Vampire Lord | Book 5 | Vampire Lord 5: Conquering A Bloodthirsty Earth

by Jacobs, Logan

  “I don’t know,” the first vamp said as he stalked closer to me. “He seems like the kind of vamp who might have a lot of friends.”

  “Maybe he has some human friends in the back of his big truck,” the third vamp said and then took a few steps forward until he stood just beside the back door of Rhino.

  “Maybe he would want to share,” the second vamp added.

  “I don’t like when other people touch my shit,” I growled. “There’s no humans in my truck and no humans anywhere around here, as far as I can smell.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” the third vamp said as he leaned his shoulder up against the back of Rhino. “I can’t really smell anything except for a bunch of fucking diesel, so maybe there are humans and maybe there aren’t.”

  The third vamp was now at the back of my armored truck, the first vamp was up in my face, but the second bloodsucker had started to wander over toward the gas station. He might just want to get a little closer to see if he could sniff out anything that smelled human, but I knew that I was in a bad position now.

  If I let him go all the way up to the doors or even open them, then he would sniff the girls out for sure, and by the time I could get over to him, he would already be inside. The girls might be able to shoot him and stop him, but I wasn’t willing to take that kind of risk.

  On the other hand, if I moved now or tried to distract him, all three bloodsuckers would know that I had something to hide, so then I would end up fighting them, anyway. In the end, I decided to try to walk a middle road between the two options, so maybe I could distract them with questions but not enough to raise their suspicions.

  Still, I made sure that both my arms hung loosely at my sides, so I could reach around and grab the fireman’s axe at the last second.

  “So where are you all headed to?” I asked. “You boys look like you might know where a good vamp party is.”

  If nothing else, I might at least be able to find out if there was some super vamp frat blow-out party around here that I needed to avoid.

  The vamp who was headed toward the gas station paused and turned around, and I forced myself not to breathe an obvious sigh of relief. He only took a few steps back in my direction, but it was a few steps away from the gas station, so I would take it.

  “So are you headed to a party, or what?” I repeated.

  “That depends,” the first vamp said as he sneered in my face. “You got any human party favors here in the back of your truck?”

  “Maybe we ought to just open this baby up and find out,” the other bloodsucker said as he leaned up against Rhino’s back door.

  “Maybe you should ask nicely before you touch things that don’t belong to you,” I said. “I bet you don’t even know where the good vamp parties are, anyway.”

  “We do, too!” the second vamp said as he took a few more steps away from the gas station. “We’re going to one right now, and--”

  “Shut up!” the first male said.

  Then all three frat vamps looked at each other like they couldn’t decide whether or not they should share the sacred information about their vamp frat party with me, and I just rolled my eyes. All three of them looked like a joke, but I knew I had to treat them like a real threat.

  They were all of a medium build and wore pastel polo shirts with khaki shorts like they had coordinated for their damn outfits to match. But even though they looked like they could drink a lot better than they could fight, that might not be the case now that they were bloodsuckers. Everything now depended on how much blood they had in their systems, plus how many different kinds of blood.

  Looks were deceiving with vampires. A tiny girl who had a lot of blood from a variety of people could be stronger than a silverback gorilla and faster than a cheetah, so it paid to never underestimate any new vamps that I encountered.

  “Open the truck,” the first frat boy said to the second one. “This asshole is hiding something.”

  I still couldn’t see the girls inside the gas station, so I knew that they must be hiding, but I also knew that it didn’t really matter anymore. These bloodsucking frat boys were determined to find something, and when they saw that the back of Rhino was empty, they’d probably search the gas station, anyway.

  Or, just as bad, they would open up the back door and see all of our guns, and they would decide that they wanted the weapons just as much as they wanted human party favors. So really, there was only one thing left for me to do, and that was to strike first.

  In one fluid motion, I grabbed the half-empty fuel can at my feet and tossed the rest of the diesel onto the first fanged asshole.

