Bite This

by Michael Anderle

  Stephen nodded to the doorman who was very congenial and the two of them took the ‘secret’ door to their rooms. By now, everyone in the hotel had heard the stories surrounding Stephen and Ivan and it was an exciting event when the two came and left. That Stephen seemed to have a little blood on his shirt as he came in caused a big buzz in the rumors after he passed through. One of the ladies in the restaurant asked the gossipers if they were sure it wasn’t just chocolate?

  As they came into the room, Stephen put a hand back to stop Ivan from entering with him. Stephen started sniffing the air, moving his head first one way, and then the other noticing a human scent having been in their room recently. He followed the scent to his bedroom and then noticed that he had mints on his bed. He smiled to himself and grabbed the mints and went back outside to where Ivan had stayed at the front door. He held up the two mints, “We have unexpected contraband.”

  Ivan snorted and then laughed at the situation, “I take it you haven’t been to a hotel in a few years?” He came into the suite and closed the door.

  “Few years? I’ve been asleep for nearly decades, only occasionally getting up to handle something minor and sleeping again. You should have seen me when Bethany Anne woke me up. I was old enough to act the part of a skeleton in a play, without the need for makeup.” Stephen gave one of the mints to Ivan and popped the other into his mouth. “Mmm, this is good. I think I missed a few treats along the way.”

  “Like ‘Evangeline’?”

  Stephen smiled, “You mean Terry? Exactly so.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out her note. “She has nice lips.” He pulled out his phone and entered her number into the address book.

  “Your going to call her?”

  “You never know, how am I going to grow my little black…” He looked down at his phone and turned it front to back and then to the front again. “Whatever. How am I supposed to grow my list of ladies again? All of the names in my last book have certainly moved on. Actually, considering the year, they’ve probably moved on to the afterlife, sad to say.”

  Ivan had to laugh at that as he walked into his room, leaving the door open. He called out, “So your first name is from a lady who failed to tell you her real name up front? I thought Paula was going to be your first. Well, your first this century.”

  Ivan heard Stephen from his own room, “Who says she would be my first this century?”

  Ivan thought about the old rickety looking Stephen, “Stephen, that’s just … ick, Stephen.” He heard laughing from Stephen’s room.

  Ivan had switched out of the nicer clothes and walked back into the central part of the suite. “Hey, what did you do to Mathis? I couldn’t see too well from the table, but it certainly got his attention.”

  Stephen came out of his room with a pair of jeans and his dress socks. He was getting a white t-shirt ready to put on. Even Ivan had to admit the mans’ six-pack. “Damn, Stephen. Do you even need to work out?”

  Stephen looked at Ivan and then looked down to his stomach where Ivan was looking. “No, compliments of the nanocytes as I understand it.” He finished pulling the t-shirt on over his head.

  “Now I know why Ecaterina is jealous of Bethany Anne.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because Bethany Anne has gravity defying breasts that make men loose their senses anytime guys get around her. Ecaterina is bitching about how Bethany Anne never has to wear a bra and is usually clueless on how it makes the men react.”

  Stephen sat down on the sofa, “I doubt she is clueless, I imagine she is probably ignoring it.”

  Ivan grabbed a water from the cooler the hotel had left in their room. They had never upgraded the suite to have a kitchen. He sat down on the chair, facing Stephen. “I can believe that. She has a way of picking and choosing what she notices. So, back to my question about what you did with Mathis?”

  “Oh that. The young fool never noticed me before he tried to stomp right on top of me. I’m guessing he was hopped up on some sort of drugs. He must have taken them pretty soon before he went into the club, otherwise our nanocytes get rid of them effectively. We suck as drug users.”

  “No pun intended.”

  “True. So when he stopped I stabbed him with all five of my fingers. I could have reached in and pulled his stomach out if he gave me too much grief. As a younger vampire, his healing ability could have handled the crises, but it would have hurt for a long time. There are muscles that are a bitch to heal.”

  “Sounds like experience,”

  “It was, a sword cut in the 1800’s in…well, somewhere in France.”

  “Over a woman?”

  “Of course.”

  “How in the world did you get a sword cut from a human?”

  “If I remember, I was having a fling with an unwed daughter of a Count. Her brother had tracked me down to an inn and I was doing my best to not kill him for her sake. After he sliced open my stomach, I punched him in the head to disorient him and left with a horse. I made it just fine, unfortunately I had to walk since the horse was drained pretty good to heal me up quickly.”

  “Damn, hard on your horses?”

  “No, I’m very good with my own horse. It wasn’t my horse I grabbed.”

  Ivan started chuckling and eventually Stephen had to see the humor and chuckled as well.

  “So, you expect this Mathis here tomorrow night?”

  “Yes. He will either come by himself, which I would be very surprised if that occurs. Or, he will come with muscle to support his ego or he will send a group to kill me. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem very smart so I am thinking option number three.”

