Texas Hold 'Em

by PATRICK KAMPMAN

  “Smoke ‘em out, Jacob,” Robert ordered, so I circled around the back. That wall had no doors, but I used the M79 to send an incendiary grenade through a window.

  As smoke and fire from the grenade started to billow out the open door, Robert pulled a pin on a frag grenade, cooked it for a few seconds, then tossed it in, ducking to the side of the doorway as he did so. The grenade went off a few feet after it cleared the door.

  Robert, Craig, and Fred went in right after it. Turned out Christian had taken most of the grenade; he must have been standing right next to the explosion. He was down and missing large parts of his body. He had mostly managed to shield the wife, but she had already been badly burned by both the run over and the firebomb I had lobbed in earlier.

  Despite her charred flesh, she had some fight left in her. She struck Robert as soon as he entered. Sent him flying. Craig tried to get a shot off with his crossbow, but she was on him before he could. Tore him apart, from his groin to his neck. Eviscerated the man in one fell swoop.

  She dropped Craig, and Fred snapped off a burst with his M4, chewing away at her shoulder as she came for him. She picked Fred up and slammed him against the wall like he was weightless. Ended up breaking half of his ribs and giving the guy a concussion. Would have killed him a second later if Robert hadn’t come up right behind her.

  The first chop of Robert’s machete severed the majority of her neck. Her head sagged forward like a reverse Pez dispenser. Chop, chop. Two more whacks and it was off.

  “Why?”

  I had circled back around by then. To this day, I remember hearing Christian ask Robert that question. He lay on the ground, staring at us with unblinking eyes. Never seen so much pain on one face.

  “Because you’re an abomination.” Robert said, and he tossed a incendiary grenade right on top of Christian.

  We cleared the pool house a couple of seconds before the fire belched out. David had managed to drag Paul out of the pool and was doing his best to tie off his legs. I told him not to bother; one look told me the fire had cauterized it.

  We headed back around the corner and ran towards the truck. I slammed it into gear and we hightailed it out of there, barely remembering to grab the van on our way. Good thing, too, ‘cause the police call had come over the scanner. Explosions caught the neighbors’ attention, all right. Police and fire were en route.

  We never found a single hostage.

  Chapter 11

  “And that was that. We wiped out our first and last big-time vampire nest,” Jacob concluded. “Took out a whole line of vampire royalty. Jeffrey and Craig died in the process, Paul was crippled and scarred for life, and the whole thing left a sour taste in our mouths. We had ended a family that had been together for one thousand years. We were all over forty. We didn’t have centuries left, only a few decades; we wanted to enjoy them.

  “A couple weeks afterward, we all decided to pack it in. Everyone agreed to make the most of the time we had left. Get on with our lives.

  “I’ve still kept tabs on things, and occasionally, when something particularly nasty comes along, I’ll get the word out to someone. But, all in all, I have stayed out of it. That is, until Robert called me six months ago, said he was getting back in the game. Asked for my help. You know how that turned out. So anyway, that’s the story,” Jacob said, getting up to toss his beer bottle in the recycle bin.

  “Sounds like you guys kind of had it coming. I mean, Christian sounds like a grade-A dick now, but, jeez, provoke him much?” asked Lacey.

  I nodded. “I have to agree with Lacey, Jacob. No wonder he wants us all dead.”

  “Christian’s not going to give up, Chance.” It was Megan. We had all been paying so much attention to the story, no one noticed she had emerged from below. She was standing in the kitchen, leaning back against the sink. I wasn’t sure how much of the story she had heard.

  “That’s okay; it is what it is. At least now I understand why Christian hates us so much, but I can’t do much about it. All I can do is find him, and rescue my mom,” I said.

  Jacob took another beer out of the fridge and sent the cap wide, left of the trashcan.

  “Want my advice? Go back to California and get off the grid. Better yet, hide somewhere safe, like a border town in Mexico. Man, even a luxury yacht off of the coast of Somalia might be an improvement. Christian’s bad news, Chance. He wants us dead, and he’s not going to stop until we are.”

  “Can you blame him?”

