Day of Execution

by Lily Luchesi

  “You know how Angelica loves mysteries? Well, there is a secret passageway behind one of the training rooms. It goes straight to my office,” Sean said. “I found it by accident and Angie’s reply was, ‘Oops, forgot to mention that’.” He smirked.

  “Well, what are we waiting for, then?” Danny asked. “Let’s go.”

  “Evidently my beloved daughter also forgot to mention that she had audio on the hallway cameras,” Vincent said, as he watched Mancini and the siren change their course. “Daniel, get some vampires to greet them, would you? And leave the psychic wizard as a calling card.”

  “I thought you wanted —”

  “I will,” Vincent interrupted. “I have wanted to kill Mancini for a century. I will not be denied that simple pleasure.”

  “This hall should be clear,” Sean said, opening the doorway. It was silent, only the old smell of blood wafting up from below to assail Danny’s nostrils.

  He let Sean take the lead with his gun, while he followed, now brandishing his daggers, the guns safely secure in their holsters. One flight down, and they encountered no vampires. Sean kicked the door in with a little more bravado that Danny thought was necessary, and they entered the short hall that led to the training rooms.

  “That one,” Sean said. “The biggest one has the concealed elevator.”

  “Good, in case we need room to maneuver,” Danny said. Sean entered the room first and let out a breathy gasp.

  Danny raced up behind him, to see that the room was all set up like there was going to be an obstacle course for new recruits. He’d gone through the same course when he had first joined the PID.

  What had caused Sean to gasp was the body suspended on the grey mats that had been piled up to allow an agent to climb them. It was Alec, his face ashen and waxy in death, hazel eyes wide and frozen in fear. His throat had a wide, circular wound where he’d been bitten. His head hung limply, neck broken.

  “How did they know? How?” Sean asked.

  “I don’t know, but we gotta get out of here. Seeing Alec is how my vision started, and whatever is going to happen next won’t be good,” Danny said, tugging on Sean’s jacket.

  The door behind them slammed shut loudly and wouldn’t open, made of the same material as the hallway doors.

  “Damn Angelica and her security measures!” Danny cried.

  “Leaving so soon?” asked the disembodied voice that Danny had heard in his nightmares from twenty-twelve until Angelica had turned him at the age of a hundred and twenty. “Stick around. Your former employees are so looking forward to sparring with you, Detective and Director.”

  “Vincent?” Sean asked. Danny could see the hairs on the back of his neck literally standing on end.

  Danny nodded, and then the door behind them opened, and twelve vampires spilled in. He recognized some of them as employees, others had been on Dakota’s side during their last little skirmish.

  He and Sean were forced to move toward the middle of the room to accommodate the vamps. Doing a quick calculation, there was a chance they could survive this, but at what cost? How injured would they be, how much ammunition would be wasted? And what was happening to Angelica?

  Danny switched one dagger for a gun and he and Sean began firing at almost the same moment, putting trace amounts of holy water into the vamps and hopefully weakening them.

  They, too, were outfitted with PID weaponry, and it was all they could do to avoid being shot. The obstacle course provided some form of cover for them, but they’d have to face the vamps soon. They just wanted to drain their ammunition as much as they could for now.

  It was strange how he and Sean thought so much alike. It was no wonder Angelica had cared for them both; she obviously had a type. Danny suddenly regretted how long he’d spent resenting the siren. He was brave, a good fighter, and cared just as much for Angelica as Danny did. When this was over, he hoped that they could be friends, start over.

  Angie would love that, he knew.

  “Never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad to be fighting at your side,” Sean said, firing over the mat they were hiding behind.

  “Save sentimentality for after,” Danny said, only half-joking. He broke cover and ran, slicing a nearby vampire’s neck before hiding behind a werewolf dummy. Sean did the same, covering the other side of the room. The vamps had to split up that way, making it easier to attack them.

