The Cactus Killer (The Inglewood Chronicles)

by Jeremy Croston

  He looked at me, his eyes full of hope I would dispute it. “She’s right, sir. I saw his eyes go red when he came on the attack.”

  “And no one should have been able to match my movements, especially when I embraced in the bloodletting.”

  After that no one said much of anything on the way back to Full Moon. Realization formed over everyone that one of their own was behind this. They either had a traitor in the mix or someone who should have been dead a long time ago was still very much alive.

  Chapter 32

  Even though it had been a long night, I wasn’t tired. Between the boost of adrenaline still running though me and mourning the loss of my beloved Mustang, I was wide awake.

  It was around four in the morning and I was just hanging out on my back deck. I’d given up trying to ice my face; it hurt and nothing I was going to do would help. I was also out of beer, which just added to a rough night on the clock.

  “Do you not need to get any sleep, Vic?”

  Liz took a seat beside me. She was looking a lot better now than she was earlier. Most of the cuts had healed and the bruises were already starting to fade. “Nah, I’m alright. Sometimes after a tough shift, I would stay up all night trying to think about what I could’ve done better.

  “Is that what you are doing now?”

  “When we first got back, but after replaying the events of the evening, we did good.”

  She smiled at me, “I would drink to that, but I noticed your refrigerator has dried up.”

  “Yeah, that problem will be alleviated pronto.” The evening had a nice breeze going and I started to relax. “So do you know any old sword wielding vampires? Are there any Asian vampires who have it out for us?”

  “Fortuna was not Asian. For as observant as you can be, sometimes you miss the smallest details.”

  I was offended, I was very observant. “What did I miss there, boss lady?”

  “Broad shoulders, muscular neck, tall, all characteristics that would not fit with an Asian heritage. Yet, our mystery man was skilled in the Samurai arts. I would not be surprised if he learned them directly centuries ago.”

  “So you guys really have no idea who this could be?”

  Her look of disappointment was evident. “No, not even Cristof could give us a lead. He has made calls in the hopes that maybe someone in our community will know who this could be. I sent a text to Roderick and Jonathan, but neither could provide any insight.”

  “Between our samurai’s identity and what Tucker’s next play is, we have ourselves a good old fashioned conundrum. Something tells me though we will find out soon enough what our friendly neighborhood lunatic has in store for us now.”

  “We definitely shook up the hornet’s nest now. Thank goodness we were able to take most of those monsters out. I do not know how we would have handled that many.”

  I still wasn’t all that optimistic. “Fortuna saved six before I put one down and he has three agents out in the field. By my count he still has quite few bodies to throw at us.”

  “I think it is safe to assume the three agents he had prepared are probably more in terms of what his son Austin was. Add those to Fortuna and the five remaining green guys and we will need our own back-up.”

  Liz was right; we would need to assemble our own force to meet his. “We aren’t exactly helpless though. We have the Alphas here and I am sure Josh Greenfoot would be more than willing to tangle.”

  “And I guess it is time to let Cristof back into the world. I can also make a call to Gregory and see if he can make it in from Seattle to help us.”

  “Five vampires and a bunch of angry wolves sounds like a good start to me.” I would give dad, Argent, and Chaz a call in a few hours to see if we could round up a town meeting. I wasn’t sure if Greenfoot was still in town but I’d shoot him a text too.

  “I hope we are able to pull this together. I do not think Warren will wait too much longer before he makes his final move. So much is at stake and there are so many questions that need to be answered.”

  “Just believe in what we started and trust that our friends will be on board.” I gave her a wink and a smile. She just rolled her eyes, but I think for the time being, her stress level started to go down.

  “I am going to call Gregory right now. The sooner I can talk to him and find out if we can count on him, the better.” Liz walked in and soon I heard her talking to someone. I could make out his voice and it seemed incredibly happy. Hopefully, we could count on him to come and help us out.