  “Not going to need me for this, are you?”

  “No. In fact we need to find a nice place for you to hole up for the night. I told Bethany Anne I would keep you safe. I didn’t even think about you having any guns until it was too late. We will rectify that in the morning.”

  “How am I going to go about with guns in Germany? In case you didn’t know, being asleep and all, Germany has some of the strictest gun laws. You can’t really have a gun, unless it is on your personal property and then you need separate licenses to even buy the ammunition. You are not allowed to carry in public. This isn’t the wild west, like in America.”

  “I’ll do it the same way I did it the last time I was here.”

  “Really, how was that?”

  “Diplomatic Immunity.”

  “Ok, When was that?”

  “I think the 20’s.”

  “Which century?”

  “Ah, 1920’s. Between the two wars. The Allies at the time had placed hard restrictions on what the government of Germany could arm themselves with. Or in this case, not arm themselves. So, the government introduced civilian gun control laws so the government couldn’t be overthrown.”

  “Is not having personal weapons here in Germany why Mathis had bodyguards?”

  “No. He is just a third or fourth generation vampire. He is still stronger than a few Were, but if enough were to jump him, they could take him out. I imagine John Grimes could do it by himself. My personal belief is he has the Were with him to support his ego.”

  “You don’t seem too concerned with him showing back up here tonight.”

  Stephen sighed, “I’m not. When you have lived life long enough, the same record gets played with different instruments. Maybe it is just Frankfurt, but this same situation occurred the last time I was here.”

  “Is that why the door is in the wall?”

  “Not exactly. Every vampire who stays alive has a bolt hole or two. I had this built just because I’m cautious. However; I did need it right away that time.”

  Stephen looked at his watch, “If you want to go to sleep, I’ll stay up until dawn to confirm no vampire problems.”

  Ivan looked around, “Ok. I don’t know if I’ll sleep, but I will at least rest.”

  Stephen got his phone charger. It was a good that he was wealthy, because his data usage here in Germany was going to
cost through the roof. He sat back down in the front room, tomorrow would be an interesting day.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  San Jose, Costa Rica

  Giannini Oviedo was working the streets trying to find out more about the rumored attacks which had happened in the last couple of weeks in downtown San Jose. Normally, San Jose is a safe place, at least in the daytime. Now, even the small gangs that dealt in drugs, small robberies and vandalism seemed to stay off of the streets at night and she couldn’t get any of her contacts in the police department to admit anything.

  At 5’ 2” tall, Giannini wasn’t going to scare away anyone who might decide she was easy pickings, that is why she had the mace and the taser she had borrowed from the editor of her paper. At twenty-two years of age, she wanted to make a name for herself and she would have to take a few risks to get it accomplished.

  She wore blue jeans and a black t-shirt with her sneakers. She wasn’t a bimbo that would wear high-heels at night when she might need to run. The lack of people on the street was a little weird. The night was occasionally broken up by a car or two passing by. One time, she had a guy make a u-turn behind her so she turned around and watched as this American pulled up beside her and rolled down his rental car window and asked her in broken Spanish how much for a hook-up.

  She almost maced the asshole for thinking she was a prostitute. She cussed him out in Spanish and he took off.

  It wasn’t until she got her anger in check that she realized she was offering her body for a story, potentially. It wasn’t the same as providing sex for money. Then again, it was a very back-handed compliment that she decided she didn’t want or need. Asshole.

  She was able to last two hours on the streets before she got back to where she left her vehicle. The last five minutes, she kept looking over her shoulder feeling eyes watching her as she walked down the street. Maybe next time she would bring someone along.

  She took off in her car, screeching the tires as she turned on the main road back to her house.

  The Queen Bitch’s Ship Polarus near Costa Rica

  Bethany Anne was walking down the hall back to her suite when she heard a commotion coming out of the main conference room.

  She walked in, hearing Ecaterina saying, “Oh my god, I love this.” In her sexy Romanian accent. Hoping she wasn’t about to interrupt a make out session between Ecaterina and Nathan, she was surprised to see what Ecaterina was stroking so lovingly in her hands.

  It was a new sniper rifle.

  Nathan had opened up another large box and was working to pull a gun case out.

  “I’m sorry, do you need a moment between you and the… rifle?” Bethany Anne smiled at the surprise on Ecaterina’s face. Nathan didn’t stop taking the rifle case out of the packing box. Undoubtedly he hadn’t been surprised at all with her sudden appearance.

  “You have to feel this, Bethany Anne. It is sex to hold, yes?” Ecaterina’s smile was mischievous. Bethany Anne was the foil to her conversation with Nathan.

  Bethany Anne played along, “You mean it’s hard, strong, long and makes a ‘bang’ when you pull the trigger?”

  “Yes, all of that. Plus I get a total of ten bangs before it has to reload, I’ll be spent before the rifle will.”