  Danny ran at a vamp whose gun had been emptied of bullets and narrowly avoided its claws to kill it. He turned, and that turn might have saved his ass as a bullet tore through his left shoulder, leaving a hot, burning trail of pain down his arm as the holy water hit the open wound.

  He grunted and dropped his blade. He’d never be able to move that arm right then unless he drank from a vamp. He still managed to kill another vamp with his good arm. That left only two on his side.

  Danny took a moment to glance over at Sean’s side. The siren and former Army Captain had given up on the blades. He’d gotten guns from the two fallen vamps and was now using those to nearly decapitate the remaining vamps by shooting at their throats. It was a good tactic. A little risky, but it worked better for him.

  Danny found himself grappling with the two remaining vamps at his side, his claws clashing with theirs as he fought for supremacy. Still unused to his vampiric abilities, he was clumsier with his claws than Angie was with hers, but he managed to slice into the throat and chest of one vamp, and cut an ear off of the other.

  Quickly he placed his lips to the cut on the one vamp’s throat and drank as much as he could to heal his arm, which allowed him to move easier. He finished killing that vamp and faced down the last one.

  Its head looked lopsided with the one ear missing and blood trickling down the side of its face. Anger radiated from it, and Danny couldn’t even sense its emotions. The anger was its downfall as it lunged too quickly at Danny, losing its balance and allowing him to easily kill it.

  He glanced over at Sean, who was finishing the job on the wounded vamps and cutting their heads off easily now that they had been incapacitated. He and Danny moved to the center of the room, avoiding Alec’s body.

  “You okay?” he asked Danny.

  “Yeah, I think so. Arm still hurts but it’s usable,” Danny replied. “You?”

  Sean nodded. “My species is my advantage. No one knows how to kill me.” He gestured to the hidden doorway. “Come on. It’s too late to change our plans now.”

  Danny’s skin suddenly prickled with goosebumps as he saw Sean dash over to the wall and press a complicated-looking pattern on a hidden panel. His powers were sending red warning signals reading “DANGER”.

  “Don’t!” he cried, but it was too late. The elevator doors swung open and all Danny saw from his vantage point was Sean being hit in the head by a heavy steel scabbard. There was an audible, dull cracking sound as his skull was shattered and he fell to the ground in a heap, bleeding from a massive head wound.

  Unsure if that could kill a siren, Danny backed up, unable to go and help him as the tall and imposing figure of Vincent Cross appeared, shadowed by Daniel. A rage Danny had never known existed inside of him rose up, coating his throat in hot, burning bile.

  “Daniel, how could you?” he cried. “How could you turn on your family?”

  “Save it, Pops,” Daniel hissed, his eyes glowing red. “You abandoned me, and then you and Angelica used me against Dakota. Tell the truth: if there had been anyone else to help you, you’d have erased my memory and tossed me on my ass.”

  “That’s true, but only because I know how this life changes a person. You deserved to have a normal life. A human life,” Danny explained. “I loved working with you, but yeah, if I could’ve gotten rid of you I would have, to have spared your life.” He glanced at Vincent, who hadn’t moved. “And to align yourself with him of all fucking people! He ruined everything for me.”

  “Oh, you wound me, Detective,” Vincent said, smirking. “I am so glad I didn’t kill you in that alleyway. Beca
use now I get to kill you and see my daughter’s devastation all at once.”

  “You’re not going to kill me,” Danny said. “I helped kill you once before, and I’m stronger now. Now I can kill you all on my own.”

  “How brave you’ve become, Emperor,” Vincent said. “But bravery does not equal skill, and I still have two centuries more experience than you. Do not forget who trained your beloved Empress.”

  And that did give Danny pause. He knew he could never defeat Angelica in battle, so could he stand a chance against the man who taught her everything she knew? He wasn’t sure, but he had to try. He had the upper hand with his blades and gun: Vincent never used weapons, or at least Danny hadn’t seen him use any. Daniel would be the wild card. It was still possible that he’d have a change of heart and help Danny or get scared and flee.

