"A little band of vampires. How droll. My days of community are long gone."
"Really?" Darwin asked. "You attempted to be leader once, and I was guessing that perhaps you still might?"
"Leader? Of your little pack?" D'Toeni didn't sound excited by the prospect.
"We can build back up again. A new start. And I thought you could be in charge of it."
"You know what your problem is, Darwin?" the vampire said.
Darwin shook his head.
"Acceptance. You have always craved acceptance. You want to be a vampire, but you're not. You never will be, and no amount of do-gooding and preening will ever change that. You think that because I am a vampire, I should give a shit about what happens to all the other vampires. I don't."
"But then why challenge Metzger for the leadership?"
"Because that little Nazi cocksucker needed to be taught a lesson."
"A lesson?"
"Yes. The vampires weren't the Hitler youth, weren't something to be controlled and ordered. If I'd beaten him, I would have disbanded the Vampire Council. What a stupid fucking name. I mean there hasn't been an actual council meeting for nearly a hundred years."
Darwin felt his plan start to unravel. He'd come all this way, had gone along with Ryan because he believed D'Toeni was worth saving, believed he was the leader the survivors needed. He wasn't so sure now.
"Surely everything going on right now shows you that we're stronger together than separately. I mean the Naya Vestu."
D'Toeni sighed. "Oh please don't bring that up. Some bullshit vampire legend about some epic trek to freedom. All I see is a lot of dead vampires."
"I'm surprised you see that as a bad thing."
"I look out for one person, Darwin. Me. Fuck everyone else. I'll join you if it's in my interest to do so, but I'll equally stab you in the back if that's to my advantage."
It was hard for Darwin not to show his disappointment. "Some hero you are."
"Never claimed I was a hero. You know what a hero is? Someone who by all rights should be dead right now and just got lucky. I prefer to avoid the risk altogether."
"I don't believe you," Darwin said defiantly. This had to be a game, Darwin thought, one of D'Toeni's mind tricks. The vampires needed D'Toeni to lead them. He couldn't turn his back on them? Not now, could he?
D'Toeni tutted. "That's why you're not a vampire, my boy."
Darwin was still trying to conceal his disappointment when Cassidy returned.
"No axe, but I found this."
She held up a metal cupboard door. Part of it had rusted, leaving a jagged edge around one corner. Darwin doubted it would be strong enough to break D'Toeni's chains, it was worth a try.
At first it seemed hopeless, the chains chipping away at the door's rust rather than the other way around. However, once the rust had been chipped away what was left was a much sharper edge that bit into the links of D'Toeni's chain and started ripping them apart.
"How do you plan to get him out of here?" Ryan asked. "Won't he just... you know... go poof if he goes out in daylight."
"That had crossed my mind," smirked Darwin.
"I trust you have a plan," Cassidy said. "Please tell me there is a plan."
"Yeah. Ryan, start stripping."
Ryan's eyes went wide. "You what?"
"I said strip."
"Darwin," Cassidy complained. "If this is one of your twisted little games..."
"Look. If D'Toeni's skin gets hit with sunlight, he'll burn. We need to cover him up."
"Then why don't you do it?" Ryan asked.
Darwin sighed, reluctant to show weakness in from of Ryan.
"Cos he'll burn as well," Cassidy told the boy. "Not as bad, but he'll still burn."
Ryan nodded his head upwards. "It's fucking freezing out there."
"It's either you or Cassidy," Darwin sighed. "Fight it out amongst yourselves."
"Look he's got clothes. I'll lend him my hoodie to cover his head, but I want it back. It was well expensive."
"Ryan," Darwin told the boy. "You ever been sunburned through a T-Shirt?"
Ryan nodded.
"Same principle here. Get it all off."
"I ain't taking my boxers off for no-one."
Darwin rolled his eyes. He could never understand why humans got so uptight about getting nude. "No-one wants to see how little you have to offer womankind, Ryan. We're just trying to stop the vampire from burning."