  The fuel landed on his face and shirt, so as the bloodsucker swore and shrieked at the burning in his eyes, I jumped forward to grab him by the collar of his pastel polo shirt. As the second and third frat vamps lunged toward me, I shoved the first fucker backward so he stumbled far enough away from the pump that it wouldn’t catch on fire. He still clawed at his eyes to try to get the fuel out, but he tripped on a crack in the asphalt and fell straight onto his ass.

  Apparently, wounds healed faster than a shot of diesel to the eyes.

  My lighter was inside my pocket beside my credit card, but I had to deal with assholes number two and three before I could actually use the damn thing. The second frat bro grabbed my right arm and twisted it behind my back, but as the third vamp rushed forward to slam his fist into my throat, I used my left arm to elbow the second bloodsucker in the ribs.

  I hit him hard enough that he let go of my other arm, so as soon as I ducked to avoid the third vamp’s fist, I rammed my right elbow back into the second vamp’s ribs, in almost the exact same spot as my left elbow had landed. The second vamp wheezed and then gasped to try to catch his breath, but I didn’t have time to finish him off because by then, the third asshole was right on top of me.

  The third bloodsucker swung a right hook at my face, but I dropped into a crouch at the last second so his fist landed on the second vamp’s jaw instead. His jaw made a definite crunching sound as he spun away from the force of the impact, and before the third fanged fucker could apologize for hitting his friend, I managed to pull the axe out of the back of my belt.

  I slammed the axe handle into the third frat vamp’s kneecap. When he yelped and hopped back on his other leg, I adjusted my grip on the axe, pushed myself back upright, and then launched the axe blade up into the third vamp’s stomach. The blade carved through the little extra pudge in the frat bro’s gut like it was a motherfucking Christmas ham, but I kept my grip tight on the handle so I could pull it right back out again.

  After I glanced over at the diesel-covered vamp to make sure he was still on the ground with the burning fuel in his eyes, I slammed the axe into the third vamp’s stomach again. It almost went straight through his intestines that time, but since that wouldn’t be enough to kill the asshole, I used my next hit to swing the axe into the side of his neck.

  The blade instantly sank through layers of flesh and muscle, and as his moldy vamp blood sprayed in every direction, I pulled the axe back out and then carved it into his neck again. This time, it cut clean through his windpipe, so when I pulled the axe away again, I knew it would just take one good yank for my blood-fueled strength to rip his head clean off his body.

  The diesel-covered vamp had only just staggered back onto his feet, and I still heard the second vamp somewhere behind me, so I pulled the axe back like I was winding up for one hell of a hit. When I felt like I had as much power behind my blow as possible, I twisted my whole body into the swing.

  The axe sliced through the rest of the fanged fucker’s neck and then just lopped his head right off his shoulders.

  As the third bloodsucker’s body tumbled down beside his head at the back of Rhino, I spun around to face the two remaining frat vamps. The diesel-soaked asshole had recovered enough from the fuel in his eyes that he now barreled toward me across the pavement, but the second vamp had decided to give up his fight with me, and instead, he wa
s headed straight toward the doors of the gas station.

  I felt a snarl escape my lips as I saw the second fucker move toward where my women were hidden. He might not be able to see them yet, but I didn’t plan to let him get that far, so I instantly flung myself after him. At the last second, I launched my body into the air, slammed into his back, and then brought him to the ground about a dozen feet away from the gas station entrance.

  The second vamp twisted underneath me like an eel until he was face-up underneath me. He wrapped his hands around my throat and started to dig his fingers in hard enough that I could damn near feel them wrap around my windpipe, so I shifted my weight onto my left palm to free up my right hand that still had a tight grip on the axe.

  I tried to swing the axe toward the side of his skull, but I was at a bad angle and couldn’t get enough force into the blow. When I tried again, the frat vamp loosened his hold on my neck just long enough to grab my shirt and roll across the pavement with me like it was a goddamn wrestling match.

  We rolled over several times across the pavement until I was forced to drop the axe to try to keep the bloodsucker from just slamming my head into the concrete. When we came to a stop, he was on top of me, and he immediately dropped his forearm onto my throat to try to choke the life out of me.