  “Maybe not. Maybe we got it wrong. We never did confirm that lady’s story. Maybe back then he was a kinder, gentler vampire, but he was still a vampire! And whatever he was like back then, I am telling you he’s not like that anymore. Look what he’s done in the last six months. And, Chance, he’s powerful. Never seen vamps as strong as those three. Do yourself a favor and disappear. It’s what I’m doing.”

  “Look, if he had left me alone, I might have taken your advice.” Could I have, though? I wasn’t sure. If it had only been Kristi’s murder, maybe. I might have stopped then. Let the police look into it. Let Jacob take it on by himself. But I didn’t. And because of that, I left a half dozen friends lying dead at a ranch. Even with that, I might have stopped. I had people I cared for. My brother, Megan, and Lacey. I didn’t want to lose anyone else.

  “But he went and made it personal, Jacob. I understand why Christian went for Kristi after what y’all did to him. He wanted Robert, and that was his way of drawing him out. I understand about the ranch. From his point of view, it could be called collateral damage, or even self- defense.

  “But after that? Robert was dead. He should have left it there. But then he went and took my mom. Now I’m afraid he’s left me no choice.”

  “And how do you propose to accomplish that?” asked Jacob. “Chance, he took down your whole team. He almost took down mine, and we were a whole a lot more experienced than yours was, plus we had the element of surprise and military hardware, which, I might add, you do not. All you have is a witch, a young vampire, and your…brother.” He was kind enough to leave out the modifier.

  “Wait, wait, wait—so is this the vampire?” At his uncle’s acknowledgement of Megan as a vampire, Kevin had gotten up and was once again moving to inspect the supposed undead. Megan looked less than thrilled. Under raised brows, her eyes darted from Kevin to me in silent inquiry.

  “Careful: she bites,” warned Lacey.

  Kevin stopped a few feet in front of Megan and started his examination, which was similar to that of a dinosaur-obsessed child discovering a Tyrannosaurus skeleton at a museum. Megan looked distinctly uncomfortable as Kevin circled around her, head craned forward.

  “Is that what you were buried in?” I didn’t know him enough to know if he was serious or poking fun at her.

  Then I took a good look at her and decided it was a legitimate question. Her dress, too formal for lounging around the top floor of a vacuum repair shop, was in shambles from the dust-up at the theater. She had discarded her shoes in and around the vampire Eric. None of us had looked in a mirror in close to two days, let alone showered. We were battered, bloody, dirty, and disheveled. We would have blended in nicely as extras in a zombie film.

  I felt bad for Megan. She took pride in her looks. Spent all the effort to come off as polished and composed. She also took pride in her manners, so I knew she would cut Kevin more slack than, say, Bryan.

  Lacey must have had the same idea, because she slapped Kevin upside the head on behalf of her friend.

  “Ow! Hey, what did you do that for?” Kevin said, rubbing the back of his skull while turning to glare at Lacey.

  “Respect your elders, kiddo. She might be looking a little rough now, but she cleans up okay.”

  “Gee, thanks,” said Megan.

  “I got your back, girl.”

  “So, really, you’re a vampire?” His attention was already back on Megan, his tone laced with humor and a strong dose of disbelief.

  I understood. Despite everything the
kid did to help out his uncle, he didn’t believe. It was the same way with Bryan when I first told him about everything. Kevin probably thought Jacob was nuts—his crazy uncle he helped out so he could listen to wacked-out tales of the supernatural, then laugh about it with his friends.

  Megan nodded, letting out a small sigh of defeat.

  “So prove it. Vamp out or something. Eat the stupid white boy,” he said, nodding at my brother.

  “Dude, she did that to me last night. Once a day is enough. But if you want to check if she’s for real, Jacob’s got a thermometer you can use back in the office,” Bryan offered.

  I spoke up before Kevin went to get it. “Not a good idea. I’m sorry, Kevin, but you’re going to have to take our word on it.”

  “I figured as much,” Kevin said, shaking his head and smiling like he knew we were all putting him on. He went back to his laptop and sat down, probably to instant-message his friends that the vampire who was supposedly at his uncle’s was a hoax.

