it and was just tall enough to look into the bottom of the pane.

  “I’m looking inside now,” Allison said.

  She peered through the dirty window to see a primarily empty warehouse. It wasn’t very different from when she had been there before, only there was no chain and pulley structure, and no cheesecloth strainer to bleed victims dry.

  At first, it appeared completely empty. Even though the light was visible from the outside, Allison could only see one construction lamp set up in the corner. The warehouse was so large that the vast emptiness consumed most of the light. However, it was bright enough to see from outside.

  Far across at the other side of the warehouse, Allison could see a large darkness. She could not tell what was in there, as the light from the construction lamp gave too much contrast. It could be stored product or equipment. However, she felt there was something more there. It was too dark to be empty, and none of the light from the construction lamp seemed to reflect off of it.

  “It appears empty,” Allison said. “I don’t see any noticeable product or people... hold on...”

  Just then, Allison saw a movement to her far left. Though she couldn’t see clearly enough through the warped window to recognize a face, she could easily tell it was a tall, dark figure.

  “There is someone here,” she said. Then, as the figure started walking across the warehouse floor, she noticed four other figures following it, flanking either side.

  These other figures were different. They were dressed in dark clothes as well, but they carried themselves very differently. They hunched over and wriggled from side-to-side as they walked. On one level, Allison thought they looked like Igor from the classic Universal horror movies. On another level, they looked like cockroaches scurrying across the floor.

  “There’s a tall figure,” Allison said into the Bluetooth. “Appears to be the leader. And four other figures following it around. I can’t tell what they are exactly, but their movement reminds me of that thing that attacked me.”

  “Only four?” Xander asked. “That’s it?”

  “I think so,” Allison replied. “I can’t be sure. It’s dark in that warehouse. There could be more.”

  “Copy that,” Xander said. There was a pause, then he said, “I see them too.”

  Allison tried to look up into the warehouse from the window, and she could barely see the skylight through the filthy glass. That had to be where Xander was.

  “Be careful,” Allison said softly. Then she noticed the figures inside changing direction. “Hold on,” she said.

  The tall figure in the center spread his arms out, as if commanding the four hunchback figures surrounding him. Then it pointed towards the dark end of the warehouse. The four figures moved quickly, darting back and forth and then disappearing into the shadows. They were invisible and silent for a few moments. Then what happened next caused Allison to feel panic rise in her throat.

  “Oh Jesus!” she said. “Get out of there! Now!”

  She heard Xander scrambling on the other end of the line, an
d she hoped he was moving fast enough. Because the four darting figures had come out of the shadows, but they were not alone. Dozens of similar creatures followed them, surrounding the tall figure in the center, as if worshipping it.

  “What do you see?” Xander asked.

  “We have to go. Now!” Allison said, watching the army of newborns emerging from the shadows.

  “We might not get another chance like this,” Xander said.

  “There is no chance,” Allison said. “There are dozens of those things in there! Get down from the roof!”

  Suddenly, Allison saw the entire cloud of newborns freeze, then almost simultaneously look upwards. She could hear them hissing through the walls of the warehouse. Something Xander had done up there had made too much of a noise. They heard him!

  “Take off!” Allison said, yelling into her Bluetooth. She didn’t care if they heard her inside the warehouse. “Take off! Take off! Take off! Take off!”

  Allison stumbled backwards into the empty street. She looked up to the top of the warehouse and could see the dark figure of Xander running to the edge of the roof. Suddenly, the skylight exploded from the inside, and six of the newborns erupted from the top of the warehouse. They were quicker than Xander and descended upon him almost immediately. But he was more experienced. Experience can trump youth in the right situation, and that helped Xander.

  Xander took off in flight, leaving most of the newborns on the roof’s ledge grasping at the air for him. Only two of them managed to take hold of him. Xander quickly responded, literally tearing one of their arms off, sending that newborn plummeting to the street below. It landed with a wet fwap! and didn’t move again.

  Then Xander locked in battle in mid-air with the other newborn. They spun around, and Xander used the momentum to fling the creature from his grasp, sending him back into the skylight and crashing into the warehouse.

  “I’m coming for you!” Allison heard Xander say over her Bluetooth, and he shifted his flight path to swoop down towards her.

  “No!” she yelled, starting to back away from the warehouse. “I can take care of myself! Meet back at...”

  “I’m not leaving you!” Xander said, leveling out just above the blacktop and heading directly for Allison.

  She was sure he would make it, and he would scoop her up and fly her to safety.

  However, as Xander passed by the set of windows Allison had been looking into, the warehouse wall burst open, and dozens of newborns came pouring out, tackling Xander and pulling him down from the sky.

  “No!” Allison screamed, pulling out her weapon and firing blindly into the colony of newborns. All the bullets struck home, but it did nothing. There were too many of them, and even the ones she hit were not substantially injured.

  Allison started to approach the mass of dark figures that had engulfed Xander, but when she got close, the ones on the edges saw her and started to advance. Torn between trying to save her lover and save her own skin, Allison backed up. But the newborns kept advancing, and more were still pouring out of the side of the warehouse.

  Allison backed up more and suddenly reached the edge of the sidewalk. Her legs hit the stones on the river’s edge, and she suddenly found herself toppling backwards and tumbling into the cold water of the Cuyahoga River.

  As soon as she could surface, Allison looked up and saw a line of newborns staring over the edge, hissing and moving around impatiently. There was something about the water they did not like. That was the only thing keeping her alive right now.

