Hunger

by Lillie J. Roberts

  “How’s this going to help me?” I asked, letting my boredom show. I’d already figured Loupgarin was on the lookout for easy prey. The homeless would be a natural target. I’d planned on sticking close, laying a trap. Vintonie was actually distracting me.

  His look grew crafty, his eyes hooded. “But do you know where we’ve been finding the bodies?” He bounced on his toes, his beefy hands rubbing together. “There’s a trail, looks like where he might be holdin’ up.”

  Finally, he captured my interest. “No, we haven’t seen any bodies on our side of the river. I’ve been tracking some kind of … animal ripping bodies apart. Might be a mad dog or a wolf, in the rural areas, but nothing close by.”

  “See what I mean, me and you, we’re gonna be friends.” Anton Vintonie bellowed out a chortle and my beast roared.

  *

  “Donny,” Anton barked, drawing the man back into the room, “get the Caddy brought around. Feel like takin’ a ride?” He didn’t wait for my answer before striding away.

  With my senses stretched to the point of breaking, we headed out into the night, driving through some of the poorest streets in Chicago. People in the worse possible conditions lived here, the drug addicts, the infected, the lost, the desperate. There was no need to inhale the night. The scent of coppery blood laced the air, whether it was the prey or the predator was yet to be seen.

  Our destination was down one of the squalid alleys where prostitutes hurried toward the Cadillac. Anton turned toward me. “Here’s where we found the first bodies … lost a couple a girls too. But, they fight back, easier to take some of the others.” His face grew serious. “We gotta get this guy. We’ve found ten bodies so far. Not a big loss, but I figure he’ll start workin’ his way out. Try to find how far he can get.”

  Glancing around his domain, I could see how he’d be worried. The bad side of town wasn’t far from home for him, for any of us really. “You said a group of bodies were found together, maybe a trail. Show me where.” Disgust filled my face. Donny eyed me in the mirror. I reached out, brushing his arm, and he jumped. “You’re safe in the car, remember?” It was impossible to even show pleasure. The man’s face echoed the terror in his eyes.

  He nodded, the fear still there. He inhaled and exhaled a shaky breath, hands clenched the steering wheel. Anton clamped a hand around his shoulder. “You’re just watchin’ out for the boss, aren’t you, Donny?”

  Anton sounded earnest, but it was a slam. Donny and I both knew it.

  “Yes, sir.” He made eye contact again with me, and my beast came to life. Fear rolled off him in waves. I could smell it, and I had to force my stare away. Instead, my gaze fell upon the window. We were in a bad neighborhood before, but this place was where people came to die. Any humor in the car vanished, desperation clung to the air like raindrops to eyelashes.

  My vision grew steely, and I hardened myself. These were the people society had given up on, the people in the cracks, no longer seen.

  “This is it?” I questioned Anton. “This is where the trail led?”

  He pointed out the window. “Yeah, you see that place over there, the one with the broken boards on the windows? Found six bodies inside the door, more in the basement. My boys didn’t want to go down there, but there’s a trail, you can’t miss it. God awful mess it was. The bodies were ripped apart.”

  Donny’s thoughts flowed into mine. He’d been one of the boys, he’d seen the bodies. I didn’t need to imagine. No wonder no one wanted to explore the basement. It was a bloody shamble; no doubt it still was by the way it smelled. No one had even tried to clean it up, hide the evidence.

  “Can you pull up over there?” I pointed and he obliged. Paulie hopped out and hurried around to open the car door. Smiling, I pushed the Caddy’s door open and climbed out. “Thanks, Paulie, I’ll remember you were the nice one.” His face reddened and he turned away.

  Donny had the other door open and Anton was standing on the sidewalk. “I’m not going in there. The guys said it was bad. I’ve seen enough of that to last a lifetime.”

  Raising my face to the night breeze, I inhaled. “Don’t think anyone’s at home right now, but I might as well take a peek. I’ll understand if you all want to stay with the car.” Donny and Paulie flanked Anton, as if nothing could get by them. “I wasn’t kidding,” a new seriousness flooded my voice, “if I were you, I’d get back in the car. Just ‘cause no one’s home now, doesn’t mean they’re not coming back some time soon.” I waited for a few seconds. “It’s good advice. I’d take if I were you, but that’s just me.”