  “Look, I’m starving, and as Kevin pointed out, we need to get cleaned up. As soon as it’s dark, how about we go get some food, take a shower, and then we can figure out how we’re going to find Christian and my mom.”

  “Food! Count me in,” said Lacey, getting up from her chair to toss a paper plate into the trash.

  “Shouldn’t we go back to that theater and finish them off while it’s light?” asked Bryan.

  Jacob answered before anyone else could. “They’ll be gone. No way would they stay knowing you could come back.”

  “I agree,” I said.

  “So, you guys will be back here around ten forty-five?” asked Kevin.

  “What?” Lacey asked.

  “Well, you’ll go by the theater first, despite what my uncle said. It should take about ten minutes to get there, another ten to look around and confirm everyone’s gone. Then thirty minutes to Chance’s hotel, fifteen minutes for him to shower. Then seventy minutes to Austin, assuming you’re headed downtown. Another hour for the girls to clean up, twenty minutes for Bryan. Then back here, which is another seventy minutes plus forty- five for dinner at some type of chain sit-down place.”

  “Ohhh-kay,” said Lacey. “This boy needs to get out.”

  “Of course, that doesn’t account for feeding the vampire. What, maybe an hour to stalk and kill your prey?” It was clear he still didn’t believe. “Let’s call it eleven forty-five then.”

  “We don’t usually kill our prey; it’s counterproductive. Though we have been known to make exceptions.” No one missed the way Megan looked at Kevin.

  I decided to put Jacob’s mind at ease. “I think we’ve bothered you and Jacob enough. I don’t see any reason for us to come back here. We can grab my car, swing by my hotel, then head up to where you guys are staying in Austin. We’ll figure out where to go from there.”

  Kevin wasn’t amenable to the news. “No freaking way am I going to miss this! I charged up my camcorder and everything. This will be even better than when that LARPer video went viral. You know, the Lightning Bolt one?”

  “Even more reason to leave you here,” said Lacey. “You might not believe any of this, but trust me, some people do, and they don’t want it advertised on YouTube.”

  “Fine, no camera,” Kevin consented. “But you need us. My uncle is supposed to be the best at finding monsters. You’re going to need our help.”

  “Kevin, look, I appreciate the offer, but I think your uncle wants us out of here as fast as possible. And you’re too young to be hunting monsters.” He was the same age as Katy.

  “Chance is right about that. I won’t let you get involved, Kevin. Your mom would never forgive me.” Jacob then turned to me with a decidedly less paternal look. “As for the rest of it, you might as well come back here when you’ve run your errands. This place is already compromised; you can’t do it any more harm.”

  “Thanks, Jacob.”

  “Don’t thank me—until you give me back my car, I’d prefer to keep tabs on you. Besides, I’m mostly doing it for Robert. I can at least help you find Christian. After that…well…good luck.”

  Bryan made a sound of derision. “Good luck? Nah, after that it’s going to be time for a good old-fashioned Texas-sized butt kicking.”

  Chapter 12

  Between stopping by to check out the theater, grabbing my car, finding food for Megan, and driving up to Austin and back, it was a quarter to twelve when we made it back to Jacob’s.

  We were certainly all looking and smelling better. I still ached, and my collection of scars had grown, though my limp wasn’t quite as bad as it had been.

  After being thoroughly pre-screened by Jacob’s cameras to prevent any new surprises, we filed into the office area of the loft, where we found Kevin glued to the monitors.

  “Holy…” Kevin turned to stare wide-eyed at Megan, then back at the thermal images behind him, once again showing us all in blotchy colors. Megan clearly stood out in her blue hues next to everyone else’s orange and red ones.

  People react differently when they learn that monsters really do exist. Some continue to deny it; some snap and wind up gibbering in an asylum; some get angry and try to kill them. Kevin got analytical.

  “Your core body temperature is sitting at around eighty, slightly cooler than the outside temp, but that makes sense because you must have been in an air-conditioned car for the past seventy-five or so minutes.”

  In an effort to try some sort of Zen-like calm, Megan closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. Which, of course, solicited the next logical question from Kevin.

