“You and me both,” she said, reflecting on the new reality in which she now found herself. A world in which vampires not only existed, but she was going to fight them. She glanced at the back seat and let her eyes linger on the sword. Her sword.
“Guess we’ll have to add ‘sword fighting’ to the skills section of my résumé now.”
“Skill? We’ll see.”
“I seem to remember doing fairly well against you,” she jabbed back with a laugh. His reply was no more than a knowing grunt.
As it turned out, fighting against someone training you was very different from fighting against someone trying to kill you.
Chapter Nineteen
The two-story log cabin looked like every other one they’d passed by for the last half hour – lonely, unassuming, and empty. Most of them were vacation properties, so the likelihood they actually were empty was high. The fresh tire tracks leading to the closed shed told a different story though. Add to that the fact the windows were all shuttered, and they both knew this was the nest.
“So, this is the plan?” Liz whispered. Braughton had just finished setting charges on the front door, which was only slightly larger than the ones he placed on the windows.
“Unless you have a better one.” She recalled some of her academy training, specifically, how to breach a building. Disorient, distract, dominate. The explosions would not only disorient, but would also allow sunlight to stream in to the building, giving them an advantage no matter how many were inside.
“No,” she said with a small shake of her head. “It’s perfect.” She glanced at the second story windows. “What about those?”
“Can’t risk the noise. If any of them escape upstairs, we can blow those windows later.” A rumble overhead drew her eyes skyward. A mass of dark clouds slowly rolled towards them, threatening to blot out the sun.
“Is that going to be a problem?” she asked, pointing towards the storm cloud.
“Could be,” he answered after observing the sky for a moment. “If we don’t hurry.”
There was a quick knock on the door, followed by questioning looks around the room. Finally, the one closest to the door got up and eased towards it. He peered through the shielded peephole, saw only the empty porch, and turned to offer the room a shrug. Instead, he was pushed forward as the door exploded, and at the same time, the windows disappeared in a cloud of glass and wood. He would never be able to safely traverse the minefield of sunbeams now flooding the room, and he never had the chance to even try.
Braughton was through the door before any of them could move. He severed head from neck on the one still in shock at the door, breaking the paralysis that held the rest in place. Liz entered to the smell of smoke and burning flesh as she saw three flaming streaks disappear down some stairs, another one upstairs, and three more through a dark doorway at the back of the room.
“I’ll take the three in the back,” Braughton said. “You handle the one upstairs.” Liz could only nod her head, unable to force her mouth to ask about the other three, or even how exactly she should ‘handle’ one on her own. She took a breath to steady her nerves and wanted to suggest they face the three together, but Braughton was already gone.
You can do this, she assured herself as her grip on the sword tightened and she moved slowly across the now still room. She wasn’t sure exactly what she expected to find in a vampire nest, but this wasn’t it. Except for the mess she and Braughton had just created, the place looked unused. Much of the furniture was still covered in sheets, and there wasn’t a single body or drop of blood anywhere.
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and peered up. It was six steps up the open staircase to a landing, then it turned ninety degrees and disappeared behind a wood paneled wall. Her free hand lightly stroked the butt of her gun, an old habit to calm her nerves, even though she knew it was of no use here.
She put one foot on the first step, and cursed under her breath when it let out a loud creak under her weight. She paused, listening, trying to hear anything over her pounding heart. Nothing stirred. Could they hear her heart too, the blood screaming through her veins? She pushed the thoughts from her mind. Those answers weren’t going to help her move forward.
The second step made no protest to her presence, and in a blink she was standing on the landing. There were six more steps ahead, and then an empty, dark hallway. Her sword in front of her, she began to slowly ascend.
Normal humans. That’s what these creatures looked like, she reminded herself. Until they showed their teeth. She had seen a hint of the beast hiding beneath the human exterior. That’s what would leap from the dark at her, and she wondered if she was truly prepared for it.
By the time she reached the top step, Liz could see three doors leading off the hall. Three closed doors. She took a deep breath and walked slowly to the first one. She reached a slightly shaking hand toward the knob, then paused. Maybe a swift kick would be a better choice? She glanced at the other two doors. If this room was empty, she would be announcing herself to the rest of the upstairs.
The knob turned easily, with only the slightest creak of resistance, and she held it tightly as she opened the door a crack. It was a bedroom. An empty bedroom, from what she could see. She pushed the door open wide, making sure nothing was hiding behind it, and stepped into the room.
The bed filled most of the small room, but Liz could make out a dresser against the far wall and a chair in the corner hiding under dust covers. Neither looked as though they had been disturbed in some time. She turned to leave, then stopped. If there was a monster in here, wouldn’t it be hiding where all monsters hid?
The comforter covering the bed nearly touched the ground. There was no way she was going to be able to see under it without moving the blanket. She moved slowly towards the foot of the bed, sword held between her and whatever might be lurking under there. She reached out for the hanging blanket, childhood fears making her heart pound, and nearly jumped back a foot when she heard a creak from the side of the bed.