  Sneering, with a little more fang slipping out, I leaped onto the leaning porch, boards threatening to give away under my feet. I shifted my weight, allowing only the balls of my feet to brush against the surface. Before entering the ramshackle place, I scanned the neighborhood one more time. It felt like eyes were bearing down on me. Anton remained standing on the cracked and crumbling sidewalk, as if he were untouchable, girdled by Donny and Paulie, disregarding my words. Not smart.

  Pushing the remnants of the door wider, I stuck my head inside the rank dwelling. The place reeked of death, both old and fresh. Whoever was using this place was someone well versed in the art of taking life, a cold-blooded killer. Slipping inside the room, I could see where the remains had been. Pools of dried blood caked the rotting floorboards. The aroma of blood-laced valerian stank in the air—it was everywhere. Has to be Loupgarin.

  Jiggling what was left of one of the caved in doors, I called out, “Anyone home?” A few bats in the bare attic eaves rustled with no other signs of life, living or undead. I approached the basement, standing on the edge of the steps, holding back a gag. The scent was much worse here. The smell of death was so thick even my beast roared back and away. One of the most useful tools a vampire possessed was our preternatural sense of smell, but right now, it was a curse.

  This place took me back to being that child of the Black Death, centuries long past. The squalid little home where the odor of death had seeped into everything, even the tired soil smelt of it. I shuddered.

  Whatever hunted here was sloppy, filled with madness, old and antiquated. My beast reared its head in protest again. Self-preservation overrode the need to feed, to hunt, to rest. The last pieces of my humanity screamed … get away, run, hide! My head throbbed. Strands of thoughts clung to mine as I stood on the edge of the stairs … sick thoughts, vile with unmet desires. This place was an aberration. I peered into the blackness. What awaited me if I reached the bottom? Did I want to know?

  Reaching out, feeling my way clear, I forced my feet to leave riser after riser, until I stood on the grubby dirt floor of the basement. The smell here was ten times worse. There was a crude nest made from the remnants of a urine-stained mattress covered in rags, leaves, and bits of decomposing matter. Creeping closer, I inhaled through my mouth to keep from choking. Loupgarin had decline into some kind of horrific, sick animal. What the hell had happened? This was more than valerian poisoning, this was about revenge, this was an evening of the scales. But, what had brought him to this point? This couldn’t be just about Luc. Had Loupgarin lost the ability to understand his own actions? And the hell that was about to rain down on him? Did he care?

  Backpedaling, I turned to leave this hellhole of a meager existence, knowing when he returned he’d detect the presence of my already familiar scent. He’d know I’d been looking for him. But he already knew Lucius and I were here, or else, he’d never have come himself, at least according to the Magistrate. None of this made any sense, not the Council, not being coerced into taking over the Chicagoland territories, not Loupgarin, not the Vintonies. I was slow returning to the exterior of the home, my nose stung with the poisonous odor. Anton and Donny were huddle together inside the car with Paulie nowhere to be found.

  “Where’s Paulie?” I asked, though I already knew. Loupgarin’s fetid aroma was fresher here than inside the house. The old bastard had been outside waiting, watching the whole damn time. B
ut Anton had been warned.

  Donny showed me eyes quivering with fear and this time he didn’t care if Anton saw. He was ready to run. “One minute he was standing right next to me, I mean right fucking next to me, and then he was gone. I didn’t see or hear nothin’, no one was there. Paulie was just fucking gone! We need to leave, we need to get out of here.” His hands shook as they clutched the brushed silver metal of his .45. Too bad it wouldn’t work against Loupgarin.

  Anton was trying to keep his cool in the backseat and I shook my head. “I’d get out of here if I were you, forget I’d ever been here. Don’t come back. Don’t know if it will do any good, but if you’re lucky …” I left the words hanging in the air. “Whatever this thing is that’s hunting here, man or beast, it will be able to scent you all the way back across town.” I couldn’t bring myself to grin at him. It would have been too cruel, even for me, even for Anton.

