Blood Stakes

by Upton, Bradley

  “Maybe. Maybe there were dozens at the church. Maybe their leader did escape. The church here is shut down, I’d bet money on that. Two days in the news with killings and shootings will keep people away. They’d be foolish to keep it running. You saved the congregation from being in the vampire’s religious larder. They can now find a legitimate religion.”

  “From the way you talk it doesn’t sound like you think there’s any ‘legitimate’ religion,” John voiced his observation. He wasn’t sure if he himself believed anymore. Random chaos seemed to have taken over his orderly universe.

  “I don’t put much in religion, that’s true, but it doesn’t mean I don’t believe in something,” Maggie smiled a mischievous smile. “As a rule, I don’t discuss religion with members of the clergy. Catholics are the worst. All the Latin chanting and swinging of incense.”

  “Got it. I won’t try to convert you. Though, we don’t do Latin much anymore.” John smiled meekly. He was still silently tortured by guilt. It was something Catholics reveled in. Sin and guilt went hand in hand. There was an old saying in the Catholic congregation, Jews invented guilt, Catholics perfected it. “I want to go back to the church tonight. Malcolm may have come back. He could be clearing out everything and loading it into trucks. He’d be a fool to stay there.”

  “Okay.” Maggie elongated the lone word in a contemplative tone. She got up, walked to the hallway, and opened up a closet. She continued speaking. “I’m coming with you if you are going back.”

  “It’s too dangerous.” John protested.

  “You’d be dead if I hadn’t been there today. You needed me then and you need me now.” Maggie shut the closet door and walked back into the room. In her hands was a metal box with a combination lock built into the front. She set it on the table and dialed the lock. Inside was a large handgun. “Now this is personal for me. He killed my friends and co-workers. I have a dog in the fight. And the dog is fucking pissed.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “My weapon was confiscated when we were arrested. So was your bag with stakes, hammers, and holy water. You are unarmed, I’m not. Bullets do have an effect on vampires. It just takes a few rounds” She ignored his question and took out the Smith & Wesson .44 magnum out of the lock box. She removed a box of shells next.

  “How Dirty Harry of you.” John recognized the gun from the Clint Eastwood movies.

  “I’d rather have a semi- automatic, but this is what I have left. The bullets are silver tipped hollow points. I don’t know if silver works on vampires but in the movies it kills werewolves.”

  John could tell she would not be dissuaded from coming with him and decided to stop asking if Maggie was certain. “Real silver?”

  “I don’t know. It’s what they’re called. Could just be a soft alloy for tearing up the inside of a body.”

  John made a surprised sound. He never thought about the dynamic trauma a bullet could do, or how a bullet could be designed to inflict maximum damage.

  Maggie pulled out three speed loaders and locked the large gleaming rounds into them. John was mildly fascinated. He’d shot a .22 rifle when he was young. He had visited a friend in Wisconsin. They shot at tin cans on a fence in front of a corn field. He didn’t hit the cans much but was surprised when the stalks of corn behind the cans toppled after a bullet pierced them, evidence of the invisible passage of a bullet through space.

  “I don’t want to take my car.” Maggie said. “We can catch a cab. If we don’t survive I don’t want my car to be found near the church.”

  “Good point.”

  “It’s been a busy day. When we are ready we’ll walk down the street to where we were dropped off. I don’t want any record of my home address with some cab company. We may not live to see the morning, but if we do and there’s a body count from tonight's adventure, I don’t want a paper trail back to me.”

  “I’m going to need stakes.” John looked around the room. “Got any old chairs you don’t want? I used the leg of a kitchen chair when I, uh, with Sean… that first time.” John still had trouble with the thought he had killed people. Not people, vampires.

  “I'm sure we can find something,” Maggie replied.

  Chapter 23

  In The Darkness, Death

  They walked side by side. A small backpack was carried on John’s left shoulder. Inside were four freshly made stakes, and a claw hammer. An old chair in Maggie’s garage had been sacrificed to create the weapons. It didn’t take long with the two of them each carving a sharp point on the legs, but by the time they were ready to leave it was later than they wanted.