  “Well? What are you waiting for?” Danny asked. “You wanted me, now here I am and you’re standing there like a cod fish.”

  “Impatient to die, Detective?” Vincent asked, taking a step forward. “The last time we faced each other, you and my daughter tricked me, cunning woman she became. Now let us see how you fare hand-to-hand. Discard your weapons and face me like a true vampire.”

  Danny did so, dropping the two guns and one of his blades. The other he kept in his inside jacket pocket, hoping Vincent wouldn’t notice. As if he’d go into battle with him of all people without an insurance policy. Plus, Vincent seemed to forget he was a demon … or he wanted Danny to forget that. The blade could kill Vincent with one stab, and that would be right to the heart.

  “And what about him?” Danny asked, gesturing to the young man he’d once read bedtime stories to.

  “He has no place in this battle. Not until you have died and given him his true awakening as the Emperor,” Vincent replied.

  Why couldn’t Daniel see that Vincent was just using him in his silly revenge plot? How come he was so blinded? Had Danny’s disappearance and reappearance been so awful as to turn a sweet child into this silent, unfeeling monster? Or had that happened sometime in between, with the doctors and the medication and the shame of his powers?

  Danny let his claws elongate and said, “Let’s go, Cross.” And hope that Angelica shows up to even the playing field.

  Vincent made the first move, lunging forward and only grazing Danny’s cheek. Warm blood spilled, but the wounds healed quickly. Danny spun around and returned the blow, slicing into Vincent’s arm. The pristine suit jacket was shredded, but the wounds also healed.

  Danny needed holy water, but there was none there, unless he counted the blade in his pocket, which had been soaked in it. And that was his ace in the hole; a card he couldn’t play just yet. He needed to weaken Vincent a bit more.

  He was used to being outnumbered. When he was Detective Second Grade in Major Crimes, before his promotion to Homicide, he had faced a lot of gangs, where he and his partner Dave Callaghan were often outnumbered five to one. And back then, he had been much more vulnerable. He could fight Vincent and watch Daniel at the same time, but Vincent’s speed would be a problem. No gangbanger could run across a room in zero-point-two seconds.

  “Tired already?” Vincent asked him. He reached out and Danny’s claws intertwined with his, grating against each other maddeningly.

  Danny shoved forward, his claw tips grazing the flesh on the backs of Vincent’s hands, dragging along as he pushed the Lieutenant away from him.

  Vincent hissed in pain as the wounds healed, a little slower this time. Danny could smell the sulfur in his blood and felt sick. Vincent was a new kind of monster, and that scared him more than he’d like to admit.

  But why wasn’t he using his demonic powers? That worried Danny more than anything else. Was he storing up power? And if so, for what?

  He can’t use his powers on me, Danny realized. Angelica and I are impervious to Dark magic.

  Danny was keeping him at arm’s length, and he realized then that he couldn’t keep that up if he wanted to finish Vincent. He needed to get the Lieutenant closer, and so many things could go wrong with that plan.

  Danny backed up, away from Vincent and Daniel, going closer to the mats where poor Alec’s corpse was pinned. Close enough to also reach for a discarded gun if he had enough time.

  Facing Vincent again brought back too many unpleasant memories, and they crowded in his mind. He had to fight to push away the flashbacks of the two years he spent in a depressed state, perpetually drunk and trying to work up the nerve to take his thirty-eight from the drawer and blow his brains out.

  It was Angie who had saved his life, who had made everything worth living again. Now he would be damned if he was going to let Vincent win this time.

  The vamp in question came closer, just as Danny wanted. They grappled without claws, almost as humans would, and Danny felt that he could actually win. All he needed was his knife.

  He let Vincent turn him around as he reached into his pocket and grabbed it, careful not to touch the blade. He reached back and stabbed, but Vincent was faster. He moved to the side and the blade only hit his ribs, not his heart.

  He heard Vincent’s cry of pain, but the demonic vamp still held fast to Danny’s hand, twisting sharply. Danny heard his bones break before he felt the white hot pain go straight up his arm. His hand went limp, and Vincent pulled the knife from his side, pinning Danny to the pile of mats.