Ryan turned to Cassidy as he unbuttoned his jeans. "I reckon your mate is a right dirty perv."
Cassidy raised her eyebrows. "If only you knew".
Whilst Darwin continued chipping away at a link in D'Toeni's chain, he instructed Cassidy how to dress the vampire. Ryan stood in the corner, dressed in just his underwear and trainers, hands under opposing arms trying to keep warm.
"Put the socks on the hands," Darwin instructed. "Make sure the wrists aren't left exposed."
"You know, I can do this myself," D'Toeni muttered. "I'm not a complete imbecile, you know."
With one last thump the link broke and the vampire was unchained. Darwin threw the rusted door aside and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
He stood and stretched. "Done," he said.
Ryan looked at the vampire nervously. Darwin had seen that look of fear on victim's faces before.
"D'Toeni," he commanded as he walked away from the vampire, "no biting Ryan. Not until we're out of here anyway. We're gonna need his help to carry you back to the Minibus."
There was a shove from behind, and Darwin felt himself careen into the wall. He struck it with his cheek and tumbled onto the floor. He rolled so he could see his attacker, but was met by D'Toeni batting him with the flat side of the discarded metal door. It smacked against his nose and lip, giving a ringing thud as it did so.
Darwin wanted to ask D'Toeni why he was doing this. He was rescuing him after all. Why turn on the person who could get you out of here. But a boot met his stomach before he could utter a word and the air in his lungs left him. Instead he wanted to vomit. He curled into a ball, blood streaming from his nose, lip and cheek. He caught a glance of Cassidy, Ryan holding the gun to her head, before his hair was grabbed and his head yanked around to meet with D'Toeni's fist.
Don't lose consciousness, Darwin told himself. You pass out, it's all over.
He managed to gasp a "Why?"
D'Toeni laughed. "Why? Why? Didn't you listen to anything I said? I look out for one person. Me!"
The vampire delivered another blow and the corners of Darwin's world started to go dark.
"You'd sell out other vampires?" Every word burned as he said it but it was important that Darwin asked.
D'Toeni shrugged. "You're not a vampire," and delivered the blow that made Darwin's world go black.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX - Maureen’s Rescue
15 Park Place East was what passed as a supermarket in New Salisbury. Maureen had wandered all over the city in recent days and whilst she'd seen plenty of coffee shops and fast food joints selling brands that wouldn't look out of place in her own world, this was the first supermarket she had come across. During the day it would be clinical and white, but now, after hours, the shop was cast into a grey blue by the security lighting. A large sign on the window read "Opening Soon".
Maureen checked the front door but the revolving doors - she had yet to see any 'swish swish' doors as she called them - were well and truly locked into place.
She felt in her pockets at the few plants she'd been able to find to replenish her stock along the way. Maybe she should go and find a park and gather some more? No matter, she told herself. She was just trying to create diversions, not win a war.
Sure that the front door would not open for her - she wasn't about to use magic just yet - she decided to investigate around the back. There must be a delivery entrance.
The back alley was dark and smelly. High brick walls lined either side, each without windows or features, except fo
r a solitary air vent. A trail of water ran down a central gutter that ran the length of the alleyway. The smell of rotten food was almost overbearing. At the end a large roller shutter door was set into a wall next to a pile of boxes and waste.
Maureen held a hanky over her nose as she investigated the entrance. The roller shutter was locked, but even if she somehow managed to break the lock, she'd probably need someone as strong as Joseph to open it.
However, beside it was a smaller, human sized door, the newness of the paint seeming out of place with the smell of the alley.
She tried the handle and wasn't entirely surprised when it turned. Expect the unexpected, she told herself and stepped through into a store room.
The storeroom itself was dark but the security lighting made it look like it was lit by the moon itself.
"Hello," Maureen called out, and then chided herself. The element of surprise did not involve calling out to see if anyone was there. However, she was almost disappointed when no-one responded back.