  A familiar scent hit me and soon I was joined on the deck by Reno. “Bailed you out again, furball! Soon I might have to open a tab for you.”

  “You mean like the one I opened a few days ago for room and board for you?”

  “That’s why I like you, a smart jibe for everything. Don’t get too used to all this action, our jobs are actually pretty boring most days.”

  Boring, what was that? “I think I might be looking forward to some down time. You vampires pretty much have burnt me out since you’ve been here.”

  He put his hands up, “Whoa there, it’s this Tucker bozo who has you all worked up, not us. Besides, this is your investigation, not my fault you haven’t wrapped it up yet.”

  “Hmph, I’ll remember that when there is glory to go around. It’ll all be mine and poor Reno can watch from the sidelines.” He followed up with a punch to my arm.

  “I prefer the sidelines. Too much attention can get you even more work. Consider that a tip from your good buddy here.”

  He was right; attention attracted more work and even more attention. Not all of it was from admirers too. “It’s getting early, don’t you need to go get ready for bed?”

  He looked up towards the sky, “Before I was a vampire, dawn was my favorite time of day.”

  “Any reason for that?”

  “When I was a kid, my sister and I would wake up before my parents and go outside and play. We grew up on a farm and as soon as dad was awake, it was off to work. But the short time right before the sun cracked over the horizon was our time.”

  I didn’t want to interrupt him. As I sat there, it struck me that most of the vampires that were turned seemed to carry it almost as a curse. “Do you regret being turned?”

  “I would’ve died that day if Lady Swansea hadn’t done what she did. I’ll be forever grateful for that because I wasn’t ready to leave this life yet. Now, after all the years, I’m not sure I want to live forever.”

  “A lot of people would kill for the chance to live forever.”

  “Yeah, it seems like a great gig, but ask yourself this; when do you stop living and just start to exist?”

  Whoa, that was deep. I had no answer for what Reno just said and after a moment, he got up and headed towards his room. I looked down and saw that it was now getting close to five-thirty and the sun would be up before we all knew it. Following his lead, I too went into the house.

  Liz was still in the kitchen on the phone and I told her I was off to take a short nap. She nodded that she heard and within moments I crashed. Sleep came but it was restless. I woke up two or three times and by nine o’clock I had given up on trying.

  I found myself alone in the kitchen which was a surprise. Normally, Liz was up doing something, with the very least coffee made. It didn’t take long to find my answer; I walked into my living room and found her asleep on the couch. I poked her once or twice and no reaction. She was good and out; it was well deserved after our last set of misadventures.

  Taking advantage of the silence, I went back and fired up the coffee and shot a group message out to everyone. After a quick overview of what we found at Tucker’s, I told them to meet me at my house tonight around seven if they wanted to be part of the task force to end this once and for all. As morning turned to afternoon, I received all the confirmations that everyone would be here and ready to do their part.

  I also had time to catch up on some television, watching the sports channel mostly to see if Arizona had done
anything to improve the ball team this year. Much to my surprise, we got a power hitting first baseman and a couple of decent pitchers. I guess my over excitement of the baseball team was a little loud, as I heard Liz groan.

  “Must you be so loud? I was just trying to take a quick nap.”

  I chuckled for a second and got an evil look. “A quick nap? It’s almost three in the afternoon. You’ve been out quite awhile.”

  I don’t think she believed me, but a quick glance at her phone confirmed what I had said. “Why did you let me sleep so long?”

  “I tried to wake you up a few times, but you were out cold. But cut to the chase, is Gregory coming?”

  She shook the cobwebs out and gave me a smile, “Yes, he said he would be on the first available flight to Albuquerque. With any luck, he will be here as soon as tonight.”

  “That is good. I have some news to pass on too.”

  “I already heard, we got that first baseman from Texas.”

  “No, not that stupid. We are having guests tonight. I sent out a message with a short explanation and the wolves are ready to do our part.”

