by Phil Maxey
“Shit…”
Jacob looked up then at me. “That thing’s coming back right?”
“Halt any further movement!” Came from a suitably important looking man, his weapon raised. “Or be fired—”
A gust of wind as if a helicopter was landing, heralded the gargoyle’s return, and it slammed back down to earth behind us. Instinctively I climbed on its back, and pulled the mind-reader up behind me. The gothic creature beat its massive wings and we soared upwards. Daylight was already visible from a gaping hole the creature must have just created, and we burst out into blue sky, and kept on rising, above the building then crossing the river.
“I hope you know how to steer this thing!” said Jacob.
I smirked. “Sure!” Then turned back to the front, having no idea how to do that. The Skyscrapers of New York loomed on the horizon, and one in particular stood out in the haze, but before I visited the Octavian building again, I needed to drop in on an island.
“What’s your name?” said the demon behind me, trying to be heard over the wind blowing past us.
“Seb!”
I took hold of the tufts of fur behind the creature’s head, and pulled gently. It swayed to our left, just where we needed to go, to Salazar’s home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I wondered what people on the ground must think seeing a flying demon, with two guys on its back. Or maybe it wasn’t that much of an unusual sight. I was still only one week into this new world of the supernatural, and there was no sign of the airforce being called out. Maybe all this stuff was always out there, just waiting to be seen.
Problem now though, was that I was on the run from the good guys and the bad guys. And needed some backup. I didn’t see Salazar at the bunker when I returned, so hoped he managed to get away.
As we descended over the Victorian hospital I could see more clearly the amount of ruin and wear the old building had taken over the years. The roof was collapsed at a number of points, and only a few rooms looked as if they were still whole. That’s not where the vamps would be though. They were deeper, in the heart of the building, where there would be no chance of the sun reaching them.
The great wings of the animal below me beat hard as we lowered into the guts of the building, landing on the overgrown surface where I met Salazar days before. I couldn’t immediately sense vamp heartbeats, meaning they must be in a basement somewhere.
Jacob slid off the back of the Gargoyle, walking awkwardly and feeling his backside. “You need to get that thing a saddle.”
I slid off as well and patted the hide of the beast, which produced a low level grumble or was it a roar? I wasn’t that well versed in Gargoyle speak, but he wasn’t trying to take my head off so that was good.
Crows squawked on the broken walls and pipes high above. And I squinted against the early afternoon sun.
Jacob suddenly stood upright as if he had just realized something, then started scanning the shadows and forgotten entrances around us. “Vamps? You take us to a nest of vamps?” I have an three bed apartment in the village, and you bring us here?
“I know the vamp that runs the gang, Sala—”
“Salazar?” he shouted nervously, then took another look around. “He hates our kind!” He then looked confused. “How do you know him?”
“Long… actually it’s a short story, but he’s a friend. He can help us with what I need to do.”
“Yeah about that—”
The door to the main room I dined in before, creaked open, still with no sign of any vampires, but I didn’t feel any wind so I took that as an invitation.
“Oh, no no. I’m not going in there. Out here in the sun? We’re safe.”
I looked back at the screamish accountant. “Just what kind of demon are you?”
“The kind that doesn’t like to be eaten.”
“Vampires eat demons?”
“Duh!”
I rolled my eyes and realized this is how Alyssa must have felt for the past week. I went to stride towards the open door, but stopped and looked back at Dexter. “Err… stay!” The gargoyle swung its head towards me. “Please?”
It dropped to the ground, bringing its wings closer to its body.
“Thank you.” I continued walking to the open door.
Murmuring came from behind me, then Jacob caught up. “You say you know these vamps?”
“The main guy, yeah.”
“If I get eaten I’m blaming you.”
We passed from bright sunshine to oppressive gloom. The room was as it was the last time I was there, minus the food, although the smell of rot hung in the air. I still hadn’t gotten used to my heightened senses. What was merely irritating when I was a human, was overwhelming as a demon. I did my best not to breathe and looked around for further instruction of where to go and right on queue the only other door opened, which I walked to. A long corridor with hardly any light stretched off into darkness.
“Salazar?” I shouted. There was no response. “I guess we need to go deeper in.”
“I really don’t like this.”
“It’ll be fine.”
We walked forward.
“I can’t see a thing!”
“You can’t see in the dark?”
“Hey adonis, not all demons are created equal you know.”
A noise echoed off the walls, but I located its source from below us… We stopped at a door, marked basement. I was starting to get a bit uneasy myself.
It’ll be fine.
“Why are you telling yourself it will be fine?”
Damn mind reader!
“Get our of my head! Yes, there’s no problem and we need their help.” I pushed the old door open to a metal staircase. At the bottom a light flickered, and standing next to it was Salazar.
“Ah! You are alive young demon! I thought you had been taken like Alyssa and the professor.”
I walked on to the top few steps. “The last thing I saw, was you were knocked out, and then I had to run. What happened?”
“Yes, you ran with your book…” He looked past me. “And who is this with you?”
