It inched its way toward the pavement, and I knew that any second now, the head of the bat would clatter against the asphalt, and then my ass would be grass. But there was so much loose rubble underneath me that if I moved my arm too quickly, that might make just as much noise to a vamp as the bat would.
“Found it!” the cop called out from right beside my hiding place.
When he bent over so he could pick up the severed head, I knew this was my only chance to keep the bat quiet. It would take him less than a second to grab it, so I shifted my weight onto the front of my right hip while he bent forward. Then the moment he snatched up the dead vamp’s skull, I slid my left arm tighter against my side, so the bat came to rest on the back of my arm instead of on the asphalt.
I held my breath, but the NYPD vampire didn’t seem to notice the movement or the slight sound. I thought he might be able to smell me, but there was such a strong stench of death, blood, and smoke on the streets already that I hoped my scent wouldn’t really stick out to him.
He paused just beside the car, but when the other cop told him to hurry the fuck up, the vampire just started to carry his trophy back over to his partner.
I let out a slow exhale, but I wasn’t ready to sigh in relief just yet.
“I don’t get why you keep those things,” the cop’s partner told him. “It’s kinda sick, you know that?”
“Eh, maybe,” the cop with the trophy head laughed, “but it’s fun, too, right?”
“Maybe for you,” his partner replied. “Some random vamp dude’s head doesn’t really do a whole lot for me.”
“Oh, yeah, like you didn’t enjoy that just as much as I did,” the other cop said.
“I like the killing,” his partner pointed out. “You like the power. You know once they’re dead, they’re dead, right? It’s not like they know they’re still in your power or anything.”
“Oh, so you know everything there is to know about what happens when we die?” the other cop laughed. “I like to think that wherever these assholes go, they can still feel my hands on their skulls. Sometimes I just like to squeeze them whenever I go past my trophy wall-- just so they know I’m still thinking about them.”
“You’ve got real problems, man,” his partner sighed. “Now, come on, let’s see if we can find any other civilians.”
“Ooh, maybe this time, we’ll find a chick!” the other cop said.
“Yeah, maybe she’ll even be human,” his partner replied.
“We wouldn’t have to take her back to the chief right away, would we?” the other cop asked. “We could probably, you know, have a little fun with her ourselves first, right?”
“Only if we keep our fucking mouths shut about it,” his partner said.
The two NYPD vampires kept talking as they started to move east, but I waited to move until I couldn’t hear their voices anymore. When even the echoes of their voices had faded, I rolled out from underneath the car, slowly rose up to my feet, and glanced around to make sure that no one else had snuck up on me in the meantime.
“Fuck me,” I sighed.
My little rescue mission had just gotten a lot more dangerous. Of course, I hadn’t wanted to run into any of New York’s vampy finest, but I hadn’t known that they would purposefully be hunting down any civilian bloodsuckers in the area.
I might have left Kowalsky behind me in Brooklyn Heights, but the NYPD police chief was apparently just as much of an asshole. I understood the motivation behind Kowalsky and the vamp cops, since after all, any vamp who wasn’t a part of their crew could very easily be a threat to them. But I didn’t appreciate the fact that it made things a hell of a lot more complicated for me.
“The more shit changes, the more shit stays the same,” I muttered.
I pulled the Louisville slugger out of my belt so I would already have a good grip on it in case I ran into any trouble, then I just started to head south toward Columbia University again. I stepped around the headless body of the dead vamp, climbed over a wrecked car that had completely blocked my path, and then just kept going.
The police force would sure as hell make things more difficult for me, but it wouldn’t actually change my plans at all. I would still get to the campus just like I planned, text Isaac from Nat’s phone to find out where he was, go get him and the girls with him, and then hurry the fuck out of Manhattan.
So, really, the bloodsucking cops just meant that I would need to be extra cautious whenever I saw one of them, and I would have to stay alert for any patrol cars in the area. Sure, this road was too fucking wrecked for any cop cars to drive down it, but I was sure that there were other streets that the NYPD continued to patrol for any signs of civilian vamps or humans.
At least they should be pretty easy to avoid. Most of the newly fanged cops were probably in their uniforms, so it shouldn’t be hard to figure out who they were. So as long as I could stay out of their way, I should be okay.
That was the plan, anyway.
But even though I knew the police force made things a little more complicated and difficult for myself, I was more glad than ever that I was going to try to get Isaac and the two girls with him. I already felt so powerful whenever I drank the blood of Nat, her roommates, and Lily, but I knew that we all needed more people to add to my blood pool.
For one thing, I knew that it was important to give the girls breaks, so I didn’t take too much from them at one time. But just as importantly, it would help me grow stronger and more powerful, and it might even give me new abilities like Lily’s blood had.
And if I was going to protect them all, then I needed to be as strong as I possibly could. That was probably about the only thing that I had in common with someone like Kowalsky-- the fact that I wanted to be as powerful as possible. But even though we both wanted the same thing, I knew it was for completely different reasons.
Kowalsky and the other vamp bosses wanted to be strong so they could control everything and everyone, and so they could take whoever and whatever they wanted. But even though I wanted to be just as strong-- stronger, even- it wasn’t because I wanted to control the girls.