  I tried to twist my head to the side to relieve some of the pressure, but he just leaned harder onto his forearm. From the corner of my eye, I saw the diesel-soaked vamp as he staggered toward the gas station, and I knew that I only had a few seconds before he reached the doors, and that meant I only had a few seconds to deal with this motherfucker on top of me.

  I shifted my shoulders underneath me so I could stab this asshole’s eyes out with my fingers, but at the same time that I got one arm out from under him, I heard the gas station door swing open. I knew that the diesel-soaked vamp hadn’t been close enough to reach it yet, but before I could look over at the door, I heard the sweetest goddamn sound in the world.

  I heard the sound of a single .45 shot shatter the still night air.

  At the same moment that the shot rang out, the frat vamp’s skull exploded right above me. His moldy vamp blood spurted out onto my face as he collapsed on top of me, but I didn’t even stop to wipe it off. Instead, I pushed him off, glanced at the hole in the side of his head to make sure that he was really dead, and then rolled to my feet to catch the last asshole before he reached the gas station.

  As soon as I started toward the gas station doors, I saw the source of the gunshot. While all the other girls were still hidden somewhere inside, Natalie had stepped onto the sidewalk just outside the gas station, and her .45 was still aimed at the spot where she had just killed the frat bro vamp.

  She started to swing the barrel of her gun toward the diesel-soaked vamp as he stumbled toward the gas station, but I reached him before she could adjust her aim.

  “I’ve got him!” I shouted, and then I tackled him by his legs to bring him to the ground.

  As soon as I flipped him onto his back, I got a strong whiff of just how much he still smelled like diesel, and since his eyes were so bloodshot from the fuel that he damn near looked feral, I figured I could finish my original plan for him.

  I grabbed the collar of his polo shirt, dragged him over to the fuel pump, slammed his head into the concrete, flipped the switch on the high octane gas, sprayed some gas on him as an acclerant, and then reached into my pocket for the lighter, while his brain tried to recover from the instant concussion that I’d just given him. The moment his eyes focused on me again, I flicked on the lighter and held it above him.

  “Tell me what I want to know,” I growled. “Where’s this fucking vamp party that your friend mentioned?”

  “What’s wrong with you, bro?” the frat vamp wailed. “We’re supposed to be on the same side!”

  “I’m not on any side that you belong to,” I said and then held the lighter a little closer to his face. “Now, where’s the fucking party?”

  “It’s in Morgantown, man,” the bloodsucker said.

  “That’s not exactly close, bro,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

  “It’s the f-fiefdom of W-west Virginia University,” the vamp stuttered. “It’s bigger than just the city! Come on, man, we were just going to join up with some friends there. We didn’t mean any--”

  “What do you mean, the fiefdom?” I demanded.

  “Uh, kingdom, I guess?” the frat vamp replied. “O-our fraternity leader organized everybody, and he said if we bring humans, he’ll reward us and shit, so I thought maybe if you had some--”

  “I think I’ve heard enough,” I said, and then I dropped the lighter onto him.

  I rolled away just as the flame caught hold of the gasoline on the frat bro vamp’s face and polo. The fire instantly spread to every inch of his diesel-soaked clothes, and as the bloodsucker screamed and rolled to try to put it out, I realized that it was going to take a little longer for the fire to kill him than I wanted.

  I crossed the distance between Natalie and me, grabbed her gun, and then moved back toward the fanged frat bro until I was close enough that I wouldn’t miss my target even as he rolled back and forth. I held the .45 up, aimed it at his face in the middle of the flames, and then squeezed the trigger.

  The vamp’s screams immediately ended, and his body fell still, but the flames continued to dance around the bloody hole in his skull. He definitely wouldn’t be able to come back from that shot, so I lowered the gun and slowly exhaled to steady myself.