“Umm… I’m Jacob. Jacob Vellor…”
“And what kind of demon might you be?”
“Oh, just your run-of-the-mill demon! And I’m good with numbers! That kind of thing…”
“I see…”
“I need your help Salazar. It’s been a whole day now and I still don’t know where Alyssa and the professor are. Can your people help me find them? Put the word out?” The accountant nudged me from behind, which I ignored.
“Psst…”
I continued looking at the tall vamp at the bottom of the stairs, who appeared to be waiting for something.
“Salazar? They have taken Alyssa… Can you help?”
Another poke from the fidgety demon behind me. “Sebastian, we need to leave.”
“Yes, yes! Of course. Why don’t you come down here and we will discuss how to find them.”
I wanted to take another step, but Jacob had his hand on the back of my jacket, pulling me back.
I rolled my eyes, then looked back down to Salazar. “Hold on.” I turned and walked back up the steps to the corridor and closed the door to the basement. “Look, I know you don’t like vampires, but—”
He leaned in close. “He’s lying,” he whispered.
“Who’s lying?”
“Keep your voice down!”
Someone was walking up the staircase behind me.
Jacob nodded towards the door to the basement.
“Salazar’s lying? What about?”
“I don’t know! Vamps are hard to read, but he’s lying about something big, and he also doesn’t like you.” I already knew the last part. The clang of Salazar reaching the topmost step rang out. I had always trusted my instincts, and right now they were saying trust the strange little demon criminal. In one movement I pivoted and put my weight against the door just as Salazar slammed into it, almost making me lose my grip.
/> “Look!” shouted Jacob, pointing at the way we had come in. That door swung closed as I tried to keep the one behind me from opening.
I looked into the gloom at the end of the corridor, not knowing if there was any way out down there. “We’re going the other way!”
Splinters of wood sprayed the side of my head, as Salazar’s fist broke through. One more strike would be enough. In the fraction of a second it took for him to pull his arm back, I surged forward, smashing through the door, and shunted the vampire from the top step, sending him tumbling back down.
I turned and with Jacob ran into the gloom, both of us moving faster than a human could, running past doors, and corridors until we saw what we needed. Daylight was at the end of a large dining area, streaming through a window.
We both went to sprint forward when I felt a change in air pressure, and five vamps landed like lead weights on the floor in front of us. We hadn’t realized there wasn’t any ceiling above.
The sound of boots on broken masonry came from the hallway behind us, and I swung around to Salazar approaching. “You betrayed us…” I said.
He stopped about ten feet away. “The world has changed young demon. Our kind are hunted, by your friends the Praesidium. I know you have been to their home. Where they experiment on us. You have been a paranormal for what? A week? Vampires have endured their hatred for hundreds of years! Octavian will stop that!”
“And what about Alyssa?”
He frowned, not wanting to meet my gaze.
Jacob cleared his throat. “Is Alyssa about five-seven, emerald green eyes and dark hair. A real looker?”
I glanced at him. “Yeah, why?”
Salazar gritted his teeth. “Cursed mind readers!” I noticed he nodded, and a vamp flew forward for my accountant friend, but I was too quick, and slammed my shoulder into the attacker, sending him through the air and crashing into the nearby wall.
“What about her?” I said to Jacob, cowering behind me.
“She’s here!”
I looked back at Salazar who was now at the entrance of the room. “Where is she?” I said.
“That’s not your concern.”
“I want to see her.” My anger seared within me.
He shook his head. “Not going to happen. But you can tell me where that old book is. Octavian will pay handsomely for it.”
I tracked the vamps that were circulating around me. “Not going to happen.”
Salazar nodded to himself. “I can see why she likes you. But, she has lost other suiters in the past as well. She will get over your demise.”
Two vamps flew at me from opposite sides. One I connected with, striking him in the side of the head, his neck cracking, but the other slammed into me before I could jump away, and we both careered into the far wall, making a crater appear within its paneling. Another blow struck me in my stomach, then another in my jaw. I blocked another swipe from the first, then grabbed the other and swung him around, crashing him into the wall, where his skull crunched. I whirled around to combat the next attacker when a hefty blow struck my jaw, almost knocking me unconscious. I could vaguely hear the accountant shouting for me to get up, but a boot hit home in my chest and I briefly took to the air coming back down upon a group of chairs.
“Just give up,” said Salazar, walking casually towards me. “One demon cannot defeat all us vampires.” He loomed above me as I tried to clear the darkness clouding my vision. “Tell me where the Hell-Lock book is and I will end it quickly for you.”
I wanted to stand, but all strength had left my legs, and my arms were failing to lift me above the refuse I had landed in. I whispered something. A last throw of the dice.
Salazar leaned forward. “I appeared to have beaten you too hard. What was that?”
I heard the rumbling before he did. I looked up and smiled. “Dexter…”
What was once a wall with a row of boarded windows, exploded in a hail of brick, iron and wood and the room was flooded with sunlight.