  It was then that Vincent used his demonic powers, holding his hand out and making a syringe fly across the room, straight into his hand. The needle was in Danny’s neck before he knew what was happening, and he felt the poison of the dead man’s blood flooding his system almost instantly.

  Vincent dropped his already weakening body to the floor, and Danny watched the two people smirk down at him as his vision blurred.

  He could feel his body withering, see his hands slowly aging. His final thought was that he had failed Angelica before it all faded to black … forever.

  Daniel watched as his great-grandfather began to wither away before his eyes. His once-handsome face became drawn and old, before it began to fully decay, turning wet and greenish before drying up to the corpse Danny was supposed to be.

  He could feel his powers increasing, his strength growing and pulsing beneath his skin. This was it, the final piece of the transformation. All he needed now was to get rid of Angelica Cross, and the vampires would be his to control.

  12

  Angelica barely registered the kills she was making. Her heart was off with Danny, wishing she was with him. She could handle herself, but he and Sean were vulnerable apart from her. They had two villains to contend with, and splitting up just lessened their chances of winning.

  And Vincent knew that, damn him. He knew they were stronger together, and had forced them apart.

  Bastard, Angelica thought, angry tears in her eyes. Corrupting, murdering, conniving bastard!

  She took her anger out on the vampires blocking her way to the hundredth floor, swinging her sword like a baseball bat and sending heads flying down the stairwell. She drank from another vamp, getting her strength back. She was going to need it.

  Angelica hoped that Danny and Sean knew to get to her office. They should reach it at the same time, if the vamps kept up at this speed.

  She was on the ninety-third floor now. Not much further at all. I hope you’re both ready. Because I am far beyond showing mercy. She kicked at a vampire, knocking it halfway over the railing and decapitating it there.

  No vamps ahead. Yet. She broke out into a run, not using her vampire speed to save her strength. Each step brought her closer to the endgame, and she could only hope that this really was the end, the last time Vincent would ever dare to cross her path.

  You destroyed me so many times, Vincent; this is where you’ll fail, she thought as vampires began to pour out of the ninety-eighth floor’s doorway.

  More distractions, and for what? Just to weaken her more? Or was there something going on that she was yet unaware of? Not knowing was some
thing she despised, especially when it was happening in her own company.

  Two vamps cornered her, and forced her to jump down on the last floor’s landing to gain the momentum she needed to kill them.

  Biding time, they’re just biding my time, she thought. I have to do this fast. Quickly sheathing her sword, she grabbed two serrated daggers and started stabbing wherever and whatever she could. It was clumsy, uncoordinated, but effective. Not everything had to look good. It just had to get the job done.

  A vamp came up behind her, and her hands were busy fending off two more in front of her and she kicked out behind her, and then used her hip to knock the vamp back off-balance.

  Being a curvy girl can come in handy, she thought, smirking. Seeing that the vamps had thinned ahead, she tossed her knife at the fallen vamp, and its head hung at an angle, spurting blood like a water fountain.

  Angelica switched back to her sword, more comfortable with it than the daggers. I am so close, she thought. I just hope Danny and Sean didn’t get there first. God knows what Vincent will do to them to hurt me.

  She finally made it to the top level, breathing hard but relatively unharmed thanks to sipping from her enemies’ veins. She hoped that it was enough, that the three of them would be enough.

  She kicked the door in at the top, and the vestibule was empty. She started at the door furthest to the left, which was the office for her head of security. Empty. Sean’s office was next, deputy director, despite his being the official director. Also empty.

  She stood stock still as she faced the door that had once bore her name in frosted glass. It had been scratched away and splattered with blood from the inside, probably that poor vampire girl’s.

  Sword in one hand, she pulled out her gun and held it in the other. She kicked the door open, letting it bang against the wall and let her know that no one was hiding back there.

  The room was empty.