  Her face lit up, “Everyone is on board then?”

  “You can ask them yourself tonight. You may want to call Cristof and make sure he and Phil are here.” She grabbed her phone and started texting. With any luck, tonight was the night we put together our own plan, one to put Tucker and friends down for good.

  Chapter 33

  It almost felt like I was having a dinner party. Mom had brought over a ton of food and next thing I know, dad was grilling up burgers and hot dogs as well. As more people showed up, what I figured would have been a pretty serious time, seemed to actually get more relaxed. It didn’t take long and everyone who I expected was here; mom and dad, Bernard, Billy, Chaz, Dr. Tello, Pastor Browne, Mayor Argent and his wife, Josh Greenfoot and his second in command, Liz, Reno, Phil and Cristof. According to Bernard, Felix was pretty ticked off about not being able to come too. Mom had put her foot down and told him in no uncertain terms was he allowed to take part in any of this nonsense.

  The two faces that were missing were Sheriff Munoz, who had to go back to Howling Canyon and file his report, and Talia. Her death still lingered like a bad taste in my mouth. She would have been a great asset to have and I hope wherever she was, she knew she was still greatly missed.

  “Alright everyone, can we settle down a bit? Believe it or not you aren’t all here to eat, drink and be merry.”

  Someone started booing me (Bernard) and it didn’t take long for everyone to join in. I swear, it’s like dealing with high schoolers. And of course Liz was no help either. She was right there with everyone else. I was actually surprised when Mayor Argent came to my aid.

  “Okay everyone, we have had enough fun at Vic’s expense. I feel he is right and that we need to get down to business.”

  “Thank you, Mayor.” I gave everyone else the evil eye, but all it did was amuse them further. “As you all know by my text messages this morning, last night when Liz and I met with Warren Tucker, and we discovered he had created some sort of monster army.”

  “But you guys blew that place sky high right?” Bernard had a love of all things explosive.

  “Yeah, but a few were able to escape with the help of his super powered goon. Liz, if you wouldn’t mind sharing your thoughts about him.”

  Liz got out of her chair and continued on, “Warren called him Fortuna and even though I have never heard that name before, I can safely guess that he is an elder vampire.”

  You could see the werewolf side was a bit confused, but the vampires’ look of despair sobered the mood. Chaz spoke up, “What exactly does that mean?”

  “Myself and Cristof are considered elder vampires, both of us being over one thousand years old. The older a vampire gets, the more powerful they potentially become. This Fortuna was able to easily over power myself and Victor. My full power was not strong enough to slow him down.”

  “So we wouldn’t even stand a chance?”

  “In my opinion Charles, this vampire would be able to slay this whole community without a second thought. I also believe he is the one responsible for the majority of the Cactus Killer murders.”

  “He might be the tool, but Tucker is the one who wields him.” Even as I said it, something popped into my mind. “If this vampire is so powerful, why is he following Tucker so blindly?”

  Both Cristof and Liz just looked at me, like I had just asked how to explain nuclear fusion. “That is the million dollar question, Vic. None of this makes any sense to us right now.”

  “I have a question.” Everyone turned and looked at Billy. “Doesn’t it seem odd that this is all taking place in a pretty remote part of the world?”

  We all kind of looked at him for a minute. “What do you mean, Billy?”

  “Think about it Vic, New Mexico doesn’t exactly have the largest population of vampires and werewolves. When Tucker upped his game and started picking off more and more, it was only a matter of time before someone figured it out. Now if he was in a more heavily populated area, think about how much longer he could have gone before anyone really put it all together.”

  “What if we are thinking about this all wrong; what if this Warren Tucker was not the mastermind, but the tool? Someone could be pulling the strings and using him to accomplish their end game.”

  Mom didn’t speak often, but when she did it was usually well thought out. “So what you think is their target is something or someone here and finding Tucker was just an added bonus?”