It was a large room, about the size of two playing fields by Maureen's estimations, far too big for the shop at the front. Perhaps they were planning a chain of supermarkets and this would be the distribution centre. Either way, the storeroom was filled with lines of metal racks, empty in places but filled in others where the non-perishable goods had started to come in.
The light was weak such that you couldn't see more than one row over, and so Maureen walked lightly and carefully, winding up and down the rows, always keeping an eye out for anything that might be moving, anything that might be alive.
Her first sign of activity came down near the cold storage lockers. A door was open and a light turned on inside. Maureen could easily make out the dark haired elf, even from this distance, but as to who or what it was conversing with, she wasn't so sure.
It was oily black and two to three times the height of the elf. At first Maureen though it might be a troll due to the size but the more she looked, the more she realised it was something entirely different. For a start it had tentacles, lots of them. Maybe not hundreds but definitely far more than an octopus. The head itself, reminded her more of an elephant though, the same big sad dark eyes, but with a central tentacle larger and set slightly higher than the others, that resembled a trunk. If it had arms or legs, Maureen couldn't see them.
As to what it was, Maureen had no idea. She thought she was pretty good with the hundreds of different races in Venefasia but this was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Perhaps it was some form of dark magic by the elves - after all they were more highly skilled at the art than humans and knew spells no man did.
Maureen's heart skipped a beat as she worried for a second whether this creature was Joseph, mutated by cruel elven magic. She watched the creature's tentacles fold and unfold, and there was something about the creature's movements that seemed to convince her that this something other than elven magic.
She looked toward the next cold storage locker, its door shut. If I was to put a troll anywhere in this place, she told herself, that is where I would put it.
Stealthily, she made her way forward, using the metal racks and their occasional contents as cover, until she was just one row away from the lockers, hidden behind some tins of soup that were obviously from her realm.
The elf and the oily creature seemed to be conversing, but as to what, Maureen was unable to hear. Her hearing wasn't the best normally, but the hum of the refrigeration units, drowned out the sound from within the lockers.
She took some deep breaths. She'd need to get rid of both of them if she was to open the locker she suspected Joseph was in.
Silently she slipped from behind her hiding place and ran light footed toward the open locker. She reached it unseen, and with all her might, pushed the door shut. The elf only noticed at the last minute.
"Wait," he shouted, running toward the door. But he was too late and he never reached it before Maureen had pushed it closed.
Maureen could feel him hammering, but the room did a very good job of muffling his shouts to a mumble, inaudible over the refrigeration units. Perfect, thought Maureen.
She turned her attention to the second locker, and hoped that her gut instinct had proved right.
If the last door had proved hard to close, this one proved next to impossible to open, Maureen having to lean back and leverage the weight of her entire body to get the door to open. As such, she was unable to peek inside until she had finished pulling it open.
Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the troll roped up to a large chair. He looked very bruised in places, one of his eyes looked particularly purple and swollen, and he had a lot of cuts.
"Oh Joseph," Maureen said putting her hands up to her mouth in shock. This was all her fault. She felt so guilty.
The troll looked up, managing a week smile that revealed bloody teeth.
"Maureen," he smiled weakly. "You're alive. I thought..."
Maureen held her finger to her lips to indicate for him to be quiet, as she set about trying to untie him. The ropes had been fastened tight, and in places had cut into him. Maureen wished she'd had the foresight to bring some plasters with her.
She noticed Joseph tense as she pulled a rope away, and at first thought it was from pain where his binding had cut him. But she looked up to see Lavaria standing in the doorway.
"The trouble with humans," the elf said, "is that even their walking is loud."
Maureen stood up, burning with anger. How dare this woman do this to Joseph? How dare her people hurt and kill her friends?
Without really thinking, she blurted out, “why did you kill Ernest? What did he ever do to you?"
Behind her Joseph roared, a terrifying sound like a cross between a human and a lion. His muscles flexed and the last of the ropes securing him snapped, whipping at the air and causing Maureen to jump back out of their way.