  Nathan stood up, placed the carrying case on the table and opened it up, “I’m going to need a cold shower.”

  Ecaterina placed the rifle in the case, “I’ll warm the water up for you.”

  “You’ll just steam up the place and I won’t be able to see anything.”

  “Who needs to see? Can’t you use your hands to feel around in the dark?”

  Bethany Anne started walking out of the room before she saw something she wouldn’t be able to un-see. She yelled back, “Get a room. Wait, you have one. Go to your room!” She heard them laughing as she continued walking to her suite. She cleaned her swords and placed them in their case. Her swords were top quality, but they weren’t special from a standpoint of history.

  Seeing Ecaterina with the sniper rifle caused her to consider how to take Anton out.

  She grabbed a Coke from the fridge and called Frank. She went to voicemail so she left him a message to call her when he could.

  She sat at the conference table in the meeting room outside of her private quarters and pulled out a pen and pad from one of the small drawers built into the table. There was a knock on her door. She got back up and went to the door, “Who is it?”

  Todd Jenkins answered from the other side, “Your security.”

  She opened the door and smiled at the large marine.

  He looked down at her, “Are you trying to play hooky from your security team, ma’am?”

  Bethany Anne turned around and left the door open for Todd to enter the meeting room. He could stay out in the area that was setup for security before you got into the rooms that eventually led to her suite, but here was good enough and truth be told, Bethany Anne was feeling a little lonely. “Of course not, Mr. Jenkins. However, the team needs to practice and they can’t possibly do that while being with me here, right?”

  “Nice way to use logic to try and obfuscate the question. If I had used that a couple of years ago, I might not have gotten in trouble with the congressman as much as I did.”

  She lifted her bottle of Coke, “Drink?”

  In moments like this, Todd was almost able to see the woman behind the mask the fickle bitch of fate had placed on Bethany Anne, “Don’t mind if I do, leaded is much better than unleaded.” He walked to the fridge and grabbed a Pepsi from deep behind the Coke’s.

  “What the hell is that?” Bethany Anne was pointing at the plastic Pepsi bottle in his hand.

  Todd Jenkins looked down at his Pepsi and decided to play along, “A Coke?”

  “Hell no that isn’t a Coke! That is the vile fifth from a disgusting dimension. How did that shit end up in my fridge?” Bethany Anne got up, went back to her fridge and then bent over to look inside. The view she gave Todd was pretty damn hard on his blood pressure, but Bethany Anne was thinking about the other two Pepsi’s somebody had tried to hide in her fridge and didn’t hear Todd’s heart beat rate increase or his breathing get a fraction heavier. She reached into the fridge and pulled the Pepsi’s out from behind her Cokes. She considered what to do with this heresy. This had to be Ecaterina since she was the one who made sure her suite was stocked.

  Some how, she would get that little Romanian back. She opened both Pepsi’s and poured a couple of ounces out of each one. She then tightened the lids back and stuck them in the freezer part of her refrigerator. If it didn’t take forever to freeze, she would sneak them into her bed later that night.

  Satisfied that justice might be done, she turned back and sat down at the table.

  Todd watched from his location near the door, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m trying to figure out how to take Anton out. So far, we only know he is in South America, is rarely seen and is a crafty bastard.”

  “How did you get Clarita?”

  “She worked by some Forsaken rules of who determines the top dog. We took out some of her businesses which made her release the protection around her to go and try to stop the team, thinking that Gabrielle was me. She didn’t realize our team had two female vampires. We spent that load.”

  Todd was a little surprised hearing Bethany Anne’s casual use of what many would consider vulgar language. He had been told she did it, but he thought it was mostly on operations. “So, what is your first thought?”

  “Shoot him from afar, then go in close to finish him off. Unless we get real lucky, he could probably come back from a round to the head.”

  Todd couldn’t help but feel little awe for the vampire, he had seen some results of sniper rounds. “He can shrug off a sniper shot?”

  Bethany Anne looked over at him, “Not easily, no. If it was a non-killing blow, he wouldn’t be able to move himself for a while. However, if he is in a car then all we have done is made him aware he is a target.
After he heals, he will be practically impossible to track down.”

  “He doesn’t already know he is a target?”

  She thought about that, “He should, but the rules he has lived by for hundreds of years have pre-conditioned him to think the most that might happen is a slap on the hand. Unless Michael himself shows up, he won’t believe there is anyone stronger than himself. I’m sure his siblings are probably close in strength, but they can’t over power him. Since Michael has never killed one of his kids, that leaves humans. His defense against humanity at large is a strong ability to implant suggestions in humans minds.”

  “Like hypnosis?”

  “Not sure. We took out a grandchild of his by the name of Adrian. Adrian had talked to me as if he expected me to simply obey him and he had expected immediate results. Very traditional ability attributed to vampires in popular fiction. Since it didn’t work on me, I can’t tell you how accurate that guess is.”