by J. P. Rice
I turned to Glenda. “They are all tied up with the guards. If we run down the steps or take an elevator, that guy will be long gone by then. We’re fucked.”
Glenda jumped up, closed her eyes and started to shake wildly. I watched her exhale, and then a wash of reddish brown fur cascaded over her face and down over her body. Her clothes began to fray and shred. Within moments, she stood on top of a tall building in Philadelphia in full fox form.
I was confused. “I don’t understand how that is going to help.”
“Just hug me from behind around my neck and I will show you,” she announced as she walked closer to the edge and picked up a pistol and a balled-up piece of black fabric. Jonathan’s friends had left a nice cache of weapons on the rooftop but I wasn’t sure what the other item was.
I followed her instructions and wrapped my arms around her neck. She said, “Whoa, easy there, buddy. Don’t be copping a feel.”
I still didn’t know what her plan was as we penguin-walked right up to the lip of the building. Her knees bent, and without warning, we launched off the side and plummeted toward the ground. My heart threatened to stop, not that it mattered, as we were falling like a rock.
A strong, ruffling sound hit my ears and we began to slow our rapid descent. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but we suddenly floated back and forth, like when you drop a flat piece of paper. We were still falling, but at a very slow rate.
We gently swayed back and forth as if we were on some magic carpet or something. Turning to my left, I could see a flap of furry fox skin causing wind resistance. I turned to the right and noticed the same thing. She was like a flying squirrel. She didn’t have wings, but she had the furry, parachute-like membrane stretching from her armpit to her hip.
We floated down and gently landed in the middle of the street, stopping traffic. People on the sidewalks yelled and screamed while others just watched with their jaws dropped. Glenda unraveled a loose black dress and slid it over her fox figure as she began to shift back into a human.
Through the commotion, I ran over to the tennis courts, but the duffle bag man was nowhere to be found.
Glancing to my right, I saw the guy trying to blend into a crowd of people, but I noticed the black bag strap over his shoulder. I turned to Glenda. “Why don’t you help those guys try to escape? I’ll go after the portal.”
Glenda nodded as she held up the semi-automatic pistol and turned. She went toward the entrance way and I raced down the street. Police sirens sung in the distance, but the stopped traffic was probably making it difficult to get to the scene. It also made me wonder if our getaway car had been blocked in too.
Sliding those thoughts aside, I tracked after the man in the green suit, who kept peeking nervously over both shoulders. As far as he knew, I was just a regular Joe. A diehard Philly fan roaming the streets.
The smell of burnt beef danced in the South Philly air. I closed in on the man and wondered what attack to use. Reluctant to bust out some serious magic on the street, I went with a simpler attack. Closing my fist, I reached back and clocked him upside the head, right in the ear.
His knees wobbled and he crashed to the ground. However, he wasn’t knocked out and still clutched at the duffle bag. I tried to rip it away, but he wasn’t giving up the package. The man made it back to his feet as we wrestled over the bag.
I firmed my grip and yanked on the bag, pulling the older man with me. My feet kept sliding back. The smell of burnt meat intensified. As I pulled on the bag with all my strength, the man released it and I fell backwards.
Chapter 20
As I got back to my feet, I realized that I had backed into an outdoor cheesesteak hut. It was a tiny kitchen with picnic tables set up around the facility. The employees had evacuated after the gunshots, leaving huge piles of meat and onions burning on the flattop. A nasty smoke lingered in the kitchen, filtering out through the ordering window off to the side.
When I became fully upright again, a straight left jab nailed me on the bridge of my nose. Stunned, I dropped the bag and took a step back. We were crammed in this tiny place with a smoking flattop to my left and a series of sinks on the right. I only had about the width of three feet to work with.
Like a fool, I hadn’t called my magic to the surface because I didn’t know what could happen in Philly. It wasn’t Pittsburgh and they could look down on magic practitioners, ending with me getting arrested. Especially, smack dab in the middle of the city. I still should have prepared it to go.