  “Hey, you have to get this bastard! You know what it is, just fucking take care of it! Donny start the car, we’re gettin’ out of here!” He boomed across the seat, and Donny’s gaze found mine, as if asking if I was coming or not.

  Shaking my head, I nodded for him to go. “I’m good. I’ll make my own way home.”

  Anton’s window rolled down and he leaned toward me. “Donny would feel better if you went with us. Come back later if you want, but make sure we get home.” Anton, hard as nails, showed me his fear. He didn’t think they’d make it back home, not without extra help, my kind of help. He might be right. I had to give the man credit—he was getting smarter by the minute.

  “You owe me, you owe me big.” Opening the back door to climb inside the car, I stopped and twisted around. An inhuman scream rented the night air, Paulie’s last words. Did he have a family? Someone who was waiting for him to come home? I hoped not because if Loupgarin turned him instead of just eating him, Paulie would lead him right back to the people he loved. He’d need to feed too. Hunger is a wild thing when left unfed, especially in the newly undead.

  Loupgarin was one sick bastard. It looked like most of his prey were the dregs of humanity, but Paulie … he was fit, big, and powerful, just the way Anton liked them. If he had any intelligence left, Loupgarin would see how Paulie could help him. Even as a reverant, one of the mindless protectors the ancients made, he’d be a force to be reckoned with. Was Loupgarin’s ability to reason still with him? Would he seize an opportunity when he saw it? But, I had David at home to prove he might want to throw a few curves our way. Shit! Things were definitely going down the crapper.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Donny drove like a man possessed back to the gaudy mansion, to where they felt safe. He and Anton rushed inside, hoping they were the only monsters to reside there. Anton barked orders, and the men scurried as they tried to offer protection. The perimeter guards were pulled tighter around the house … it would do little good. The big black gate which had stood open the entire time was sealed tight, again of little use, tinder to vampire hands. What they needed were magic laced spells to seal the entrances, block intrusions, but witches were hard to come by. The sad thing was, as tough as they appeared, Loupgarin made them look like gnats to be swatted.

  Digging out my cell, I rang Lucius and he answered on the first ring. “We have a big problem here. Loupgarin’s hunting Anton Vintonie’s people. He took one a few moments ago, almost from under my nose. I was in the house where Vintonie’s guys found some of the bodies, and it’s a freak show. The thing is, I didn’t even sense Loupgarin coming, didn’t know he was there. He grabbed one of Anton’s boys while he stood with Vintonie. Scared him and one of his thugs pretty bad. They’re inside right now, tightening their defenses.” My gaze roamed the grounds. I inhaled through my nose, filling my lungs, scenting the air, and yeah, it was here too—valerian. I exhaled through parted lips. The putrid stink settled into me, and the repugnant flavor lingered on my tongue. Loupgarin had taken an interest in Vintonie, and I wondered why? He was hanging around, silent yet lethal, waiting for his opportunity. Maybe his thought processes weren’t as skewed as we thought, and that scared the hell out of me. “He’s been to Vintonie’s too.”

  Lucius sighed tiredly. “So now we have a monster hunting the wannabe mafioso, both trying to live off humanity. Perfect. Maybe they’ll kill each other? Nah, we couldn’t get that lucky. Are you on your way back?”

  “Leaving now. Did David make it back to you okay?” I really didn’t need anything else to worry about tonight.

  “He’s here, and fit to be tied. He didn’t like leaving you with Vintonie’s men. He’s anxious to get back into the thick of things.”

  “Keep him there. The last thing we need is to have to find him too. Do we know anyone who can set a fire, flash a building without taking the entire neighborhood?” With a sensation of foreboding, I felt the eyes that seemed to follow my movements. I hoped it was Vintonie’s security, and not our crazed ancient. “We need to get rid of Loupgarin’s hidey-hole. The quicker, the better.”

  Thinking for a few moments, I finally cleared my throat. “Someone’s made sure he’s had a regular diet of valerian, poisoning him, my thinking is most likely with Council approval. It’s hard to kill an ancient, other than taking their head. Somehow, he must have broken free, and now he’s lose in the Chicago area … that sounds like Council politics, doesn’t it?”

