“You mean it would have been impossible,” I said. “I couldn’t have done it without her, or without Brianna.”
“Then thank you both,” my girlfriend said. “I know that things have been… well, you know. And I can’t imagine what you’ve both been through, so thank you for helping bring Sam back to us. I’m really glad you’re both here.”
“That, um, definitely makes two of us,” Brianna said. “I mean, probably three, but Neko’s always telling me that I shouldn’t just assume that she, like, thinks exactly what I do, and so I--”
“Girl, take a breath,” Neko interrupted. “Of course, I’m fucking glad to be here.”
“So, uh, not to interrupt our feeling-fest or whatever,” Catherine said, “but my bladder is about to goddamn explode. Sam, is there any way we can, uh, you know-- take another quick trip to the liquor store?”
“Sure,” I said with a smile. “But grab your guns, just in case.”
“Do you need any more ammo?” Natalie asked me.
“No, I’m still okay for right now,” I said, “but thanks. Catherine, why don’t you and Lily bring up the rear?”
“Well,” the auburn-haired girl said with a grin, “I wasn’t gonna bring it up, but now that you mention it, your rear is looking pretty tight these days.”
“Catherine!” Natalie said.
“What?” the long-legged girl demanded. “I can look, can’t I?”
“I’m just surprised, that’s all,” my girlfriend giggled.
“Oh, Nat,” Catherine sighed. “You’ve known me long enough now that nothing should really surprise you anymore. Okay, so you want Lily and me to be at the back of our little parade, right?”
“Yep,” I agreed. “I’ll lead the way with Nat, and Erika, you can be in the middle with Brianna and Neko, alright?”
“Shouldn’t we take shifts or something?” Erika asked. “Half of us could go now, and half of us could go when you get back?”
“Not this time,” I said. “It might make it easier for me to look after three of you at a time, but I only just got back, so I’m not ready to let any of you out of my sight just yet.”
“That works for me,” Brianna said with a shudder. “I’m not really ready to be left alone, if we’re all being honest with each other.”
“Then, come on, let’s try to make this fast,” I said. “The sun’s coming up, and I want to be on the road as soon as possible.”
“Colorado, right?” Neko asked.
“By way of West Virginia, yeah,” Catherine replied.
“I’d settle just for New Jersey,” Lily said. “I mean, if we could get the fuck out of Brooklyn, I’d be pretty fuckin’ happy, you know what I mean?”
“Right now, I’d settle just to get to the liquor store,” Catherine said as she crossed her legs. “Let’s save the chit-chat for later, okay? Like after I get to a goddamn bathroom.”
I led the girls out of the parking garage and down to the wine and spirits store, just like I had before. The air was still filled with the scent of alcohol, but once we were all safely inside, I smashed another few bottles just to make sure that no one could smell the six human girls with me.
While the girls took turns stretching and going to the bathroom, Natalie pulled me aside into one corner away from the other girls. She hooked her arm through mine and leaned her head up against my shoulder, and for a few minutes, she didn’t say anything, and I just let her relax into me.
“Sam?” my girlfriend finally murmured.
“I’m here,” I said.
“I’m really sorry about Isaac,” she said.
“What do you mean, you’re sorry?” I asked.
“I’m really sorry that you went all the way to Columbia to try to save him, and that he ended up--” Natalie’s voice broke for a second. “That he ended up being so horrible.”
“That’s not your fault, sweetie,” I said. “And just think about what would have happened to Brianna and Neko if I hadn’t gone. But now they’re alive and they’re safe and with us, and that’s only because you encouraged me to try to go and help Isaac. You can’t help that it was too late to save your brother.”
“I know that no one really said anything about this,” my girlfriend said, “but if Isaac injected himself with the vaccine, that means he knew what he was doing. You turned by accident, but he… if he did it on purpose, then… I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did.”
“Who knows what was really going on inside his head when he did that?” I sighed.
“It’s sweet of you to say that,” she replied, “but I’m afraid we both probably have some idea of what he was thinking. I mean, you don’t inject yourself with vamp juice on purpose for no reason.”
“I know,” I said. “But whatever his reasons were, he didn’t act like your brother when I found him. He was totally different.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” Natalie said.
“Don’t,” I said and slipped my arm around her waist. “Try not to think of him at all that way. Just try to remember what he was like before any of this started.”
“I’ll do my best,” Natalie whispered. “I’m just really glad that you’re safe, and that we’re all with you, Sam.”
“You and me both, Nat,” I said. “Wait here-- I have an idea.”
I squeezed her waist and then left to scan the shelves for the most expensive bottle of wine that I could find. As soon as I did, I found a wine opener behind the cashier’s desk, opened it up, and then called all the girls around in a circle.
“I think you’ve all earned a little bit of a reward,” I said. “But first, let’s pour one out for Isaac-- for the person that he was before all this shit started.”
“To Isaac,” Brianna said as she grabbed Natalie’s hand.
“To Isaac,” Natalie said with a smile. “Thank you, Sam.”
I poured a splash of wine onto the ground-- but not too much, since there was no point in wasting perfectly good wine on a dead bloodsucker. Then I handed the bottle to Natalie and let her take the first drink. Once she took a swig, she passed it to Brianna, and then all the girls passed the bottle around the circle until they had all had a drink.
“Eh, pass it around one more time,” I said. “That should basically finish the bottle, don’t you think?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure there’s nothing left,” Catherine volunteered.
Once the girls had finished the bottle, I smashed the empty glass against the wall and looked around the circle.
I couldn’t quite believe that we had made it this long, and it was definitely hard to believe that I now had six girls to protect when I had started off with just my girlfriend.
Brianna looked like she had just stepped off of a magazine cover, Natalie and Lily looked shaky but calm, Erika seemed like she was planning something elaborate, and Catherine and Neko looked ready to smash up the rest of the wine store if I even hinted that I might want them to.
I knew if we wanted to get all the way out to Colorado, I would have to leave the girls sometimes to go out for supplies or to scout out the area up ahead, but right now, all I cared about was that we were all together and that we were all safe. We would figure out the rest of it as it came, just like we had so far.
After all, we had weapons, food, and medical supplies, plus one badass armored truck that we could use as a tank. We’d figure out how to handle the fact that the phones were down now, we would find a way out of Brooklyn, and then we’d find a way out of the city itself. I didn’t think it would be easy, but I also didn’t think that anything would stand in our way for long.
I wouldn’t let it.
“Well, girls,” I said with a smile, “who’s ready to get the fuck out of New York?”
End of Book 3
End Notes
Thanks for reading Vampire Lord 3! I’ll start working on book 4 when this hits 100 reviews, so please leave me a nice review here. Thank you!
So here is the deal: A
mazon doesn’t update readers when an author comes out with a new book… UNLESS you follow that author on the store. Click here to go to my author page, and then click on the “FOLLOW” button on the left side.
You should also join my Facebook Fan page or follow my Facebook Author page. If you don’t follow me on Amazon or join my Facebook page, you’ll never get alerted when my next book is out. So do it now!
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Logan Jacobs
Conquering A Bloodthirsty Earth (Book 3): Vampire Lord 3 Page 26