  “Well, it is obvious, whoever it is wants to kill Liz, c’mon people.”

  I’m not sure how long Felix had been hanging around or where exactly he was hiding, but sure enough he was right there. It didn’t take mom long to have a coronary and the next ten minutes were a complete waste as mom ripped him a new one and eventually grabbed him by the back of the neck and escorted him home.

  “You know guys; I think Felix may have a point. Maybe we have been looking too big in all of this when the answer was right in front of us.”

  “I agree with Billy.” I turned over and looked at Liz, “On a personal level, do you know anyone who would want to do this to you?”

  Reno started laughing, but Liz silenced him quickly with that death stare. “Yes, there are plenty of vampires who do not care for me. The only problem with that theory is whoever is behind the curtains has the faith of an incredibly powerful elder. We tend not to fall in line with those weaker than us.”

  “So on top of everything else, you think there is another vampire elder pulling Fortuna and Tucker’s strings? Well there goes my theory that the Hammer of Jehovah isn’t the real threat.”

  “I think it is time everyone calmed down.” Dad was standing now and we all brought our attention to him. “We have one problem in front of us right now. Until we get rid of that one, it does not matter who the man in the shadows is.”

  Well, that sounded awfully familiar. I’m pretty sure I used that same logic with Liz the night Rod and Jonathan called her and told her about the defacing of her parents’ tomb. How quickly one forgets their own advice is surprising.

  Dad took our silence to continue on, “We know Tucker is going to want revenge for what Vic and Elizabeth did and we will all need to be there to help. I, for one, am tired of fighting on his turf. I think it is time to make Warren Tucker do the chasing.”

  “That would be wonderful Callum, but how do you plan to do that?”

  Dad’s grin was downright feral. “Easy Archibald, we have the two people that he is now after the most. All we have to do is send him the invite and be as arrogant as possible about it. It’ll be like a fly to honey.”

  “But once he is here, then what will the plan entail? As Elizabeth and Victor have already said, just his hired muscle is enough to take out the town. He also still has five monsters and three ‘agents’ out there.”

  It was my turn, “Cristof, you’re the most powerful vampire in North America
, correct?”

  He shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know about powerful, but until recently, I was without a doubt the oldest one here.”

  I pressed on, “Would it be fair to say if you had a fairly skilled werewolf or two with you, that maybe you could give this Fortuna a run for his money?”

  “Based on the information I have, I think I have one more good fight left in me. I take that as you are asking me to join in the fray then?”

  “Yes sir, it would be an honor to see you in action.”

  Granted I had only met the man a few days ago, but I’d never seen him so happy. “Ha! And Alicia thought I’d brought Hrunting along for nothing!”

  I looked at everyone and no one seemed to know what he was talking about, except Liz. She was rolling her eyes at him. “You shipped one of the most dangerous artifacts in the world here?”

  “Calm down Elizabeth, you are not my mother. It seems it was a good thing I did too.”

  “Excuse me, for the rest of us here, just what is this Hrunting you are talking about?” The two of them seemed to forget the rest of us while they were bickering.

  Cristof looked at all of us in shock. “None of you know what Hrunting is?” We all kind of just looked at him. “My word! Ladies and gentlemen it is the sword of the great hero Beowulf!”

  The name sounded familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it. Dr. Tello, on the other hand seemed to place it right away as she gasped. “The hero of lore from the old Germanic tales?”

  “The one and the same, good doctor. Right before he engaged the dragon and died, he gave his sword to his son. I still have it to this day.”

  Again, Dr. Tello was the only one to seem to know the significance of this. “Beowulf was said to live in the late fifth century. And from what I know, he did not have any sons of repute.”

  “Not that anyone would know I was his son, but yes when Beowulf went to slay the Grendel, history keeps out the dark parts. He became enchanted with the witch and I am the result of that union.”

  “So when were you turned into a vampire?” I hope I didn’t offend him, I had just assumed he was.