It was because it was the best way for me to protect them.
I knew that I’d had a rocky start with Natalie’s roommates at first, especially Catherine, just because they didn’t know if they could trust me as a vampire. But I’d more than proven myself to them, and now I knew that they trusted me just as much as my girlfriend did. After all, they were all always eager to give me blood whenever I needed it, and even Lily seemed like she had enjoyed it earlier that day.
So whenever I found Isaac and the two girls, it would be good for me, but it would also be just as good for them. They would help me to stay strong, and in return, I would keep them safe.
Of course, that was assuming that Isaac wasn’t a vamp himself. But even if he was, that didn’t mean the two girls with him were. In fact, it was much more likely that if he was a bloodsucker, the two girls with him were humans, and they might not be with him completely of their own free will.
But I would deal with that whenever I found them. First, I had to get to the campus, and then I would figure out who was and wasn’t a vampire, who was still human, and how I would get them back across the river.
I headed down a narrow alley between buildings, took a cross street over to the next main road, and then I walked south again. This street was clearer than the last one, so I made a note of it as I hurried forward. It would be a good escape route whenever we left Columbia, especially since I didn’t think we would be able to make it all the way back to the West Harlem Pier on foot.
That was way too much time to spend in the open with even one human, let alone two or three of them. All the vampires in Manhattan would be sure to sniff them out, and then we’d have to fight our way back to the river.
But if I could find some kind of escape vehicle while I was on campus, then I should be able to just drive the humans back to the dock. Their scent would be hidden in the car, and as s
oon as I got them on the boat, we should be in the clear.
Maybe Isaac’s girlfriend or her friend had a car on campus. That would make things a hell of a lot easier than if I had to figure out how to hotwire a car.
“One thing at a time,” I muttered as I continued down the road.
I still hadn’t even made it to the campus yet, and I already wanted to plan my escape. It didn’t hurt to think about, but it also wasn’t especially helpful. Most of my plans would probably change anyway once I found out for sure whether or not Isaac was a bloodsucker.
I already felt positive that he was, just like I already had a bad feeling that he wasn’t like me or even like Hippie Hank. Maybe I was wrong, and the vaccine hadn’t turned him into an asshole at the same time it turned him into a vamp, but I somehow doubted it.
After all, Isaac had been so cagey and weird on the phone and every time he texted with Nat, that I couldn’t help but feel suspicious. And if he had turned into a non-asshole bloodsucker, then he would have said so after I told him that I was a vamp myself.
So the fact that Nat’s brother had stayed quiet about that didn’t strike me as very reassuring. That could only mean that he thought I would lead my four girls right to him, and then he could kill me and take them for himself.
“Maybe you’re just being paranoid,” I sighed.
Maybe I was-- but I sure as hell wasn’t about to let my guard down with Isaac, even if he was my girlfriend’s brother. And if he attacked me whenever I finally found him, then I would just have to take care of him.
For Nat’s sake, I hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. But if it came down to either him or me, I knew who the fuck I would pick, just like I knew who the fuck I would bet on.
I just hoped that the two girls with him weren’t hurt, and that if I had to kill Isaac, I could then somehow be able to convince them that I was different, so it would be safe for them to come with me.
I guessed that I had gone a little over half a mile by now, so I should stumble onto the campus in just a few minutes. I wanted to just sprint all the way there, but I didn’t want to use up any more energy than I had to, and I also didn’t want to go so fast that I missed any vamps who might decide to follow after me.
The air suddenly filled with the noise of bells, and I immediately jumped before I realized that it was just church bells. I guessed that even in the middle of the apocalypse, some things didn’t change, so the bells would just go on chiming out the time like nothing in the world was different.
I didn’t wait for the bells to finish before I hurried forward again. I was between two massive gothic-style buildings now, and there were so many dark crevices and shadows in both of them that I started to feel like my eyes were playing tricks on me.
My enhanced vision let me see clearly all the way into the deepest shadows, so I knew that no one hid in there, but I still felt the same tightness in my stomach that I had earlier.
Maybe it was just the whole feeling on this street. It was so much quieter than I expected it to be, but that could have just been the fact that it was nighttime, and the darkness kept any remaining humans completely still and silent inside their hiding places. But I had expected there to be more vampires out on the prowl, and at the very least, I had expected there to be more of the NYPD vamps out on the streets.
Instead, the only sound now was the chime of the church bells, along with the slight echo of my own footsteps on the silent street. It was fucking spooky as hell, and if I hadn’t been a badass vampire, I might have been scared that I’d run into some kind of supernatural shit out here.
But as it turned out, I was the supernatural shit.
Since I could barely hear myself think, much less hear any potential enemies out in the darkness, I still wanted to get the fuck away from the loud-ass church bells. As soon as I reached the next cross street, I took it and hurried away from the gothic shadows and loud chimes.
When I reached Broadway, I turned right again and continued toward campus. I was still legitimately surprised by how few people I had run into so far, fanged or otherwise, and I was just about to congratulate myself when I heard a low siren start up from somewhere behind me.