Salazar screamed as he became engulfed in flames, then scrambled away to the far side of the room, and then further through another set of doors. The rest of his injured gang weren’t so lucky and their flaming bodies crawled to be out of the ultraviolet light and heat. One even made it as far as the door we entered from before Dexter sprang forward, slamming a huge paw down, killing him instantly.
I staggered back to my feet and looked for Jacob. He was cowering in the corner, looking up in terror at the gargoyle. I walked forward, stepping over the flaming remains, and helped him to stand. “Where’s Alyssa?”
“Err… the brunette vamp?”
“Yes!”
He looked back the way we came. “In the basement, I don’t want—”
“Stay here with Dexter. Maybe not try and run.”
He looked up at the bat like eyes of the beast filling the room behind us. “Okay…”
I sped through the double doors, along the corridor and through the remains of the basement entrance, then down the stairs.
More corridors.
I sprinted along each, opening doors and when finding a locked one, smashing through it. As I scanned each room I pushed my senses out for any sign of the woman that had become more than just a friend, until finally I came across a room with a heartbeat I recognized. I broke the chain and pushed the door open.
The only light came from the single grimy bulb behind me, but it was enough to see a spindly looking woman, chained to the wall at the back of the small room.
The metal links moved. “Seb?” said a rasping Alyssa. Her clothes from the day before had mostly gone, being replaced with ragged pants and top.
I ran forward and kneeled, then seeing the chains around her ankles, snapped them, and helped her up.
“Blood… I need…”
“We’ll find some.” I led her out of the room then realized the problem. It was still daylight.
“What?” she said.
“I don’t know how I’m going to get you off the island.”
“Where’s Salazar?”
“I took care of him.”
“Is he…”
“I don’t think so.”
I looked along the length of the narrow hallway. “I don’t suppose this leads to tunnels that run under the river?”
“Not that… I know. Is Fortacan with you?”
“No. If I cover you, is that good enough? You won’t go up in flames?”
“It’s the ultraviolet light. That needs to be blocked.”
“Okay, lets get upstairs.”
We moved at her pace, and were soon back up top and entered the dining room, not being able to move beyond the entrance. Jacob was sitting on one of the chairs, while there was no sign of Dexter.
“Where’s…”
“He’s gone for a walk or something.” Jacob nodded towards Alyssa. “This your vamp friend?”
“We need to figure out a way to cover her, so the ultraviolet light doesn’t get to her. Otherwise we’re stuck here for another five hours.”
He sprang to his feet. “I’m not staying here another five minutes. I found one of your friends, we’re even.” He looked at Alyssa. “And looking at your friend, she’s not going to last that long. She needs blood. And I’m not seeing any around here.”
He went to walk towards the outside, but I blocked his path. “I could do with your help. And unless you’re a real good swimmer you’re stuck on this island as well.”
He sighed then looked around the room. One of the piles of charcoal that was once a vampire, caught his eye and he walked to it and placed his finger into the mass, smothering it in a deep black soot.
“What?” I said.
“It might work.”
“What?” I asked again.
He looked at Alyssa. “We cover her in this stuff. It’s carbon, it should block most of the UV. Unless you have some tin-foil on you?”
I looked at Alyssa. She nodded.
“Okay, let’s try that,” I said, then be
nt down and grabbed a pile of ash. It wasn’t long before she was covered head to toe in the remains of Salazar’s gang of vampires.
I placed my hand under her shoulder and we shuffled forward to the edge of a shaft of sunlight that sliced through the otherwise gloomy dining room. She hesitated taking another step. I looked into her eyes. “Do you trust me?”
“Fuck no.”
We both smirked and she raised her hand and held onto the crucifix around her neck and walked forward together. I waited, in case I needed to pull her back, but instead we both stood in the heat of the sun. She grimaced.
“Is it working?” I asked.
She nodded, wincing. “Yes, just about. Lets keep going.”
We stepped over the broken part of the wall, and out into the afternoon light and I wondered where my pet gargoyle had gotten too, but then the sound of beating wings was accompanied with updraft and the huge creature descended and landed on the cobblestones in front of the hospital. Alyssa pulled back.
“No, it’s okay. Dexter is with us,” I said.
She looked at me, confusion across her face.
“Just trust me.”
Jacob climbed up on the gargoyle, then slid to the back and together we helped Alyssa climb up. I then did the same, being at the front. I wondered if the weight would be too much, but that idea was soon dispelled when the beast took to the air effortlessly. Alyssa clung to my back.
“Where we going?” I said to Jacob.
I heard him swear quietly. “Point this thing towards Greenwich village.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
We landed on the roof of a four-story townhouse, surrounded by slightly higher buildings, but of equal turn of the century age. I turned to talk to Alyssa, but realized she had passed out, her arms still wrapped around me for support.
I slid off Dexter as did Jacob, and pulled her to the floor. Smoke was rising from her arms and legs. I swept her up and ran to the entrance to the stairwell, kicking it open, and we moved inside, where I laid her down. “Alyssa!” I shouted close to her face.
Jacob stepped past us. “Follow me. I’m the penthouse.”