Silas couldn't confirm, or deny any of the information, but he'd heard that Corbin put his name in the hat hoping he did something that someone big in town may notice. Up to this point nothing had come up to change that fact, I just needed to keep it that way for a few days longer.
"So," I said, stalling. "Will you do anything?"
"Anything," he said, sounding irritated. "Anything short of turning you, or someone else into a vampire."
"Even murder?" I said, doing my best to make Winston's voice crackle when I did.
"Especially murder," he said laughing.
"Good." Two minutes in and I've already identified the culprit. All I had to do now was corner him and get him to talk.
I spent the next twenty minutes going over all the details starting with our initial meeting place and ending with the methods used to kill. As I suspected, he was open to anything short of some kinky fetish stuff like the lust murder in the movie Seven. The only detail I left out of our discussion was talks about price because I didn't find it important since I didn't plan on hiring him and didn't think I could afford it if I wanted to.
With that out of the way, I hung up the phone and handed the address to Silas.
"That's not too far from where Bryan lives," he said.
I shot him a sideways glance. "Who's Bryan?"
"My familiar," he said. "The one that picked you up the first time."
"I don't want to get your hopes up, but that means Bryan may also be involved."
Silas laughed. "I suspected that may be the case. If he is, you have my permission to do what you feel necessary."
I thought about saying thanks, but wondered how I could word it so it didn't sound so impractical. Something like 'Thanks for letting me kill your familiar, Silas' or the old standby 'we'll handle him your way.' Instead of saying something I just gave him a nod, hoping it didn't come down to that.
I pulled into the narrow alleyway behind the local Sam's Club and parked under a flashing street light. The extra visibility wouldn't do me a lot of good against the speed of a vampire, but it may tip me off to something less supernatural in the area.
"You must be Mr. Evans," I heard a voice say, approaching from my rear. Approaching from the back side of a red storage container defaced with many lairs of graffiti was a man that was most certainly a vampire. He was dressed to the nines, wearing a pair of freshly polished shoes, a dark color pair of slacks and dark colored long sleeve shirt. On his neck he wore at least a dozen different chains, all gold, with a similar display of wealth on his fingers. If the flagrant display of money and the fact he was here at Sam's to do business and not because he owned the business, would have given his species away if it wasn't for his pasty white skin and his pointed teeth that stood out next to the rest of his mouth.
"The one and only," I said, stepping out of the car.
"There's one last piece of business we haven't discussed yet," he said, wringing his hands.
I nodded. "The price. Figured you'd get to that part sooner than later."
He laughed and pulled out his phone. "Two million dollars. The job starts when the transfer to my bank account is confirmed."
I took his phone and looked at it closely. He had form open to fill out asking for my name, address, and most importantly my routing and checking account numbers. I never even considered the option he might want payment up front though it did make sense. The last thing he'd want to do is kill a mark only to have the buyer balk and refuse to pay.
"How do I know you won't steal my account information and not do the job?"
"You don't," he said, grinning. "You either send the money now, or I take my consultation fee out instead."
"How much is that?" I asked, believing he wasn't talking about money.
"Test me and see."
Things were starting to make sense. The whole thing was a ruse. Put a phone number on the bathroom stall and wait for the first ticked off patron to find it. Once they call, extort two million dollars from them to either do the job, or keep themselves alive. The only part of the equation I didn't know was what he would do to someone who balked.
"I won't do it," I said, throwing him his phone. "Cash only."
Corbin put his phone away and laughed. "Cash is as worthless to me as your pathetic life." Even now at a point that would have ticked most people off, Corbin remained calm and poised. The only indication I had that he was even upset was a subtle twitch in his lower lip, like it was waiting on me to make the first move.
I took a few steps to put some distance between the two of us, wishing I had a chance to fill my reserves before stepping out of the car. At this point, there was a better than average chance he could have me down for the count long before I was able to draw in a trickle.
"I thought you might say that." I flicked my arm, forcing a small balloon out of my sleeve. He stared at me intently as I moved in closer, popping the balloon and spraying the contents into his face as I got close. The concoction inside was special blend of garlic and vodka mixed in with a hint of Tabasco sauce, very close to the base I use to make my Bloody Marys. The only thing I was missing was some form of vegetable juice and we could've had a party.
"How's that feel?" I asked, finally able to draw in some essence.
He laughed as he wiped the mixture off his face using sleeve and a small handkerchief he pulled out of his back pocket. "Garlic? You've read too many fables." He finished rubbing his eyes and launched at me.
Fighting a vampire is a lot like trying to catch a fly with your bare hands. Only that fly is faster than normal and you are completely drunk. I'm talking 'three sheets to the wind' passed about two hours ago, drunk. So it shouldn't surprise you to know he hit me hard, sending me flying into the parking lot thanks to his supernatural strength. While in the air I enhanced my jacket with earth, allowing me to keep my skin as my upper body skid across the pavement.
"Someone's hiding a little secret," he said before launching at me with his super speed.