  Dead air filled my ear as Lucius muttered, weighing my words. “That’s plausible, hell, it’s probable. And, they’ve found themselves someone to do their dirty work. Forcing us to clean up after them. Again. Fucking politics, this is why I stayed out of them.” He exhaled loudly and I heard his hands as they rubbed back and forth over his face. It had already been a long night.

  “The stink of valerian was all over the hellhole Loupgarin had made for himself. It’s not exactly easy to come by, and the Council hoards their store for …” I paused for a moment. “We both know why they’d use valerian. I got the impression from the Magistrate … Rafael … you know what I’m talking about.” Just the thought was frightening. “It’s the only thing I can think of. Maybe Rafael discovered him after our last encounter, and his old enemy has been keeping Loupgarin sick and incapacitated … until he escaped or was released. Who knows with the Magistrate.”

  “I hope you’re wrong. He was always insane, but if he’s been tortured by the Council or worse, by Rafael, someone Loupgarin loathed before his thought processes were skewed—he’ll be coming for all of us. He’ll blame me, and by all rights, he should. If I hadn’t left him vulnerable all those years ago … He’ll be out for blood; mine, yours, and anyone associated with us. Sounds like we might need a few guards of our own.” He was silent for a few moments, occupied with his own thoughts. “I’ll talk to Isabella, see what we can arrange. Maybe contact Jon-Paul, see if some of his local friends are available. I don’t want the Magistrate’s people here, we already know he can’t be trusted—or anyone associated with him.”

  “I agree, get rid of any of the new hires you don’t trust.” I turned to face what was left of the night, heading for home. Hiding from the sun would be more than my beast’s endurance. “I had to babysit Vintonie back to his own front door.” I glanced at the dying night. “Day’s coming.” An exasperated breath escaped my lips. “Something’s not right with Michela Jennings, Vintonie’s daughter … maybe something we need to know. See you soon.” I ended the call.

  Returning as quickly as possible, I went straight to Lucius’s suite where Isabella and he sat waiting. When I entered the room, I could tell something was wrong. “Tomorrow, we’ll have to return to where you discovered Loupgarin’s lair. If it’s as bad as you say …”

  “It is and it gets worse.” I explained my theory about Loupgarin being willing to turn those like Paulie, big and strong with criminal intent. An army of those with Paulie’s disposition, giving them his own special mixture of poisoned blood. The newly turned vampires would be almost insane at birth and out for revenge. Loupgarin’s vengeance. He’d wip
e out the Council, us, and all those who stood in his way, including humanity. I thought about how I’d found David. Crazy and lost in the bloodthirst. He’d been a mad, hunting thing. Now, I was sure his turning had been an accident. He had to be, Loupgarin would never have let one of his own roam free. He’d keep forcing more of his blood into their bodies, driving those under his influence to commit crimes like we’d never seen.

  David was better now, but his beast still roiled, ready for release at the slightest provocation. Imagine having a handful, a dozen or more who were in the same shape or worse, and ten times as strong. David had been little more than a child, willing to learn, to have a second chance. Someone like Paulie already filled with malicious anger would be a different story.

  David was my next stop. He was drawn in on himself again, worrying about what had happened with Vintonie. The kid was the master of the self-defensive stance. I found him with his back pressed against the wall, eyes darting back and forth between the sealed windows and the open door. When I entered the room, he sagged with relief.

  “Dude, I didn’t know what to think. You goin’ off with those creeps. Why didn’t you take me with you?”

  “Kid, I was doing my job. I had to see what they knew, but I also couldn’t let them take two of us. It could’ve been a trap. You warned Lucius, that was your job.” I grinned at him and shrugged. “You did good, and yeah, it’s a stretch to think they would be smart enough to take me out, but sometimes, people get lucky.” He still wasn’t happy, but I was glad to see him becoming part of our family. “Well, dawn’s coming, you going down for the day?”

  “Yeah.” He rolled his shoulders, releasing his tension. “Try not to do that again, okay?”

  “Sure, kid, whatever you say.” Smiling, I clapped his shoulder. “Thanks for having my back. It could have gotten dicey back there.”