It was the window actually. The wind outside pushed against the secured shutters, and the hinges groaned in protest. She let out what she hoped was a quiet sigh of relief. She shook her head, moved cautiously towards the bed again, then stopped. Another childhood thought, what banishes creatures of the night?
She crossed to the window, while keeping her feet at least arm-length away from the bed, and opened it wide, flooding the room with sunlight. The brightness and warmth filled her with renewed courage. She tore off the comforter, letting light penetrate the darkness under the bed, and followed it with her sword. Light and blade both revealed nothing but dust under the bed.
One down, she thought as she stepped back into the hall, and two to go. She moved silently across the hall and again found herself alone in another bedroom. This one was larger than the other, with a dresser, two chairs, and a lamp all protected under dust covers. She gave the bed a wide berth as she made her way to the window. It took her only a moment to open it, and she again felt a boost as darkness was dispelled, but the light revealed nothing beneath the bed.
That just leaves you, she thought as she moved in front of the last door. Nowhere else left to hide. She reached out a hand, then paused. She had tried to be quiet, but there was no way the vampire hadn’t heard her. It would be waiting, expecting her even. Might be time for a different entrance strategy.
A well placed kick splintered the door frame and strained the hinges as the door slammed against the wall. Sword held high, Liz charged into the room, snarl on her face and primal roar in her throat. Snarl and growl both changed to shock as she saw a face of pure rage coming straight for her. The roar became a surprised yelp, and then a relieved laugh as she realized the face was her own. Along with a bed, dresser, chair, and standing lamp hidden under dust covers, this room had a large, uncovered, antique mirror.
Liz glanced at the bed as she released a large exhale of nervous breath. There were no sheets
, only mattress and box spring on the bed frame. Nothing underneath. So where was the vampire?
Liz glanced back in the hall. Could someone have slipped by while she was in one of the rooms? Possibly. She looked up and noticed, for the first time, a small string hanging from the ceiling. Attic stairs. Gotcha.
Just one thing to do first. Liz wanted to open the last window and give herself the advantage in this hallway. She crossed the room quickly, and standing in front of the closed window she caught a flash of movement that made her realize two things just a fraction of a second too late. One was there was a reason the mirror was uncovered, and two was this room didn’t have a standing lamp.
The vampire slammed a shoulder into Liz, knocking the sword from her hand, and sending her flying into the wall. There was a loud crack when she hit, and part of her hoped it was the wall and not her back. The rest of her focus was on trying not to lose consciousness as she dropped onto the bed. The vampire was on her before she could even clear the stars from her vision.
It was a woman. An attractive woman, Liz thought, or she could have been if not for the blood-red eyes and pointed teeth. She crouched over Liz, pinning her to the bed. Liz lay perfectly still, frozen almost, under her gaze. It was the same sort of paralysis she experienced when she had first met Braughton.
“After all I’ve heard about you,” she said, tracing a pointed fingernail down Liz’s cheek, “I must admit, I expected more.”
“Well, I had no idea what to expect from you,” Liz admitted. She fought against the vampire’s power over her and could feel it weakening, but could the vampire sense it as well?
“Aww, am I your first, sweetie?” Her smile broadened. She leaned close, and breathed deep at Liz’s neck. “You still smell so mortal,” she purred. “If I didn’t know there was a little more to you, I wouldn’t notice anything at all.”
Liz remained still, but could feel her paralysis break. So what? She had no idea where her sword was, and no clue how her strength matched against the vampire. She needed a weapon.
The vampire was growing bold. “But how do you taste?” she wondered aloud. She leaned down to Liz’s neck again, voice low in her ear, and breath hot on her skin. “Surely no one will mind if I just take a sip to see what all the fuss is about.”
When the vampire’s weight shifted forward, Liz pulled her gun from its holster and had it pressed against the vampire’s head before tooth touched skin. The vampire laughed, a guttural, almost growling sound. She lifted her head back into Liz’s line of sight, and Liz followed with her gun.
Liz could feel the vampire trying to push into her head, convincing her the gun was too heavy to hold, that it was useless anyway, and she should just drop it and give up. The feelings were strong, but Liz was ready for it. She kept the barrel pressed hard against the vampire’s temple, but she couldn’t deny there was doubt in her mind of her own making. Would the gun really matter? Could she shoot before the vampire moved, and would the bullets have any effect? Then again, maybe there was another option.
“What do you think you’re going to do with that?” The growl was still there, almost an undertone to her voice, but Liz thought she heard something more. Doubt.
“This,” Liz answered as she lowered the gun, and pointed it at the window. Five shots rang through the air, opening five holes in the window, and letting in five rays of sunlight. Each one fell squarely on the vampire, sending her flying from the room and into the hall. Liz was left with the sting of a scratch across her cheek, the echo of the creature’s scream ringing in her ears, and the faint smell of burning hair lingering in the air. More screams from the hall told her the beast had just figured out the other windows were open, and prompted Liz to action. She rolled off the bed, collected her sword from the floor, and ran towards the hall.
The vampire had made it to the staircase, though not unscathed. Patches of burnt skin littered her body, some still smoking, and most not yet beginning to heal. The red eyes regarded Liz with seething hatred.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” she spat at Liz.