  “If there were any police at the church they should all be at the station now. They would be called to be back to investigate the attack. Everyone who was off duty would be pulled in and the FBI will be called.” Maggie was talking to fill the silence but couldn't get away from the topic of the attack. It had shaken her world view. In her mind the police were a bulwark against chaos. To have them summarily defeated was crushing. It took an unimaginable supernatural opponent to do it, but her bastion of safety was destroyed. “There’s never been anything like this. It’s revolutionary. Even the mafia in the 1960’s never would have done anything remotely like it. When they ran this town they just bought off the police. They never would have killed them and burned the station to the ground.”

  John listened without commenting as she talked. When she lapsed into contemplative thought he spoke. “This has upset you more than you will ever tell anyone, hasn’t it?”

  Maggie stopped and walking and looked at him.

  “Yes,” her voice barely a whisper. She hugged John, clinging to him like a frightened child. “They were my friends and co-workers; they were slaughtered in front of me. I went through the academy with many of them. I’m numb, but if I start to feel I’ll fall apart. I need to be pissed off.” She stifled a sob, and suppressed the urge to cry, building a shield in her mind so she could block the sad thoughts until later. Death was possible if they failed, hesitation and fear were deadly. She needed to steel herself for what they were about to undertake.

  John felt her body tighten as she fortified her resolve. Instinctively he let go knowing she didn’t need his support for the moment.

  They reached the strip mall and called for a cab from a pay phone. It would arrive in five minutes or so. John fished some change out of his pockets and made another call. The number he knew by heart. The phone was answered in a few rings.

  “Hello?” John's sister Lori’s voice sounded good to him. For an instant he was inclined to hang up the phone without saying a word. Neither the police nor the vampires knew he had a sister living in Las Vegas. She still used her married name despite being divorced for over two years. John hadn’t told her he was coming into town. She would insist he stay with them and doing so would have put them at risk.

  “Hi Lori, it’s John.”

  “John! Where are you? Are you well? I saw a picture on the local news that looked like you.”

  “Lori, calm down. I’m fine and the picture on the TV isn’t me.” He kept his voice steady and reassuring.

  “It looks like you. I called the parish. They said you were in Las Vegas, visiting me.” Her voice betrayed her concern.

  “I know. I was busy doing something and I didn’t want to bother you by staying with you so I got a motel. It’s not a big deal. I hope you didn’t worry,” John replied and quickly changed the subject. “How’s Kevin? How are you? Has anything unusual happened to either of you?”

  “Like what?”

  “Someone you didn’t know asking questions about me? Strange phone calls? Anything out of the ordinary?”

  “No. Are you in some kind of trouble?” Lori said. Thinking she saw her brother on the news was shocking.

  “It’s difficult to explain so I’m not going to try. Whatever you saw on the news is all wrong. I had nothing to do with that death. Just be assured I’m fine. I wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay.” John breath
ed easier. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The vampires didn’t know about her or Kevin. If he was successful tonight they wouldn’t be a problem for anyone.

  “What trouble are you in?”

  “Lori, really. I’m not in any trouble. Listen, I’ve got to go. I'll call you tomorrow,” John said. “I love you, Sis.”

  “I love you, too.” Lori replied out of reflex. “John, wait!” The phone line went dead. He had hung up. What kind of trouble could a Catholic priest get himself into?

  “Your sister?” Maggie asked.

  “Yeah. She lives here. I didn’t tell her I was coming to town. She saw the photo on the news and called my church. They said I was visiting her.” John made a wry laugh. “My alibi with the church called them to find out where I was. Man, what a caper this has been.” He shook his head and smiled a weak smile. Hopefully his position at St. Peter’s wouldn’t be in jeopardy because of his foolhardy errand.

  Maggie regarded him. “You’re getting very good at lying,” she said.

