by Resca Rojas
“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you.”
Two vampires emerged from the group and walked forward, aiming their guns at Dante, who quickly turned around, giving them his back against the bullets as he tried to take as least damage as possible.
Dante felt to the ground and tried to push himself up, but he could not as the pain was too severe for his nerves to allow him to move much. Mason ran towards the inside of the shipping container and began to shoot at the vampires.
“No! The people- “
Adam punt kicked Dante’s head. The two vampires jumped out and onto Mason. They were relentless and were enduring a lot of pain from the bullets that had pierced their skin from Mason’s gun.
Adam kept kicking Dante who was too injured to defend himself, until he became agitated, grabbed Adam’s leg, and made him fall to the ground. Then, Dante took out his pocket knife and began to violently stab Adam’s leg and thigh areas while he screamed in pain.
One of the vampires noticed and went to help Adam, and as he did, it gave Mason a chance to fight back against the other vampire. Mason let his nails grow into sharp daggers and sliced the vampire’s face. While the vampire felt the cut’s pain, Mason took out his machete and cut the vampire’s head off.
Adam was on the floor, pressing on his stab wound to stop the bleeding. The second vampire was on top of Dante punching his face repeatedly, when he saw that Mason had killed his friend. He got off Dante and sprinted towards Mason.
Mason took out his gun and shot the vampire multiple times; slowing him down, thus giving him the opportunity to swing his machete and then decapitating him.
He then walked to Dante and helped him get up. They were now staring down at Adam, who was close to fainting from so much blood loss.
“You… you really think that you can take out this whole organization? They are untouchable!” Adam was gasping and panting for air. “It can’t be done. And they will never stop looking for you now.”
Dante said nothing, he just picked up one of the vampire’s assault rifle and unloaded the remaining bullets on Adam’s body.
There was a lot of blood on Dante’s clothes, but his body had already pushed out the bullets and he was now healing.
Mason walked towards him and said, “Hey, we make a good team.”
“You shot all those people.”
“I didn’t mean to.” He lied.
“How far are we to the base?” Dante was bothered by what Mason had done, but he told himself that he had to focus on his own personal mission.
“Fifteen minutes.”
“Okay, we are taking the truck. You drive it, and I will follow behind in my car. When we get closer, I’ll park the car somewhere discreet and follow on foot. Help me put these three inside the container."
15 Minutes Later
Mason was now in front of the gated entrance to the private property that was owned by Lukas, while Mason quietly followed on foot and off the road. Armed security guards were stationed tactfully around the base.
Damn. He wasn’t kidding about the security around here. Dante thought to himself.
The guard opened the gate without verifying who was in the truck that had tinted windows, as this was the norm every Friday, and let Mason in.
Mason parked the truck in a spot that was designated for the deliveries, and two vampires were waiting for it.
The head of security, Titus, walked towards the truck’s driver side. “Hey, what the hell is taking so long?” Titus yelled as he knocked on the door roughly. He was already irritated that the delivery was late.
Mason removed the safety from the gun, and as he was about to pull the trigger, everyone heard a howl. All the vampires on the base suddenly became fearful.
The howling echoed from the woods towards every single vampire, sending chills down their bodies. Lukas, who was inside enjoying himself with a woman. Stopped and listened.
“Stand your ground. Werewolves are practically instinct. There’s more of us!” Lukas reassured them. “Do not let one bottom-feeding beast throw you off. Shoot to kill! Never doubt-”
A loud gunshot was heard as a bullet pierced Titus’ left eye, and sent him to the floor. It had come from Mason’s pistol as he shot thru the window.
Mason jumped out of the car, removed his machete, and killed a vampire who had been heading his way.
There was a guard on top of the roof. He aimed his sniper rifle at Mason, who was moving at a fast pace as he kept hacking and slashing all the incoming vampires. As the gunman was about to pull the trigger, he felt a strong thud as Dante had leapt and climbed the top of the roof’s mansion, and was now behind him. The man turned around in fear as Dante swung his arm, sending him flying down onto the concrete floor.
The man died on impact behind Mason, who looked up and could clearly see Dante’s neon eye color as they stared each other for a moment. Mason yelled, “Go! Get Lukas, I got this!” Mason picked up a pistol from the floor.
He now wielded a pistol in one hand and a machete with his other, flawlessly using them against all the vampires that were coming at him.
Dante transformed into his human form, and entered the mansion through a window. Once inside, he looked around and realized that he was in a study room. There was a man who was tasked with guarding the window, but he had fallen asleep on a chair in front of the desk. Dante slowly walked up to him and snapped his neck. He then grabbed his gun from its holster. You won’t be needing that anymore.
Mason had just finished killing the last vampire that he was fighting and he noticed that the man that Dante threw off the roof had fallen with a sniper rifle. Mason placed his machete in its sheath and then grabbed the rifle.
He got into position as four vampires began to walk out of the mansion and the sprinted towards him. He was able to shoot one in the neck with the sniper rifle before they got closer to him.