I twisted around as I weaved fire at my fingertips, creating a fiery vortex. "Wouldn't call it hiding," I said, strengthening the spell. "More like not revealing all of my cards until the bets were in."
"All the same. The treaty will not save you now."
He ran in again, ducking low and crashing into me, bringing us both sliding on the pavement. I moved my hands forward, trying to push him free, but he countered with a sharp blow to my gut, which would've doubled me over if he wasn't sitting on top. He grins, reaching his hand back for what I assumed to be his killing blow. Vamps can be the vindictive type. If you cross one they don't only get more than their fill while drinking from your life blood, they also like to find a way to send a warning to other would-be challengers. Corbin wasn't the first, nor would he be the last, that apparently liked to rip the heart out of his victims.
"Enough, Corbin!" Silas said, appearing out of nowhere to grab his arm. "Your quarrel is with me."
"Very well then," he said, pulling his arm free. "I'll deal with you later." As he was getting up, as a way to enforce his dominance over me, he kicked me once in the gut and then in the jewels. With his mass off my body I rolled over on my side and into a ball. I was thankful he didn't use his whole strength, but the pain in my mid-section didn't seem to agree.
In a glass-half-full kind of way, there was a bright side to my situation. I did have the best seat in the house to watch the fight, and I didn't have to spend a dime on pay-per-view.
- 17 -
The pain redoubled in my side as I squirmed into a position to best watch the fight. Call me a slacker, but it's not every day you get to watch two supernatural beings take out their aggression on one another. We have a way of keeping these fights behind close doors, or at least away from places where the non-magic community has a chance of witnessing it. What made this fight even more special was that it wasn't only between two members of the same species it was between two members of the same clan. If either of them were the dominant leader it would've
been a different story, but as far as I could tell, neither of them were even close.
The two vampires squared off and started going blow for blow in the abandoned parking lot, the only witnesses being the video cameras on top of the building pointed to cover all the parking lots from differing angles that were being recorded onto digital recording devices that would be missing, or deleted, by the morning. The victor, whoever it was, would surely send someone in afterward to clean up the mess.
The pain let up enough I was able to push myself onto my feet, the pain only flaring up when I tried to stretch.
"I'll kill him for you master," he said before running at me at a speed that shouldn't have been possible. It wasn't vampire fast, but it wasn't very far off, telling me he had finally been turned or was playing a closet wizard like me.
He approached in a straight line, making him an easy target for the gust of air I sent at his shins. Brian slammed into the pavement, face first, as his torso kept moving forward even though his legs could not. He slid five feet into a nearby dumpster that made a satisfying thud as it greeted his face. After he hit the only movement around him came from the trail of blood leading away from his mangled body and to a sewer train a few feet away.
I was about to head over and help Silas take down Corbin when I saw something I didn't think was possible. Brian sat up and laughed. He looked at the trail of blood on the ground, quickly figuring out it was coming from his now misshapen nose. I watched him, horror in my eyes, as he wiped his bloody face with his hands and licked the blood. Give the man credit, he was devoted if a tad stupid.
I weaved a protective shield around my body as he hopped to his feet. No sooner than the barrier shimmered into existence, he tested it with a vicious right hook that shattered the shield and sent me flying over the hood of my car and into the grassy drainage ditch on the other side.
Shields are great for stopping a bullet and most normal punches as it works to negate the force of the blow. Where the spell fails is when it has to stop something with super strength, an asset I didn't expect to see out of the familiar.
"You like that?" he said, exposing his neck and the dual puncture marks under his right cheek. As I had suspected after his encounter with the dumpster, he had been recently turned. How long ago there wasn't any way for me to know, but it had to have been done after my first meeting with Silas. He would've known if something was off.
"Not as much as you'll like this," I said, breaking into a charge. When I got close, he squatted down with his arms open planning a grapple, or at minimum a judo-style throw. Both of which were fine to me because he was leaving his most vulnerable organ out in the open.
His heart.
I reached into my coat and pulled out the staff that disguises my primary sword. Leaving the blade tucked away in its sheath, I weaved a net of earth into my muscles to enhance my strength. Even as I pulled out the weapon he continued to grin, expecting he had the upper hand.
He squatted lower as I drew close, forcing me to adjust my jab on the fly. The butt of the staff hit his chest with a snap, cracking his sternum and sending a spray of blood over my hands and jacket. The pulsing spray of blood stopped after a few moments when the newborn vampire entered his newfound stasis. I allowed Brian's impaled body to fall to the ground, carefully moving my staff with the body to ensure it stayed in his chest.
The wooden staff through his heart was good enough to disable him, but I would have to leave my staff, at least the non-pointy end in his chest for the rest of time. Against a powerful enough vampire that might have been a viable solution, but not when it concealed something more permanent.
Holding the staff in place so it didn't move, I pulled the sword out of its holder. The steel blade reflected the light of the nearby lamps, flashing the pavement to the tempo of the faulty light.
Killing a living being, even in self-defense, is something that never comes easy. Even when the being you are taking down could kill you three times over if you so much as gave him a chance.
Forgive me.