  Her statement hit him hard. He wasn’t supposed to lie.

  The cab arrived. Maggie gave the cabbie an address near the church, but had him detour down Las Vegas Boulevard to look at the neon lights. Lots of tourists made the driver cruise the Strip to gaze at the neon. But for Maggie, was this the last time she would see the kaleidoscopic show? They both stared quietly out the windows at the flashing multi-colored neon. Maggie saw aspects of the town she hadn’t noticed before. She usually looked with a cop’s eyes, looking for the next crime or someone being suspicious. This time there was a magic about the place. She saw what drew people from all over the world.

  John also gazed at Vegas. Was this the last time? He wondered if he was going to his death. Was Las Vegas neon going to be the last thing he saw before he died? ‘What a desolate place to die.’ John thought.

  The cab arrived near the church. John gave the cabbie cash and got out of the back seat. The wooden stakes in the backpack clacked together like dry bones. The sound bothered him for some reason. He’d heard the sound many times since slaying Sean, it hadn’t disturbed him then. But now the sound was a reminder of all the lost lives. Lives lost because of him.

  As they walked toward the church, Maggie looked around. It was quiet. The police vehicles were gone; there was no sign of any emergency services vehicles either. The news crews had likewise been diverted to cover the bigger story. Every able bodied emergency worker would be at the police station dealing with the charnal house. The morgue would quickly be inundated with what remained from the victims of the fire. No one could have survived the inferno the vampires started so the hospitals had no patients other than what was normal.

  The outside lights were on at the church. The parking lot was empty. Yellow plastic tape was stretched around the perimeter of the church. POLICE LINE-DO NOT CROSS was emblazoned on it in repeating black letters.

  They walked up to the police tape and paused, trying to look like curious observers wondering about the crime scene tape. It was after 1 a.m. There was no one awake in the neighborhood to see them. After a few moments they ducked under the tape and walked up to the double doors of the chapel. There was evidence tape across the entry, it had been cut down the center and repaired to look as if it were intact.

  “Someone cut the tape,” Maggie gestured to the fine slice. She glanced about one more time and pulled at the door handle. The big door moved. “It’s unlocked.”

  “That’s not good.” John’s paranoia suddenly spiked. “It would have been locked by the police, right?”

  “It should be locked. Someone may have forgotten to lock it in the rush to get back to the station.” Maggie suggested. “Or the vampires came back.” Conscious they were standing in front of a crime scene, she spoke quickly. “Let’s go to the side building and see if there’s any activity where we were arrested.”

  “Okay.” John was relieved to postpone the immediate danger for that of a lesser threat. They moved quickly down the front of the chapel to the corner and looked around the side of the building. There was no movement in front of the darkened wing of the church. They turned the corner and walked silently. Maggie pulled out a small flashlight, and looked behind them to be sure they were hidden from the street before turning it on. She swung the beam back and forth, weaving a pattern as she scanned everything with a practiced eye. There was police tape over the door with the bullet holes. The roving light exposed the innumerable holes in the door. The jagged openings resembled mocking fanged mouths screaming with silent laughter.

  Maggie tried the door knob. It turned and she opened the door. The police tape had been cut on the decimated door too. She pushed the door open and shone the light about the room. The ceiling tiles covering the secret entrance to the roof were back in place. “Look,” She gestured at the tiles. “Someone has been covering things up. The police had to have looked in the ceiling after we were arrested.”

  “Any evidence or reports of coffins and the personnel who filed them were probably destroyed.” John observed.

  Maggie looked down and nodded. “You're probably right.” Her anger rose up. “These bastards are covering their tracks.”

  “Let me have the light.” John entered the room, crossed to the tile by the bathroom and pulled over a chair. He stood on the chair and pushed up the tile into the hidden alcove. He shone the light in the darkness. The space was completely bare. No coffins or any sign it had been occupied. “It’s been cleaned out. The coffins are gone.” John stepped off the chair and handed the flashlight back.