The man lunged for my throat and grabbed hold, his thumbs smashing my windpipe. Rarely would I condone a move that I’d learned from the Three Stooges in a life or death fight, but I straightened my middle and forefinger and poked him in the eyes.
He didn’t shout ‘Wise guy, eh,’ but he did yelp in pain. While he tried to deal with the pain, I grabbed a handful of uncooked beef sitting on top of the pile and threw it in his face. I was glad no one was around to see these comedic, yet effective fight moves.
As he frantically wiped the meat away, I connected with a straight right jab to his chin, mashing some steak into his skin. Furiously, he wiped all the meat off his face and came at me again. He threw a straight right punch that I ducked, and as I rose, I clobbered him in the gut.
He huffed in pain and doubled over, holding his midsection, his face dangerously close to the sizzling flattop. I grabbed the few remaining wisps of hair on top of his head and mashed the side of his face onto the grill.
He shouted in pain as his face sizzled, and the smoke of burnt flesh rose from the grill. I felt somewhat bad as I listened to his tormented screaming. But this was a dangerous game and people got hurt, sometimes scarred for life. He was a vampire, so although he would heal from this damage, it was going to leave one hell of a mark.
The man stopped struggling. Stopped moving completely. Oh fuck, I hadn’t meant to kill him. I let go of his face and he collapsed onto the rubber kitchen mats. Remembering the cops could show up any second, I stepped over the vampire, grabbed the bag and exited the smoky shack as if nothing had happened.
Citizens were screaming and running down the streets and sidewalks creating a chaotic city scene. Whistling a calm tune, I fought against the evacuation to get back to the area everyone was running from. The action. I made it back to the tennis courts and saw Glenda and Del Rubio near the entrance way.
Del Rubio’s nose had been smashed sideways and his face was covered in blood. Glenda pointed at the bag. “Is that it?”
I nodded, tapping the bag. “It is. Where’s Jonathan and Timson? We need to get the fuck out of here.”
Del Rubio said, “That’s a problem. Timson is dead and Jonathan has been captured and dragged inside the building.”
Glenda informed me, “I hate to say it, but Jonathan might be dead at this point too. He killed about five guards.”
I said, “He didn’t kill them. They’re vampires, so unless he staked them or got holy water into their bloodstream, they aren’t dead. Just hurt.”
“Most of those guards weren’t vampires. Just normal humans.”
I felt like I was going to be sick. Even humans working with vampires were off limits. I really hoped I hadn’t plugged any humans or I would have a hell of a lot to answer for. “Fuck. We can’t just leave him behind on the assumption that he’s dead.”
Glenda asked, “So what do you plan to do? We can’t just sit here waiting for the cops to arrest us.”
I smirked. “Plan? I’m gonna do what I do.”
Glenda cocked her head to the side. “And what the hell does that mean?”
I handed her the bag with a smirk still on my face. “Time to make shit happen.”
“What is your plan?” Del Rubio asked as he sopped up some of the blood on his face with his sleeve.
I explained, “I’m going in. You guys take that portal back to the car and then post up on that roof again if you can. Don’t shoot the redcaps. Okay?”
Glenda answered, “All right.”
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I turned to Del Rubio. “Don’t shoot the redcaps.”
“Got it.” Del Rubio nodded.
I said it one more time. “So the redcap plan is in effect. Hurry up and get that to the car. Once I see you two coming back, I’m heading in.”
They scurried up the street, blending into a wave of citizenry and disappearing from view. As I scanned the area for cops, I primed my magic and understood that this was a stupid plan. But I had to do it. It wasn’t just for Jonathan or myself. It was for Reg.
My best friend had specifically said that he needed Jonathan to raise him from the dead. If I left Jonathan behind, Reg would never rise again. And I had a code where I didn’t leave anyone behind. Whether it be Felix, Burn or someone I’d recently realized to be a bloodthirsty vampire. He was on my team for this mission and that meant I would die to save him. But I would die with honor.
It was hard to explain unless you’d had your life saved before.
