Blood Stakes

by Upton, Bradley

  “No. I’ll take care of that. You don’t have any information on the vehicle to give to the police. They need more than the license plate number on the key tag. I have everything they need in my files.” Paul said.

  “Thank you. I’m so sorry this happened. You’ve been very helpful.”

  “That's all right. Don’t worry about a thing.” Paul said. He needed to pull the VIN number for the Ford and call the police. This would add unwanted paperwork to his day. “Just come in tomorrow morning and we’ll get this worked out.”

  “Will do.” John used his best priestly voice. “Bless you, my son.”

  “Bye, Father.” Paul hung up the phone.

  John set the receiver in the cradle and breathed easier. He was surprised at how good at lying he’d become. He had to for his own safety.

  The police would be looking for a stolen car which crashed into the motorcycle cop. The officer had written down make, model, and license and the back of the car was damaged. Theoretically it wouldn't be too hard to find. John being the renter of the car was problematic. It brought his real name back to the attention of the police. Maybe by reporting it stolen he wouldn’t be accused of ramming a motorcycle cop’s ride.

  He walked outside to the car. Maggie was leaning against the side of the car and he took a look at the damage to the rear for the first time. The heavy motorcycle had dented the bumper and trunk, paint chipped on the folded metal and plastic. Paint had transferred from the motorcycle as well. It was very noticeable. The back window had bullet holes.

  “So, what’s your decision?” John opened the passenger side and started to wipe down the surfaces with a handkerchief. Maggie looked at him.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Wiping down anything you might have touched. I don’t want the police to find your fingerprints in the car.”

  She was surprised. He didn’t know if she was going to arrest him right now and he was still trying to protect her. “You aren’t being fair to me.” Maggie protested. “I have an obligation to the job that doesn’t stop when I take off the uniform.” She watched him work on the surfaces and tried to remember everything she touched.

  “I know. If you don’t want to help me, I understand. I have a hard time believing the last two days myself. Heck, the last month really. But I have a job to do. I have a moral obligation to do something about the evil I found.” He got the bag with the stakes, mallet, and saw out of the back seat. “Did I miss anything you touched?”

  Maggie shook her head. “You’re leaving the car?”

  “I called the rental place and told them it was stolen. That may take some heat off me.”

  “Not likely. The car was in your name and the police have your name because I told it to them. They remembered you came to the station looking for information.” Maggie replied realistically.

  “Oh.” John said quietly. “Do they know I’m a priest?”

  “No, I don’t think so.” Maggie replied. “How are you getting to the church?"

  John locked the car and put the key in his pocket. "Walking. It’s not that far.” He started walking briskly. “Come on if you are coming.”

  Chapter 14

  The Door

  They walked casually on side streets away from the car John abandoned in the parking lot. It would be easy to find. The back window was shattered from two obvious bullets and the back bumper and trunk were dented. Someone parking at the Sahara was bound to alert the casino there was a shot up car in the outer reaches of the lot. It might take a day, but by that time the foolish errand John was on would be finished.

  “The officer you rammed knows a woman was in the car with you.” Maggie broke the silence. “The picture the police had from the church had me in it. The police are going to be looking for me now to see if I was with you in the car. It’s lucky I’m not home to get a phone call and I left my pager as well. Or maybe not so lucky. If I was home I wouldn’t be risking everything.”

  “You can walk away right now. I can do this on my own.” John said calmly. He was very aware he was screwing up her life, almost as much as he was screwing up his own. If he left for Colorado immediately there would be questions to be answered. The police had his picture and his name, information would come out. He’d be found eventually.

  “You want to know what you can be charged with? Murder.”

  “The murder is made up.” John didn’t mention killing Sean or lighting a building on fire. Those were the start of his crime spree. “Well, not made up, but I didn’t do it.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Your face is on TV. Assaulting a police officer, attempted murder of a police officer, fleeing the scene of a crime, hit and run.” Maggie enumerated his crimes.

  ‘I didn’t really assault him, I crashed into his bike.”

  “Again, doesn’t matter in the eyes of the law.” Maggie was angry, with him and at herself. “I will arrest you if this is all bullshit. I’m giving you the benefit of a doubt, mainly because you are a priest. If you weren’t a priest I’d hand you over and you’d be sitting in jail while they try to figure out what the hell is happening.”

  “Thank you.” John said quietly, his tone serious.

  They walked in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. They were both bothered by the events of the day so far. Maggie was reluctant to ignore what the priest was doing. She had sworn to uphold the law. Letting him continue violated everything she believed in. She should act, arrest him, but if what he said was true... under normal circumstances her path would be clear, this was not normal.

  Father Bryant was troubled by his actions not only of the last hour, but the last few days. His occupation always made him observe and respect the law and those who enforce it. Breaking the law the way he had since Sean interrupted his life was unimaginable. But the world itself was unimaginably foreign from what he believed it to be a month ago. No one in his life would have believed him capable of the things he’d done. They wouldn’t believe in vampires either.

  Maggie broke the silence. “How many vampires do you think there are?”