  “They are leaving, clearing out of here.” Maggie said as she moved to the door. “Let's get to the chapel.” Maggie walked out the door, John followed. She shut off the flashlight at the corner of the building and looked to see if it was clear. Maggie turned back to John. “It's now or never. We either go inside or get out of here now. We shouldn’t be seen hanging out at a crime scene.”

  “I need to see if he’s gone.” John said, steeling his resolve.

  “Okay. Let’s go.” Maggie surveyed the area and motioned for him to follow.

  Quickly they moved to the large double doors, and looked about one last time before John pulled it open.

  “Go.” He glanced quickly behind them to make certain they were not observed. Maggie slipped inside and pulled out the .44 magnum. The interior of the lobby was dark. John slipped to the side and gazed out the large plate glass window. When he was convinced they had entered unseen he scanned the dark atrium. There was a crack of light shining from between the doors to the chapel.

  “Maybe someone is home.” Maggie crossed to the doors and unsuccessfully tried to peer into the chapel. She placed an ear next to the crack and stood still as a statue while she listened. The only sound to be heard was their shallow breathing. She put a hand on the door handle and pulled. The door slowly swung outward. She entered, the gun leading the way into the chapel. John slipped in behind her. They pulled the door shut and moved into the large room. The dais was lit in a wash of mildly pink tinted spotlights. The pews were mostly dark, illuminated by the bounce of the lights off the stone wall behind the altar.

  They walked up the center aisle and crossed to Malcolm’s office. Maggie listened and tried the handle. It turned. She expected it to be locked. She readied the gun and opened the door. The interior of the office was dark. She felt for a light switch to the side of the open door and hesitated. He could be in there, hiding in the dark. She flicked the light on and swept the gun across the room, ready to fire at any target. John followed on her heels as she entered.

  The office was unoccupied. The large ancient desk they had seen earlier in the day was gone. The rest of the furniture remained behind. It looked like the books on the bookshelves were abandoned too. They were of both general and specifically religious nature. Flotsam left behind. Props now useless since his masquerade was exposed and destroyed. Wherever Malcolm was going it seemed he was not going to be setting up another church. The cover w
as blown. They would need to find a new business model to fill their larder and coffers.

  “I could find something to look into the room above the ceiling, but if the desk is gone then the coffin would be too.” John turned and walked out of the office. “If he took the desk he took anything valuable, he’s probably long gone.” John crossed the front of the chapel and climbed the dais platform. He was bathed in pink light.

  “You’re pink.”

  “If you were unnaturally pale like a vampire, this would make you seem normal.” John said. “Or at least it could be dismissed as part of the theatrics,” he sighed. “I think we are out of luck. They're gone.”

  “Or maybe we are the luckiest people in Vegas,” Maggie said cheerfully. “The vampires are gone.” Maggie put the gun in the shoulder holster under her jacket. “I need to take a moment. I’ll be back.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Powder my nose, as it were.” Maggie said, somewhat embarrassed.

  “Nerves?”

  “Like some goddamn rookie on her first night out.” She shrugged. “Thankfully, it looks like this mission is a bust. I’ll be back in a minute then we can leave.” She turned and walked down the aisle to the double doors. There were restrooms to the side of the atrium. She stopped at the double door to listen before opening it and stepping outside. He could barely see her in the dark as she opened the door and slipped out.

  John stayed on the raised platform. Even awash in his confidence the vampires had abandoned the church, he didn't want to be in the dark. It was only a guess based on observations, but it seemed to be true. They were gone. Nonetheless his rational mind was still comforted by light. In the darkness were still terrors the Neanderthal mind conjured, real animals and imagined supernatural monsters. Scurrying, skulking creatures in the gloom, striking like lightning, feeding on humans, and leaving a corpse behind to rot. Even knowing what he did about vampires he couldn’t help himself and romanticized their nature. Hollywood portrayed vampires as notorious romantic villains; elegant, well-mannered, killers in the night. The truth of vampires was infinitely more terrifying.