I could feel my magic, warm and bubbly below my flesh, ready to go. Del Rubio and Glenda jogged down the street toward me, hunched over and out of breath. They gave me a thumbs up signal as they headed for the hotel across the street.
Showtime.
Walking calmly up the sidewalk, I hooked a right through the busted chain linked fence and into the entrance way. The Larimores had removed the dead bodies, but there were streaks of blood all over the ground and small chunks of flesh and bone were still strewn about.
I tried to avoid the tainted areas, but that quickly became impossible and the sole of my shoe settled in a puddle of blood from someone who had been living and breathing only minutes ago. The metallic, coppery smell offended my nose, and all the burnt steak meat on that flattop couldn’t cancel out the scent of death, heavy and thick in the windless Philly air.
As I neared the door, I caught a whiff of expensive cologne, strong enough to overpower everything else. The door popped open and a young-looking vampire greeted me with his arm extended, pistol in hand.
I held my hands up in the air. “I’m not looking for trouble. Just send Jonathan out and we’ll be on our way.”
“Shut your mouth. In fact.” He lowered the pistol and held it behind his back as he leaned out the door, inspected the street and sidewalk and pointed the gun at me again. “Get in here.”
Just what I wanted. I walked in the front door of the Larimores, one of the most powerful vampire clans in Philadelphia. The young vamp jabbed the middle of my back with the end of the barrel, directing me down a hallway with a checkered floor.
A bank of elevators appeared on the left as we continued down the walkway.
“That door over there. Open it,” he said, pointing with the gun at the golden handle of a door off to the right.
I rested my hand on the straight knob and pushed it down. The vampire jabbed me with the barrel again, reminding me not to make any hasty moves. I opened the door and saw Jonathan, handcuffed with his legs tied to a banquet hall chair.
There were about fifteen other vampires in the room, pacing about and whispering to each other. One of the vampires approached us, and asked, “Did you see the boss out there? He’s still not answering his phone.”
Pistol Pete, aka the young vampire behind me said, “No. He might not be answering because he’s on the run still. Give him some time before we panic.” He raised his voice, “Gentlemen. Everyone switch to the silver bullets that have been doused in holy water. And don’t forget to put on gloves.”
As his men huddled around two tables in the corner of the room, Pistol Pete led me over to a chair next to Jonathan.
He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his suit jacket pocket and dangled them in the air. “Extend your arms.”
I put my wrists together and pushed them toward him. The dull clicking sound of closing handcuffs rang in my ears and the cold metal tightened on my wrist. Pistol Pete secured the other wrist. Still holding the chain links in the middle, he stared at the cuffs and his lips moved.
He was casting a protection ward. If I could just distract him a bit, that could weaken the spell.
One of the other vampires across the room yelled, “Darrick, do you want me to tie up his legs?”
I added, “Yeah, maybe you should get some help. I’m a slippery bastard.”
Darrick’s lips stopped moving and he closed his eyes in disgust. “Just let me finish here and you can have at it.” He focused on the cuffs again and finished setting his spell.
Darrick flashed the gun in my face. He loved reminding me of that. The young vampire turned his back and walked across the room, joining his friends, who were greedily loading their weapons.
His little assistant raced over and tied my ankles and calves to the chair. I couldn’t tell what material he was using, but it looked and felt like rubber. Concentrating on my handcuffs, I shifted my vision. I went to the fourth dimension to detect the wards Darrick had set.
They weren’t that complex at all. The distractions had worked. As I focused on freeing the magical defenses, the door swung open and slammed loudly into the wall.
Three cops entered the room. The fourth officer pushed a man in a suit through the door. Holy shit. It was Grill Face. I started to smile as relief coursed through my body.
One of the officers said, “Gentlemen. We found this man down the street at Joey’s Cheesesteaks and while escorting him back here we noticed the blood bath right outside this building. On your property, gentlemen. Who has an answer for all that blood?”
Yes. I hoped the cops realized that we weren’t with these bozos.
Chapter 21
Darrick walked up to the officer, his hands in the air. “How much are we talking, my good man?”