With a deep breath, I pulled the blade in one smooth motion and removed the head from his body. Within moments his eyes receded into their sockets and his body grew stiff forcing me to have to step onto his abdomen to remove the staff. Vampire decomposition had always fascinated me, even more so now I'd seen a freshly turned one die.
With one vampire down and another left kicking, I turned my attention to the fight near the building. The vampires, fighting under the light of the faulty street lamp, were at a standstill with neither able to take a clear advantage. While vampires, in general, are one of the most deadly apex predators that walked the earth, they are also very inept at killing their own kind. This is the reason clan wars had a tendency of lasting decades or longer unless one side was willing to cheat and bring in outside help. Otherwise, they were usually long, pointless battles like the one unfolding in front of me.
Silas, however, had an advantage that Corbin wasn't aware of at the moment.
I waited for the perfect time to strike, not wanting to hit Silas on accident. Friendly fire was a bad thing even if I wasn't using deadly force. All it would take was one poorly place spell for the pair of vampires to put their quarrel aside long enough to take me out of the picture. I didn't stand much of a chance one-on-one without the element of surprise. There was no way I was taking two without an act of God.
The didn't make me wait long, my opportunity arriving as Corbin landed a nasty punch on Silas's midsection, sending the elder vampire flying back a few feet. With the separation, I created a wall of fire between the two and supercharged the stream with air which increased the heat. Corbin, not waiting for the wall to form, launched himself at Silas for the kill. He was half over the line when the wall took shape, cutting his body in half right above the midsection. His legs fell short of the body, kicking around helplessly as the pants burned from the heat.
Silas stepped off to the side to avoid Corbin's torso and the streamer of intestines it was leaving behind. The younger vampire hit the ground with a thud, coming to a rest against the foot high asphalt curb.
A smell of rot and decay hit my nose as I walked close. The trail of innards stretched from the fading fire wall to the grassy ditch, with the rest piling in a tangled mess under what remained of his upper body.
"I see you brought a pet wizard, Silas," Corbin spat, trying to crawl back to his lower half.
"Not a pet," I said, putting my weight on the middle of his back to stop him. "Just a friend who needed answers to a few questions."
"I don't speak to the likes of you," he said, flailing his arms attempting to break free.
"Even when I can kill you in less than a heartbeat?" I pulled the end of the sword out of the staff, just enough for him to see the blade glisten against the light. If there was a downside to vampires it's that they are notoriously hard to threaten unless you were a more powerful one. In my case, I needed a way to prove my threats were real. Incinerating the bottom half wouldn't have done any good as all it would take was the ashes coming in contact with his body to start the reformation process. Sure, there was a chance he wouldn't come in contact with them all, but I knew he didn't need to be one hundred percent to take me out.
Then an idea hit me. I channeled a mix of earth and spirit into the nearby bush. The spell working its magic and lengthening the branches allowing them to sprawl out across the parking lot. I tilted my head to let Silas know he needed to move, but he was well ahead of me, using his speed to get well out of the range of the growing vines.
Corbin laughed as I stepped off his torso, believing he had won. He didn't get two feet when the first of the vines wrapped around his small intestines, following them up into his open cavity. Unabated, Corbin continued to crawl, even as the plant pulled out the organs one at a time starting with the liver and stomach followed by his lungs. It was only when Silas strolled up to pluck Corbin's beating heart like an orange from the growing vine.
"Corbin, stop!" Silas ye
lled. "I have no problem ending you right here." He squeezed the heart, causing Corbin to wince. "Answer his questions or I swear to make your end painful."
Corbin exhaled sharply as Silas loosened his grip. "As you wish."
"Why are you killing the millionaires?" I asked, getting to the point.
"Don't be so naive," he snorted. "I'm a vampire. Killing is what I do."
Sensing he wasn't going to cooperate, even with his heart in our hands, I decided it was time to be creative. I may not be able to kill him by damaging his heart, but I can make him feel like hell, so I pulled the sword completely out of the staff and held it up to the heart, standing off to the side so he had a clear view.
"Care to try that answer again?"
He laughed, even as I pushed the edge into the tender tissue of his heart. "Why should it matter that I kill a few people? Especially those calling to kill someone else."
"So this whole thing is a trap?" Silas said, pulling the heart back.
"Of sorts. The ones that pay, I do as they ask. Those that don't..."
"You kill yourself," I finished. "What do you gain by that?"
"Silence," he said, trying to pull his intestines away from the growing vines. "Those are the people that have enough resources to out those like us."
"Then explain how my call got routed to Silas."
Corbin laughed. "Because my contact knows he is..." he looked at the elder vampire and smiled. "Cheap."
Silas gripped the heart tightly, causing one of the walls to rupture. Corbin cried out as he clutched his chest where he heart once was.
"Who is your contact?" I ask.
"Never met him," Silas said. Corbin echoed the answer when I motioned for Silas to loosen up.
"So you're telling me you both take on hits through a person you've never met?"
The both nodded.
"Is that odd?" Corbin said, grinning.
Vampire for Hire: The Nephalem Files (Book 2) Page 10