  I was actually intrigued by some of the questions Kevin spouted off over the next few minutes, and Megan was a bastion of patience, giving short but apparently honest answers. But it was time to get down to business, so I cut the kid off when he asked her about hair growth. It does, by the way. Still grow, that is.

  “We can talk about this stuff later, but—” I started.

  “Or not,” countered Megan.

  “—but right now I need to find my mom. What have you guys come up with?” I finished.

  Jacob answered me. “Not a lot. I looked into that theater, hoping they had done something dumb like lease it in a name I could trace, but no dice. It’s been vacant forever. Last owner was some guy who actually thought an art-house cinema would fly in that neighborhood. He defaulted and now the bank owns it. Now, what’s interesting is which bank.”

  “The vampires own a bank?” Lacey asked, then to Megan, “Why don’t you own a bank? We could get a bigger house.”

  Jacob frowned at her. “What? No, they don’t own a bank. At least not this one. This is a nationwide institution with global investments. No, this is bigger than vampires. This goes all the way up to them.”

  Oh, sweet Jesus. “I’m sure it does, Jacob. And later, when we’re finished with Christian, we can examine the possible implications of what the Illuminati might be planning to do with a rundown theater on the east side of San Antonio. Until then, can we please focus on the task at hand?”

  Jacob huffed, but got back on track. “Fine. Not much else to go on so far. I called the cops and reported my car stolen. So maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  “Good idea. There can’t be that many ’71 gold Caddies driving around town,” I said.

  “No, there aren’t.” Jacob’s tone stressed that there better not be one less when we were done with it. “But chances are if a vamp is driving and they do get pulled over, they’d just mind-control the cop into letting them go. But, if that happens, at least they’ll dump the car soon after. For your sake, they better have topped off the tank and waxed it first. Heaven help you if they torch it in an abandoned lot somewhere.”

  I must have looked deflated, because after a moment Jacob walked up, placed his hand on my arm, and said, “First off, I’m not kidding about the car. If it comes back with so much as a scratch on it, you’re going to be in a bad way.”

  He gave my shoulder a squeeze. “But don’t worry about your
mom, Chance. I’ll find her. It may take some time; Christian’s been at this game for a while now, and he’s not liable to make many mistakes. Heck, we all thought he was dead these past twenty years. But don’t you worry, now that I know he’s out there, I’ll get him.”

  “And if not?” It was a rhetorical question. I knew the answer. If not, I would never see my mom again.

  “Don’t even think ‘if not.’ No one hides from Jacob Pierce. And in this case you got nothing to worry about, because he’ll find us. Granted, I’m a little harder to locate than most. For example, my name isn’t anywhere on the deed to this place. I took care of that back in the early ‘80s. Even so, he’ll get here eventually.”

  “Maybe, but I can’t afford to sit around here and wait until he does. And I would prefer that I be the one who finds him. Like you pointed out earlier, it would help even the odds if I was the one with the element of surprise.”

  “Oh, I have no intention of waiting here. Between you lot and Christian, I’m moving! I’ve been looking for an excuse to retire for a couple of years now anyway. Change my name. Find somewhere with a beach. Drink girly drinks with little umbrellas in them.

  “But you can bet I’ll still be keeping an eye on the place. We’ll know whenever Christian visits, and then we’ll have him. Be patient. Learn the long game.”

  “Screw that. Lacey, can’t we use a spell to find them?”

  “Sorry, Chance. I told you we’d need something of either Christian’s or your mom’s for that to work.”

  “Why not use Chance himself? He was always a momma’s boy,” offered Bryan.

  “Funny,” I said, not amused.

  Lacey looked thoughtful. “Well, normally it has to be a possession. Something with a connection to the person you’re looking for. Though Bryan’s right—you are related to your mom by blood. Maybe I could use a different type of magic…”

  Jacob interjected. “No way. Nuh-uh. Not in my place. It’s bad enough I let you practice that necromancy stuff once. And I only did it to save Chance’s leg. But you’re not performing any more of that black magic in my house! It turns my stomach to think of what he’s got in there.”