“Well, you could have tried,” Liz said, raising her sword between them, “but you never really had a chance.”
The vampire responded with another piercing scream, drew her own sword, and charged towards Liz. It was an unexpected move, back into the sunlit hall, but Liz recovered quickly, racing to meet her halfway. The vampire vaulted over the sunshine streaming through the first doorway, and clashed swords with Liz from the shadows between it and the second door.
The vampire’s attacks were ferocious and fueled by anger, but she was trapped. She couldn’t push forward without stepping into sunlight, and she couldn’t fall back without the same problem. She wasn’t going to win by just holding her ground, and they both knew it. By her fifth burn from the sun, the vampire had had enough, and retreated back to the shadows surrounding the stairs.
Liz advanced, not giving the creature any time to recover. She began pushing her back, forcing the vampire down the stairs. Their swords slashed furiously at one another, both looking for an opening. The vampire stepped back one, two, then three steps, and Liz saw her chance coming. The vampire knew there was a landing below where the sun would be waiting on her, but she didn’t know how many more steps she could retreat. She swung hard in wild desperation, and glanced over her shoulder.
Liz was ready. She easily dodged the strike and levelled a two-handed swing straight for the beast’s neck. She had no idea the force needed to actually separate head from neck, being that it wasn’t something she could exactly practice, so she put everything she had in to the swing.
The sharp blade sliced through the air and didn’t stop until it was embedded several inches deep into the wood-paneled wall. The vampire had begun to turn her head back, but instead of stopping, it twisted and fell off like a loose lid.
In her years on the force, Liz had been vomited on, spit on, urinated on, and once been smeared by something she was quite certain had been feces. She had somehow, until this point, avoided blood. The spray that erupted from the vampire’s neck changed that.
Blood covered Liz’s face and chest as the vampire’s body wobbled and then collapsed on the stairs. She watched as the head bounced almost in slow motion down the last of the stairs, then rolled onto the landing.
Those red eyes stared up at Liz, the mouth still moving, threatening her with the jagged teeth. Liz slowly lowered herself to the step, unable to tear her eyes away from the head. It began smoking where the sunlight touched it, and those eyes refused to let go of Liz’s until it was nothing more than a lump of black cinder.
Even in her small town, Liz had been in fights for her life. She had exchanged bullets and punches with criminals. She had seen dead bodies, brutal murders even, but there was no comparison to this. That look of power and hunger on the vampire’s face was nothing she’d ever seen before. One look at that black lump was all she needed to remind her there was nothing natural about any of this.
She had no idea how long she sat staring at that black lump on the landing, but she nearly screamed when Braughton’s head appeared around the corner.
“Looks like you had a gusher,” he stated.
“What?” With half her body covered in blood, she imagined a normal response might be concern, to ask if she were alright.
“A gusher,” he repeated as he moved up the stairs. “They tend to spray if they’ve recently eaten.”
She stared at him a moment, her brow furrowed and jaw slightly agape. “A gusher,” she finally mumbled as she stood up to retrieve her sword from the wall. “Of course. Makes perfect sense.”
“Is everything alright?” he asked.
She laughed, a high-pitched short burst. “Do I look alright?” She tugged on the sword, but it was stuck fast. “I cut off a vampire’s head,” she added a grunt as she tugged on the sword. “And I am covered in her blood now,” groan, “because according to you,” grunt, “she was a gush
er.” Her voice raised in volume with every unsuccessful pull.
She released the sword and turned to face Braughton. Her cheeks were red and her eyes ablaze behind a thin sheen of tears. “I watched her head turn into a piece of charcoal, and you want to know if I’m alright?!” She braced one foot against the wall and pulled on the sword with all her strength. Without warning, it slipped free, just missed slicing Braughton, and sunk into the opposite wall of the stairwell.
Liz dropped her head, turned to Braughton, grabbed a handful of his shirt in each hand, and buried her head in his chest. The scream she let out was muffled, but the emotions it held were loud and clear.
They both stood there silently for a moment, neither one moving. Elizabeth’s breathing eventually grew calm and she pulled away slightly, but didn’t look up. “You know,” she said “I’d probably be doing a lot better if you’d bothered to mention any of these things might happen before we rushed in here.”
Different, he reminded himself. She was different than the others. He patted her awkwardly on the back a few times. “You’re right, and I’m sorry,” he soothed. “Why don’t you take this,” he said as he pried her sword from the wall, “and we’ll get you outside for a little fresh air.”
Elizabeth nodded and took the sword while suppressing another small scream. “Fresh air would be great.”
“What about you?” she asked as they descended the stairs. “Any trouble?”
“No,” he said, then casting a glance outside added, “not yet.”
“Well, did you find what you were looking for?”
He shook his head. “The books are here, but they’re down there.” He tilted his head towards the basement stairs.
“How can you be so sure?” The vampire upstairs had known who she was, this place hadn’t been occupied more than a just a few days, and by her count there had been at least eight vampires here. Liz was beginning to strongly suspect she and Braughton had been lured here.
Shackles of Sunlight Page 15