“Fuck,” I swore and then darted behind a bus stop to try to hide out.
But the siren didn’t speed up, and even though it was definitely headed in my direction, it didn’t seem to be in a hurry about it. I looked back down Broadway and saw a cop car in the distance with its lights on. I realized they must not have seen me, so instead, they must be doing a regular patrol to look for any stray vamps or civilians.
Of course, I wouldn’t have blasted my lights and sirens if I wanted to look for people, but as soon as I had the thought, the cops started to shout instructions through their car’s speaker system.
“All humans are to report and register themselves immediately,” the bloodsuckers broadcasted. “Any humans who are found unregistered will suffer the consequences.”
Well, that sure as shit explained that, but I hoped nobody was stupid enough to fall for this stunt. They would end up dead either way, but at least if they stayed hidden, they would stand a slightly better chance of survival. And if nothing else, they might earn themselves a faster death instead of some long, drawn-out thing where they were forced to give so much blood every day that their bodies just eventually gave out.
The cop car repeated its message every few seconds, but it didn’t speed its pace up at all. I knew that they were creeping along so they could keep an eye out for any traces of life, and that meant I needed to get out of there before they passed me.
I glanced up and down the sidewalk behind the bus stop, and I decided to take a small side street beside an ivy-covered building. After I made sure that the cop car was still far enough away for me to move safely, I fled down the side street, took a right, and almost stopped mid-stride when I saw the street lamps at the end of the side street.
They were smaller and shorter than actual street lights, so they looked almost like old-timey lantern-style street lamps. They would have fit in a lot better in front of the gothic church that I’d passed earlier, instead of stuck in between two modern buildings that led right into a huge courtyard.
But it wasn’t the street lamps themselves that I really gave a shit about. It was what hung from the street lamps. Two human bodies were tied to each post, a lot like the human party favors had been at the bonfire across the river in New Jersey.
Unlike the New Jersey humans, these people were all dead already, and from the smell of things, they had been for at least a few days. Flies buzzed around their drained corpses, and their flesh was so dry that the ropes had started to cave into their papery flesh and make it flake off like a stale croissant.
“What is it with asshole vampires and tying people to fucking stakes?” I muttered. “This is some medieval fucking bullshit.”
It was like everyone suddenly became their most barbaric selves as soon as they turned into bloodsuckers, and I wondered if that was simply because all humans really wanted was an excuse to turn into the worst versions of themselves.
Maybe everybody didn’t really want the world to be a better place. Maybe they just wanted to look out for themselves and fuck up everyone else-- whether or not they stood in their way.
Even as I felt my stomach clench, I forced myself past the rotten stench into the courtyard on the other side of the street lamps. The courtyard was huge, and it stood in the middle of three massive buildings.
The same lantern-style street lamps dotted the courtyard in a spiral pattern along the sidewalks, and the low bushes and flowers might have been pretty before the end of the world, but now I just thought about how they would serve as shitty fucking hiding spots if I needed to duck down and avoid the cops.
Still, at least I wasn’t on Broadway with the cops anymore. I should just be able to stay here until I heard their sirens and their megaphone pass, and then I could start on my way toward Columbia again.
But almost as soon a
s I started to relax, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye from across the courtyard. As the sirens continued and the cops kept telling people to come out of hiding, I swiveled toward the motion.
Immediately, I tightened my grip on the Louisville slugger.
Two vamps were headed straight toward me across the courtyard, and even though they weren’t dressed like cops, they definitely didn’t look like they had skipped any meals lately. The bloodsucker on the left was a short skinny male, and the one on the right was a tall female that looked almost like an Amazon.
But since they were vamps, I knew that their appearances didn’t actually mean anything. The short skinny male could be the strongest vamp around if he’d fed well recently, just like the Amazonian vamp could be quite weak if she hadn’t had any blood in the last day or so.
Based on how quickly they moved across the courtyard toward me, I could tell that they were both stronger than I would have liked. They ran forward so fast that they looked like two blurs in the darkness, and I could only see their actual forms whenever they passed under the street lamps. The light made it seem like they slowed down for a second, but then just as soon as I got a good view of them, they left the light and sped toward me again.
I still didn’t get the sense that they were plainclothed cops, but I had about two seconds left before they reached me. I could strike out at them right away, or I could try to make a truce and conserve my energy for whatever I found on campus.
It was at least worth a shot not to attack them if I didn’t have to. After all, we were all civilian vampires, so there was no reason that we couldn’t just agree to go our separate ways. We had the whole NYPD to worry about, so we didn’t need to add each other to our list of enemies.
I let the bat dangle from one hand and then spread my arms to show them that I didn’t mean any harm. They were almost on me now, so I dropped my stance a little and relaxed my knees. If I needed to spring into action, I would be ready, but it still looked like I wanted to be friendly.
In the half a second before they reached me, I realized that they weren’t going to slow down. Instead, the skinny male bared his teeth like an animal and lunged for my throat, while the tall female pulled back her left fist like she was about to pack a whole twelve rounds into one solid punch.
Conquering A Bloodthirsty Earth (Book 3): Vampire Lord 3 Page 9