  I turned back to face Natalie, but my gorgeous girlfriend had already started to sprint toward me. She didn’t seem to give a single fuck about all the vamp blood that I was covered in, and instead, Nat just flung her arms around my neck and pulled me down to kiss her.

  “Oh, Sam,” my girlfriend sighed as she sank back down onto her heels. “Are you hurt? Do you need any blood?”

  “I’m okay right now,” I said with a smile, “but you’ve got a little blood on your face now.”

  “Worth it,” Natalie said and then wiped off the blood on her lips with the back of her hand.

  “Thanks for taking out that one asshole,” I said.

  “I know you would have gotten him,” my girlfriend said with a shrug, “but I had a clear shot, so figured it couldn’t hurt.”

  “I appreciate that,” I said. “Where are the rest of the girls?”

  “I made them stay hidden in the bathroom,” Natalie said. “We started to come out, but then I saw the car pull up, so I told them all to go hide.”

  “But you didn’t?” I asked.

  “I started to,” Nat said, “but after a minute, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I just told them to stay put, and I crawled across the floor so no one outside could see me. I could hear you talking, and then when the fighting started, I just kept popping my head up and down to check on you.”

  “And then when you saw me on the ground, you couldn’t take it anymore,” I said with a grin.

  “Well… yeah,” my gorgeous girlfriend said. “I should go get the girls before they think we’re both dead.”

  “Thanks, Nat,” I said and then kissed her again.

  Just a few seconds after Natalie went inside the gas station, she came back outside, followed by the five other girls. Neko and Catherine were the first ones out the doors, but the other three followed quickly behind them and hurried forward to join us.

  “Damn!” Catherine said as she glanced back and forth between the headless bloodsucker and the dead vamp who was still on fire. “That must have been some badass fighting. Nice work, Spike.”

  “Sam’s always impressive,” Neko said with a smirk.

  “Ugh, I’m sure they got what they deserved,” Brianna said. “What did they even want?”

  “Long story short?” I asked. “They were headed to some big-ass frat party in the fiefdom of West Virginia University, apparently, and they wanted some human party favors. They thought that I might have some, and they weren’t going to stop until
they had checked everywhere.”

  “Gross,” Lily murmured. “Thanks for taking care of them, Sam.”

  “Nat definitely helped,” I said with a glance at my beautiful girlfriend.

  “Well then, thank you, too, Nat,” Lily added.

  “Is that all of them?” Erika asked.

  “I imagine so, but let’s double-check to make sure that they don’t already have some human ‘party favors’ inside the back of their car,” I said.

  I left the girls beside the gas station and moved over to the frat bros’ Tesla. There was no one else inside the car, so I forced the trunk open, but it was empty, too, and I had to admit that I was fucking relieved. Even if there had been a human inside the back, they probably would have been so wounded that they wouldn’t have made it, and then I might have needed to mercy-kill them.

  No, this was much less messy.

  I turned back toward the girls, shook my head, and then walked back over to rejoin them.

  “Looks like they were alone,” I said, “but we should get a move on, just in case anybody else around here heard those gunshots.”

  “We wanted to grab a bunch of food inside if we have time,” Erika said, “so do you think we can just go get it and then be right back out?”

  “Go ahead, but just hurry,” I told her. “I still need to refill the fuel cans and then fill up the extra ones I found here.”

  “Where are we gonna put them all?” Catherine asked as she glanced at the back of Rhino. “Will the new ones fit inside?”

  “Actually, I thought we could just strap them to the roof rack,” I said, “as long as we can find some kind of ties inside the gas station. Then we can always ditch them once we use them, unless we’re able to fill them up again somewhere.”

  “I’ll find something to tie them up there with,” Brianna said and then disappeared back inside the gas station.

  By the time the girls finished getting all their food supplies from inside, I had filled up all the fuel cans, changed my shirt into something less bloodsoaked, and washed the blood off my face and neck. Since Brianna knew how to tie a good sailor’s knot, I hoisted the curvy blonde up to the top of Rhino so she could tie the fuel cans into place on the roof rack.