  “I don’t know. I think I saw five or so at the church the other night. The one who gave me the information didn’t give me a specific number. He wasn’t one I recognized from the service, though. He told me where he thought the leader slept but didn’t know exactly how to find him.” John was relieved to start another line of thought. He didn’t want to keep defending his actions to Maggie.

  “One of them came to you and told you where to find the leader?”

  “Yes. I knew their location. He gave me a few specifics.”

  “Why on earth would he betray the leader?” Maggie’s sense of unreality was growing stronger, threatening to dash everything she held as a truth to pieces.

  “I’m not sure. I think he was being threatened. At least that’s the feeling I got him.” John was puzzled by the young vampire's motivation now he had some time to reflect upon the situation. “He wanted to survive.”

  “If you’re telling the truth...”She let the thought go uncompleted, “what if this is a trap? He's luring you to the church and you are walking into it?”

  “It’s a possibility,” John admitted. “Though the vampires are asleep right now. They might have humans helping them but wouldn’t you want to take care of a threat like me yourself?”

  “Good point.” Maggie said, “though a bullet from a human is as effective.”

  The odd structure of the church loomed before them. It was in a neighborhood of single family homes with a couple small apartment buildings sprinkled here and there. The building was obviously a church, with a large, tall chapel and low buildings on either side connected with a flat roof. The front of the chapel had large panes of tinted glass on either side of the front double doors. There was a large parking lot to the left which was empty except for three cars. The lines of the church were modern with a few touches of antiquity here and there. The side buildings were one story and utilitarian with a peaked roof. The side buil
dings had single doors evenly spaced down the buildings and there were windows in the rooms high up toward the roof. No one in those rooms would be able to see out and no one passing by could look in. They were just for light, not for watching the outside world.

  They stopped across the street from the church. “I don’t know where to start looking,” John said, “the humans will know about me. They are there to protect them in the daytime.”

  “We should keep walking down the block,” said Maggie, she was thinking tactically. “If they are watching they will see we have stopped across the street. It’ll look suspicious if we stand here. Let’s go down the block and cross the street out of sight before approaching the building.”

  They started walking. John gazed at the building intently.

  “What are you doing?” Maggie asked.

  “I'm trying to memorize the outside of the building’s size and shape. I might be able to tell if there are walls which shouldn’t be in a room. There might be a false space, a secret room where the vampires are hidden.”

  They walked two blocks down and crossed the street. Neighborhood traffic was light. They didn’t see anything out of place as they walked. If anyone in the church had seen them across the street, it wasn’t obvious from the outside.

  When they got to a point the next few steps would reveal them to anyone watching from the church, Maggie stopped.

  “Why don’t I go in first?” Maggie asked. “I'll go into the chapel to see if they are aware you're here.” His story was still dubious to her. She could go in to do reconnaissance, see if there was anything suspicious, and maybe determine if John was insane. How they reacted to him might tell her if his story was true. If it was simply a church, she would arrest him. If there was something more sinister... then she would figure out her next move. “Give me a moment to go inside, after thirty seconds walk slowly down the sidewalk.”

  John nodded. He was the bait. Maggie unzipped her jacket so she had access to her gun. She walked down the sidewalk with purpose and turned toward the chapel. She grasped the handle and paused before pulling. If the doors were locked she would have to try one of the doors on the side building. This was that terror filled moment of stopping a car for a traffic violation. She pulled the large handle and the door swung open easily. In the outer lobby to the chapel was the desk she had seen the other night but it was in a different place. A man was sitting behind it. Maggie walked briskly over to the desk as he looked up at her.

  “Can I help you?” He asked. He didn’t show any recognition of her from the other night. Maybe they were only looking for John. She wasn’t part of the man hunt.

  “I need to talk to Malcolm Richards immediately. It’s very important.” Maggie’s mind was racing. How he responded in the next few moments would lay down the course for her decisions.

  “I’m afraid he’s not available. He’s out for the day. He’ll be back for the sermon tonight.” The man said, an odd light was in his eyes. “Is there anything I can do?”

  Maggie nodded. She needed a reaction form this man. There was a possible way to verify John's crazy story of vampires. “Listen. I know he’s here, and I know why I can’t speak to him.”

  The man raised an eyebrow. She had his attention.

  “The man Pastor Richards is looking for is right outside!” She pulled him from behind the desk and brought him to the tinted glass facing the street. John was walking slowly in front of the chapel.

  “Jesus,” escaped from the man’s lips when he saw John. He looked meaningfully at Maggie. “Thank you, miss. We’ll take care of it from here. You’d better leave.” He walked briskly back to the desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a .38 snub nose pistol. Maggie was right next to him. He picked up the receiver from the cradle of the phone and was about to touch the intercom button when the butt Maggie’s gun crashed down on the back of his skull. He fell across the desk insensate. Having the man pull out a gun upon seeing the priest was unexpected. Maggie still wasn't sure the vampire story was true, but this was not a normal church doing normal church business. Maggie sat the man down in the chair and let his body slump over the desk. A large bruise blossomed on the back of his head.