Shit. He grabbed the rifle by it’s barrel and swung it at the first vampire that came at him. As the vampire felt to the ground, the other two tackled him to the floor.
When Dante exited the study room, he saw three vampires that had begun to charge towards him. “Come on!” He taunted them and then transformed into his werewolf form.
One by one they attempted to avenge their fallen brothers by attacking him, but the werewolf killed them with ease.
Dante focused his enhanced hearing and was able to locate where the vampires were keeping all the hostages; he headed to the basement.
Outside, the two vampires had taken hold of Mason, and they had pinned him against the floor. They were beating him mercilessly. His enhanced strength and endurance helped him handle physical pain, but the constant beating was too much for him to bear.
“You idiot, Lukas is not here. He already left.” One of the vampires tied him with binding handcuffs, making Mason unable to break the chains and fight back due to the strong magic that they had enchanted the handcuffs with.
“I know. Look, call Lukas. He will vouch for me.”
Dante returned to his human form. The first thing that he realized was that he was naked. He removed the pants from one of the fallen vampires and put them on. He was comfortable with being naked, but did not enjoyed doing so for others.
He had left his smartphone inside his car, so he began his search for a new one by going thru a dead vampire’s pockets. He was fortunate that in his first search, he found one and that to his surprise, it was not secured with a password to unlock it.
He unlocked it and dialed Mason’s number which he had remembered.
“Hey, it’s me. Dead guy’s phone. Is everything okay over there?”
“Yeah. I killed every single vampire. I’m sitting on the floor against a wall, just trying to catch my breath. Did you find and kill Lukas?”
“No. I don’t think that he is here. I’m gonna head to the basement and see what I can find.”
“I’ll join you”
“No. It’s okay. Really, it should be quick.”
Mason did not think about it much and just closed his eyes and relaxed.
After he ended the call, Dante headed towards the basement. Once he was at the front of the stairs, he walked down the steps. When he reached the last steps, he froze for a moment to examine the whole room.
There were empty blood bags and dead bodies laying on a couch, and a television was playing in the background.
In the corner of the room, there was a large cage, and there were people chained to the walls, inside of it. He counted six victims; all men.
He walked to them and they tried to step back and away from him as much as they could.
They’re scared.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he reassured them, “I came to help.”
When no one else responded back to him, he tried speaking Spanish to them and said, “Yo vengo a ayudarlos. No para lastimarlos.”
“It was you, wasn’t it? The guy killing all those vampires? We could hear the fight. A man spoke up.
“Yeah. Yeah, I did. I’m here to kill Lukas. What they’re doing is wrong and I’m here to stop them.”
“Oh. Thank, God. And what about us? What are you going to do with us?”
Dante stayed quiet. He looked around the room and noticed an submachine gun laying on the table.
He picked it up.
“Hey, the more of us to help you, the better. Let us out and then we will go and kill all these bastards. Don’t leave us here!”
Dante walked back to them. Can’t leave any witnesses. Whatever it takes. They were all terrified. He knew it was wrong. There was no way around this. He believed that if he let witnesses free, they would go to the police and speak up. Then, Kayla and Garrett would find out that someone was after them.
He aimed the submachine gun at the group of innocent prisoners.
“You son of a bitch. You are no different than- “
Dante pulled the trigger and shot all of them.
After the magazine clip was empty, Dante threw the weapon on the floor and began to walk back upstairs.
He fought the tears for the actions that he had just committed. But he had to remind himself of the deal that he had made with Mason.
No witnesses.
He left the basement and then exited the house. He saw Mason leaning against the truck,
“Hey, are we ready to go?”
“Yeah. It’s time.”
They began to walk out of the property and headed towards Dante’s car that was parked somewhere a mile away. He took out his smart phone and called his brother.
11
They had just finished cremating the dead vampire and were now in an office room. Amber was sitting on a chair looking at Klayton in disbelief.
“Five-hundred thousand, just like that?” Ethan asked.
“Yes. I’m offering witness protection for you two until I hunt them down. It’s a cabin a few hours from here.”
“She’s a cop and I know how to use a gun. We’ll be fine here while you kill them.”
“Look, vampire’s can’t track as good as werewolves, but regardless, they do. You know what that means? Once they get your scent, and they will,” he looked at Amber, “They won’t stop until they hunt you down.”
“You have killed vampires before?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah.”
“I think we should leave with him.” Amber suggested.
Ethan thought about it for a moment. With that much money, he could give Amber everything that he ever wanted to.
“Look, Amber said that you guys are off duty for the next three days, right? This should all be over before then-,” Klayton stopped talking.
“Klay? Hey, what’s wrong?” Amber said.
He whispered, “There’s one here. I can sense him, don’t talk!” Amber got closer to Ethan. “Hide behind the desk. Now.” He mouthed, then he signaled them where to go without saying another word so that the vampire could not hear them.
While they hid behind the big wooden desk, the vampire unlocked the door and entered the room. He walked carefully, making sure that he made the least amount of noise as possible.