Joseph lunged forward, grabbing Lavaria by the forearms before she'd even had chance to realise what had happened.
He spun round twice like some form of Olympic hammer throw, Lavaria stretched out in front of him under the inertia, before letting go. Maureen watched as the elf flew across the room crashing into the far wall with such force that she dented the metallic wall of the cold storage unit.
Joseph held out his hand "Come on, Maureen. Let's go."
They almost collided with Psyninius, the blonde elf they'd encountered at the farm, as they exited the locker. The elf looked up in horror as he saw the troll thundering toward him and had no time to react as Joseph punched him in the face.
Had he been human Psyninius would have been out cold, but Maureen saw that elves were made of sterner stuff, as he just fell to the ground clutching at his bloody nose.
Maureen tried to point Joseph toward the roller shutter door, but he was already heading in the direction of the shop.
There was no way Maureen could run faster than the elves. She reached into her pocket, grabbed one of the stems and recited the incantation for the earthquake spell. She technically didn't need to hold the plant to cast, but she found there was something reassuring feeling that plant turn to dust in your hands.
The ground started to split open, as if some large mole was about to tunnel its way out. Cracks then shot out across the length of the storeroom, and the level of the ground shift a little. A more practised or experienced wizard would have been able to thrust sections of earth ten foot up, but Maureen was a novice, and all she needed to do was cause the ground to undulate enough to cause the metal shelving units to topple. This they did. The sound as the racks toppled and fell grew to an ear splitting din. Joseph and Maureen had to avoid a falling rack before breaking through the plastic curtain that separated the storeroom from the main shop. Behind them Psyninius was climbing, jumping and leaping to avoid falling racks from all sides.
Diversions, Maureen thought. Don't fight, just cause diversions.
The spell, however, had cost more than she expected, and worry filled her, as she felt in
her pocket and found that it had cost most of her remaining supply of plants.
Joseph didn't seem to be waiting for her, and Maureen felt she was going to have to tell him to slow down. She couldn't keep this pace up indefinitely. Back home she doubted she'd be able to manage this pace at all.
A bolt of electricity arced over their heads, hitting some jars of jam on a shelf. They exploded, red jam flying everywhere. Maureen and Joseph instinctively ducked behind the aisles, a task much easier for Maureen than for Joseph.
"Block them," Maureen heard Gardpoul's voice call out. With that the area just in front of the revolving doors burst into controlled flames.
"Careful idiot," Psyninius's voice shouted. It sounded a lot closer. "Just keep them from escaping, don't burn the shop down."
Maureen couldn't let the elves catch up with them. She clutched at the remaining plants in her pocket and sighed. This would probably use all her remaining stock, but they wouldn't escape otherwise. She whispered the incantations and her counter-curse caused the floor to freeze and the fires to die down.
"Come on," she said to Joseph and ran forward, the troll following closely behind.
Electricity shot overhead again, landing where they had been crouched down a moment before. A sack of corn exploded into popcorn.
It was very obvious to Maureen that the elves were much more advanced with their spell craft. Whereas wizards would cast a spell, it last for a set amount of time and then expire, the elves were more skilled. The slow re-emergence of the flames - nothing more than the size of that you'd get from a gas stove currently - showed that they could maintain spells over much longer durations than humans. By the time Maureen and Joseph leapt over the flames, they were already a couple of inches in height, melting the ice around them.
Maureen was about to say the revolving doors were locked when Joseph thrust a foot into one of the panels. It snapped off the central spindle, giving Joseph just enough room to squeeze through. Maureen followed closely behind, slipping through with much more ease.
A small patch of grass growing out of a crack between the road and a wall was enough for Maureen to fuel her own wall of fire. She ran over and grabbed at the weedy clump before casting the spell. It wouldn't last more than thirty seconds and certainly wouldn't be as controlled as the elves', but it would help slow them down or waste whatever plants they carried on them.
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