  “Wow,” Maggie whispered to herself, “there may just be something to his story.” Maggie pushed open the door to the outside and beckoned John to enter. He walked quickly to the doors and slipped inside the chapel atrium. Once he was inside she locked the deadbolt so no one without a key could enter.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “There’s something going on here. Don’t know if it’s vampires, but I never went to a church where the employees have guns stashed in their desks.” She motioned to the man splayed across the desk. “This one did. I showed him you were outside and he retrieved a .38 from the desk. I knocked him cold before he could alert someone. He’s not here alone. We need to be cautious.”

  “I told you,” John said. He glanced at his watch. They still had hours before sundown. Hopefully the hunt would be quick and fruitful.

  “No. You said vampires. There is something weird here, but it could be anything, even organized crime.” She took the man's gun and put it in her jacket pocket. She searched his pockets. Maggie found two sets of keys. One with a car and house keys, the other was what she guessed were keys to the church buildings. Those keys went into the pocket of her jacket with the gun. Using the phone cord they tied his hands and feet and placed him on the floor behind the desk.

  They walked to the heavy double doors to the chapel. Maggie drew her gun and stood quietly listening for sound inside the chapel. She motioned to John to open the door. The big door opened silently and they slipped inside. Maggie held the gun by her side in case someone was inside. The chapel was empty.

  “The door to the side of the stage is Richards’ office.” John whispered out of habit for holy places and the fear of being found by one of the vampire's human helpers.

  Maggie nodded. The acute sense of unreality she felt earlier deepened as they walked on cat's paws through a church with a gun in her hand. It was madness, sheer madness to be hunting vampires in a church.

  They mounted the dais and crossed to the door on the right. They stood silently for a moment, listening. From inside the room they could hear the murmur of a voice. A one sided conversation, someone was on the phone. The words were indistinguishable but the tone was one of annoyance. Maggie tried the door knob, it was unlocked. She rapped at the door boldly.

  A voice spoke through the door, “Come in.”

  Maggie turned the knob with her left hand, the right hand held the 9mm firmly. She pushed open the door and stepped quickly into the room. With a glance she took in the scene. There was one occupant of the room, a lone man at a large desk talking on the phone. In an instant she crossed the room and had the gun barrel pointed directly at the shocked man’s forehead.

  “Don’t,” she whispered. She continued in hushed authoritative tones, “Tell them you’ll call them back and you might be able to. Make any other move and you die.” As a police officer she never threatened suspects. This was a different circumstance. The determined look on her face told the man she would kill him without hesitation.

  “Hey, I gotta go. Call you later.” The man put the phone receiver in the cradle and placed both hands on the desk in front of him.

  “Very good,” Maggie complimented his act of self-preservation.

  John stepped into the room carrying the bag of tools. Upon seeing John the man stiffened, his eyes wide. He started to say something but glanced at Maggie holding the gun and wordlessly closed his mouth.

  “I see you recognize the man behind me. Tell me who he is,” Maggie said.

  “I’ve never seen him before in my life,” said the man. His face turned to stone, revealing no emotion. His eyes focused forward, drilling a hole in the wall in front of him.

  Maggie leaned forward placing the gun in the middle of the man’s forehead, and cocked the hammer. “Are you sure? I think you’re mistaken. Take anot
her look. Who is he?”

  He didn’t glance at John who was standing mesmerized by the violence which could be unleashed with one wrong word or action.

  “Priest.” The word hissed from his mouth like a malignant spirit.

  Maggie didn’t relax but scaled back the threat by pulling the gun off the man’s forehead. “Stand up and face the wall. Spread your legs, arms high.” He did as he was told. Maggie searched him with one hand while the other held the pistol to the base of his skull. He had no weapons.

  John stood to the side of the man. “Where is Malcolm’s, uh, hiding place, his crypt?”

  The man stared at John with a slightly bemused look. Like he was thinking, “How is this fool a threat?”

  “I know it is in this office; just tell me where, and we won’t hurt you,” John said knowing the odds were against the man betraying the vampire. He had to try, though, before violence happened.

  The man chuckled to himself and shook his head. “Never.”

  “Bedtime.” Maggie brought the butt of the gun down on the man’s skull. He groaned and fell unhindered to the floor. “He should have said something.” Maggie turned to face John. “I thought you'd try to catch him.”

  “Nope.”

  They tied the unconscious man’s hands and feet with the phone cord. “We should have brought rope.” Maggie commented off handedly as they started searching the room.

  “Look for a hidden door, a lever, a catch or something which might trigger a door.” John searched the desk. He ran his hands over the top, under the lip, underneath the drawers, but found nothing.

  Maggie pulled out a stake from the bag and tapped the walls listening for a change in the sound which might reveal a hidden chamber. The wall to the outside door was painted cinder block. There wouldn’t be a secret space there. The walls showed no change in resonance as she tapped high and low. She was starting to get annoyed. “This is ridiculous. The more we tap the more likely it is someone will hear us,” Maggie said.