The room was dark, but for the vampire it was dimly lit. He turned around and faced a tall werewolf standing in front of him. The vampire looked at him. “This is way above my paygrade.” The vampire complained as Klayton roared into his face.
When the vampire tried to launch at Klayton, Ethan grabbed him by the neck and placed him on a sleeper hold as he stabbed the vampire with a knife on its shoulder.
The vampire screamed in pain and scratched Ethan’s arms.
Ethan groaned and pushed the vampire towards Klayton, who then bit into the vampire’s shoulder.
As the vampire felt to his knees, Klayton stepped back and then pierced his nails inside the vampire’s chest. He yanked out its heart.
“We gotta go. Now!” Klayton yelled with urgency in his voice after he turned back into his human form.
“What the Hell?” Ethan was filled with adrenaline. “Did we just killed a vampire- were you just a- “
Amber pulled his hand. “Come on, babe.”
They got inside Klayton’s Hummer. Ethan was sitting next to Klayton and Amber was on the backseat. “We gotta go to the motel to get someone. Then we can leave to the safe house.”
Klayton began to drive. “There’s a gun in the glove compartment.” He informed Ethan. “It’s yours. Use it.”
“Okay.”
“Questions?”
“How did you do that? Turn into that?”
“Heh,” He looked at Amber nervously thru the rearview mirror, “Someone gave it to me. It’s called lycanthrope.” He left out the part where it had been a woman whom he had sex with and had offered it to him the next morning.
They were almost at the motel.
“We left a dead body inside a funeral, and not how it usually goes.” Ethan said.
“That’s kind of funny.”
“What the hell is going to happen? Are my parents going to be okay.”
“Yes. I know for a fact that they’re safe,” he lied, “Ninety-nine percent of all police stations has an S-Agent, someone tasked with protecting the ugly truth. It’ll be swept under a rug.”
They were now five minutes away from the motel. “Klay?”
“Yes, Amber?” He responded in a sweet voice, not knowing what she was going to say.
“What is it that you do for a living? You are able to give us half a million, and this is a decked out Hummer.”
Klayton was usually cocky about his field of work. But having to tell the woman whom he one day dreamt of spending his life with for the rest of his life with? He was ashamed.
“I am a private and independent contractor.”
“For?”
“I provide protection to those who pay me, and I also use lethal force against those who I have been hired to kill.”
Ethan scoffed. “So, you are a hitman.”
“I mean, if you want to label it like that, then sure.” Klayton had a defensive tone.
“Who do you kill?” Amber hoped that what he did was justified.
“People who deserve it. Rapists who got away free from any jail time. Killers, pedophiles. Corrupted people.” He tried to make it sound convincingly enough so that he would not scare Amber, or have Ethan dislike him.
Ethan hardly knew Klayton to judge him for his actions, and Amber acknowledge that she had just been saved by him. They remained quiet as Klayton entered the motel’s parking lot and parked his car as close to his motel room as possible.
“Okay. We are here. I’m going to go get her.”
“Who is she?” Amber asked.
“I rescued her and I want her to be by my side while she adjusts to her new life.”
“What does she have?” Ethan said.
“Vampirism.”
Ethan took a deep breath. “One of the things that tried to kill us.”
“She’s not a thing. She was forced by some sick bastards, not b
y choice.” He then looked at him. “Look, I have known Amber all my life, I won’t let anything happen to her.”
He then looked at Amber and said, “I know that he means a lot to you, so I’ll do my best to protect him. But, you guys have trust me. The woman I am helping, her name is Lillian, and she’s the key to keeping you both alive.”
“How?” Ethan asked.
“Either I’m turning you two into werewolves, or she will turn you into vampires. Up to you guys, but it has to be one or the other. It’ll save your life.”
Ethan smiled at hearing this, while Amber meditated on it. While they processed everything that was just spoken about, Klayton went to the trunk of his car, and then came back with two machetes. He handed one to each.
“Stay in the car. I won’t take long. Remember, to kill a vampire, you need to cut the head off. They will not think twice about killing you, so don’t hesitate to kill them.”
His motel room was on the second floor of the building. Klayton leapt and then jumped over the rail. He then walked towards his room.
As he placed his hands on the doorknob to open the door, his nose was hit with a strong odor of dead blood. He remembered how he had left Lillian blood bags, but he could tell that this scent was different.
He opened the door and instantly saw a dead man laying down on the floor, with a puddle of blood under his head. He had bled to death from puncture wounds to his neck.
By the way that he was dressed, Klayton assumed that he must have been the owner of the truck that had been outside. He quickly scanned the room, and then walked over to the side of the bed. There, he saw Lillian sitting down on the floor, with her back against the bed as she hugged her legs together with her face planted on her thighs.
Klayton knelt down and lifted her chin up gently so that they could be eye to eye. He noticed that her eyes were red; she had been crying. “Are you okay?” He noticed that there was no blood on her, and she was not physically injured. He discreetly sniffed her and realized that she must have showered to clean herself.