  Allison grabbed the rocky side of the river’s edge to keep herself in place. She had lost her gun in the fall – likely it was at the bottom of the river right now – as she had her Bluetooth headset. She pulled out her phone, which fortunately had a watertight case on it. She held it up to her ear.

  “Xander!” she yelled into it. She could hear the faint sound of him breathing. He sounded hurt.

  “Xander!” she yelled again. No answer.

  Then, as she looked up, the large group of newborns pulsated and undulated like they were a complete being. A large bulge appeared in the middle of the group, and then Allison saw the pile of newborns split to reveal Xander, held tight by their hands. His face was beaten and bloody, and he looked barely conscious.

  “Oh god...” Allison said.

  Then, next to Xander, the group of newborns split like a dark curtain, and an impossibly familiar figure stepped forward.

  “Hello, mademoiselle,” The Sieve said to her, a smug grin spreading across his face. “I was hoping we’d see each other again.”

  “You...” Allison said, barely keeping her head above water, but feeling her extremities starting to grow numb from the cold already. “But I saw you die.”

  The Sieve’s grin turned into a hideous smile, with large fangs filling his mouth.

  “You did,” The Sieve said. “But here’s the funny thing about vampires, Detective. If you want to kill one of us, you have to make sure to finish the job.”

  Allison couldn’t respond. She could already feel her body start to shake and shiver. The cold months in Cleveland made the Cuyahoga River very dangerous and lethal in minutes. She knew she would not last long.

  Then The Sieve turned to Xander and touched the center of his chest. “Like so,” he said to both of them, and in one fluid moment, the Sieve produced a wooden stake, then slammed it into the center of Xander’s chest.

  Xander screamed in pain, and bright red blood erupted from the wound. He struggled for a few seconds, but then was suddenly silent.

  “No!” Allison screamed. But she could go nowhere. She was trapped in the water.

  The Sieve reached behind himself and produced a small red plastic jug, which Allison immediately recognized. She wanted to scream and to yell and to beg the Sieve to undo what he had done... what he was doing. But she knew nothing she would say would stop it.

  The Sieve opened the gas can and poured it over Xander’s lifeless body. He then turned to Allison and winked. He took two steps backwards and struck a match, then flicked it at Xander.

  Allison watched helpless as Xander’s body was engulfed in flames. The spectacle spread to several newborns next to Xander. That sent them screeching and writhing, exploding into flames themselves. The rest of the newborns scattered like cockroaches when you turn on the light.

  As Xander’s body fell into a flaming pile of ash and dust, black smoke billowing into the cold night air, The Sieve looked down at Allison in the water.

  He grinned and stretched out his hand. Allison recoiled, even in the frigid river. She was in shock, and she felt numb, regardless of the temperature of the water. She supposed had she not been teetering on the brink of hypothermia, she’d be physically ill. This was the second time she had lost Xander, and it hurt even more.

  “Let’s get you out of there,” The Sieve said, lifting his arm. “We can’t have you freezing to death.”

  Allison felt an unseen force lift her out of the water, then she was suspended over the river while the Sieve brushed his arm to the side. He stepped down off the river’s edge, and Allison moved gently through the air to dry ground. She hovered there for a moment, starting to shiver. The Sieve, with his hand still outstretched, beckoned to her. In response, Allison felt herself float quickly to him.

  The Sieve let her down, standing only inches from him.

  “We don’t want you dying on us,” the Sieve said, sniffing her hair and grinning. “Not when you’re so delicious chilled.”

  Allison’s legs felt weak, and she was shaking uncontrollably. She couldn’t feel her legs or her hands, and instinctually, she went to draw her service weapon. But that was lost at the bottom of the riverbed.

  She looked up at The Sieve, and his words echoed in her ears...

  We don’t want you dying on us...

  That was exactly what Allison wanted to do. With Xander gone, she had nothing. He had died on her once, and her life was renewed when he returned to her. But now, he was gone again. A
nd she did not want to live.

  We don’t want you dying on us...

  As she looked into the Sieve’s eyes and contemplated simply letting herself become his dinner, she came to a sudden, horrible realization.

  We don’t want you dying on us...

  Allison knew this wouldn’t happen.

  Not with Xander’s blood in her system.

  She wouldn’t die. No matter how her life would end, if it happened tonight, she would come back. She would become a vampire herself, without Xander. Alone for eternity. Her plan to keep herself safe was the perfect plan, except it never took into account if Xander were actually destroyed.

  The Sieve leaned closer to her. He didn’t care if she would taste bad, marked by Xander. He was going to feed on her anyway. And when he was done, she would die, then return to be alone without Xander ever again.

  Allison also realized that even though her service weapon was at the bottom of the Cuyahoga River, she was not without a means of self defense.

  While the Sieve was distracted, trying to hypnotize her with his gaze, Allison reached inside her coat pocket. Even though her hands had become uncomfortably numb, she could feel the rubbery end of the GBPI eraser.

  Moving as fast as she could to take the Sieve by surprise, she pulled out one of Georgia’s pencils and stabbed the pointed end up under the Sieve’s chin.

  The Sieve’s face elongated into a scream of pain and shock. Allison didn’t bother to let him back away. She pulled two more pencils from her coat pocket and stabbed them into the Sieve’s neck. He screamed again and doubled over. Allison took the opportunity to pull out two more pencils and with a thwack! thwack!, she stabbed him in the back.

  This is when the Sieve fell onto the ground, but Allison did not stop. The newborns had scattered, terrified of being engulfed in flames. Now she and the Sieve were alone, and she was broken and almost dead from the cold. But she had the Sieve.

  Thwack! Thwack!

  Two more pencils in his back, and he rolled over, screaming and kicking at her.