The cop shook his head. “It’s a lot of blood this time. This won’t be easy to frame some people for. I mean, we can do it, but it’ll cost you.”
Darrick spoke softly, “Officer Goodblatte, we’ve been through this before. No need to negotiate. Just give us your number.”
What the fuck was going on here? No. They weren’t...
Goodblatte tossed his head back and forth. “This is at least a twenty grand coverup. I mean, I got three guys with me right here.”
Fucking dirty cops. Of all the luck in the world. Why couldn’t I get one modicum of it?
Darrick suggested, “Let’s call it twenty five. Sound fair?”
Motherfucker.
The corners of Goodblatte’s lips formed into a sleazy smile and his fat cheeks bunch up. “You do know how to take care of Philly’s finest.”
As Darrick called on his assistant to pay the officer, all the other vampires rushed over to Grill Face. They asked him if he was all right and they kept calling him boss. And I was just talking about luck.
The boss shoved everyone away and glowered at me as he stomped in my direction. His face was mangled and raw from the cooking lesson I’d given him earlier. But there was pure, unadulterated anger pasted from his angry, wrinkled forehead all the way down to his dimpled chin.
He was breathing heavily, snarling actually, as he came to a stop right in front of me and leaned down. “Look at what you did to me, you menace. Where is the portal?”
It smelled worse than it looked. “Sorry about that. I left that bag on the street. Turns out it was a different duffle bag I was looking for.”
He stood up and backhanded me across the cheek. My head whipped to the side and pain ran from my ear to my chin. He said, “Wrong answer. Before I kill you out of anger alone, tell me where our portal is.”
Jonathan interjected, “Your portal? Theft does not equal possession.”
The boss turned to the vampire. “It most certainly does in our world. And you know that.”
“Well, it appears that you don’t have it in your possession anymore. So take your righteous indignation and shove it up your ass,” Jonathan taunted him.
The boss took two steps to his right and blasted Jonathan in the jaw. “Shut your face. I’ll deal with you next.”
I
tried to study the wards on the handcuffs while Jonathan had the boss distracted. Under the pressure of the situation, I couldn’t find any compromised area in the structure.
“Hey, asshole, look at me,” the boss shouted at me.
Oh shit. I looked up from the handcuffs at his gnarly visage.
He raised his right eyebrow and said, “Stop fucking around. Tell me where the portal is or you’re going to die right here.” He turned over his right shoulder and yelled in the direction of the vampires, “Hey, who wants to take target practice?”
A few men stepped forward, holding revolvers in their hands and sporting wide grins on their faces.
The boss rubbed his fingers together, appearing to be deep in thought. “Wait a minute. There were more of you. Only one body from your side is lying over there. That means at least one man has escaped. And I know he has my portal.”
Jonathan said, “See there you go again calling it your portal. It’s not yours.”
The boss sneered and went after Jonathan again. He reached out with his sausage fingers and grabbed Jonathan by the neck. His forearm flexed, and Jonathan gagged and choked, his face turning the darkest shade of burgundy.
This attack gave me more time and I found an inconsistency in the defense ward that I exploited, canceling the protection spell. Now I just had to slip out of these cuffs. The problem was I had no fucking clue how I was going to do it.
I started to gather in as much strength as I could. Calling on the Dagda, I mentally asked him to project some of his strength into me. I recited a few strength spells and could feel my power swelling. Jonathan was turning purple, so I yelled, “Hey sweetheart, don’t forget about me over here.”
The boss removed his hands from Jonathan’s throat and stared at me with crazy eyes. “Oh, I got time for the both of yous. I hope you don’t have anywhere to be.” He belly-laughed and unleashed a straight right fist that cracked me in the chin. It sent shockwaves up my jaw, aggravating the pain from the previous punch.
Anger pulsed through my body, feeding into the strength I was seeking. I was almost ready to try my most daring magic act yet. “Is that the best you can do, you fucking skirt?” I asked and spat a wad of blood on his shoe.