“That’s rough,” said Jenna. “It wasn’t your fault, if you think that.”
Jamie sighed. “I just think I should have broken it off with Mary to save her from all this, but I was selfish. My father…I feel like if I walk away, I am failing again.”
“Sometimes we see the signs and still do the wrong things,” said Angela, shooting dirty looks at Barry and Paul. “Jamie, it’s your father, and that’s at least understandable, as opposed to men getting into shit because their pants keep falling off.”
“Here we go again,” Paul said. “Let’s go, Angela, right here….give me a good swing and pop….come on….”
A banging began downstairs, startling them. It was a steady beat against shuttered windows that sent shivers through the room. The lunatics outside began their assault.
Everyone dashed out of the room and descended the flights of carpeted stairs until they saw the lobby. There were maniacal faces pressed up against glass, pounding with bloodied fists.
The clerk from downstairs, eyes wide with terror, called to them in Italian. He made motions with his hands.
“What is he saying?” asked Lucy.
Stefania blinked as she translated. “The lunatics are free. Demons walk the night. We’re all dead. Mother of Mercy, we’re all dead.”
But Jenna, in abject horror and her mind on the brink of madness, heard something else as the man gesticulated wildly.
“A bus came in earlier. Jenna, there is someone downstairs asking for you, asking if you are here, and quite upset, he says. Do you have friends here?”
Jenna shook her head. “No. I don’t know anyone. Who is it?
“The clerk didn’t get a name with all that’s going on, but the man is demanding to see you.”
“There’s a mistake, because I don’t know anyone over here,” said Jenna.
Lucy looked quizzically at her friend. “Who are you talking to, Jenna?”
The noise continued but the hotel was strong and would hold for a while. She tried to force the images of the lunatics’ feral faces from her mind. She knew they had to get a plan together to fight back.
Jenna walked downstairs, counting carefully.
“Jenna, Honey, where are you going?” cried Lucy as she took off down the stairs after Jenna.
Jenna forgot her count a few stairs from the bottom as she saw a familiar face in the jumble of scared patrons. She leaped from the stairs, startling Lucy, and she ran, grabbing the visitor.
“Doctor Ed, oh my God. You’re here. It’s not safe to be here, but I’m so glad to see you.” She wrapped her arms around him in a death grip as he tried to get enough space to see if she were okay and to breathe.
Lucy looked at her friend in total disbelief.
Doctor Ed looked worried. “Jenna, there is something terrible about this place. I researched the travel group, and found that there’re many who go missing! I came at once to get you.
“This is not a safe place, and everyone is screaming and boarding up windows. What is happening here?”
Jenna chuckled. “I know. It’s a madhouse. You have to listen to me, and don’t scoff…Ed, there are vampires. Don’t laugh. Those people out there are the men they’ve driven insane. They’ve escaped from a sanitarium. The women have a club….”
“Feral Hearts. I know. I read an article about it. This is a horrible place, and I should have researched it before and never let you come here.”
“I said vampires.”
“I know.”
Jenna frowned, “Ummm. And you’re not telling me I’ve gone crazy?”
“Jenna, I might’ve told you I had concerns if you said there were zombies or something silly. Of course there are vampires, and you’ve run into a clan of them. I am well aware of them. I don’t just deal with regular issues. I’ve treated two slayers, and one…well…we aren’t talking about lycanthropy.”
Lucy called out to Jenna in the din and confusion. “Jenna, we have to run! Let’s go!”
Jenna nodded, grabbed Doctor Ed by the hand—it was warm and his grip strong—and she pulled him back towards the stairs. She quickly gave the Doctor an overview of the situation as she trailed behind Lucy, and he didn’t disbelieve her. Actually, he accepted the story at once. After all, he had flown over to save her from this place.
“Why didn’t I know this?” Jenna asked.
“Jenna, I don’t disclose my patient’s issues. I certainly don’t discuss my patients who are slayers with PTSD. That’s unprofessional. It’s irrelevant now. I received a phone call from one of them, good guy by the way, you’d know him since he’s in the movie and music industry and happened to play the role of a slayer…”
“You mean….”
“Don’t say a name,” Ed held a hand up. “But he called me and was concerned because there was word about something going on, and he isn’t mobilizing to handle this, over here, but he has friends who are. I knew this was serious and booked a flight at once.”
They followed Lucy and the gang around the stairs and back into the dining area.
“That was sweet.” Jenna smiled, gripping his hand tighter.
He noticed she wore lipstick and was composed, despite the hysteria of the other guests and the banging against the shutters. Despite the circumstances, she was the most self-assured and calmest he had ever seen her. He would have bet she would have been a trembling, pale, scared person, but she kept her head raised.
“But, now I’ve caused you to be in danger,” she sighed. It was her only worry now.
“Don’t even say such a thing. I came to save you, and I will. I’m not an idiot like the men on this trip…and it sounds like the women as well, with the exception of you two.”
“That’s Angela,” said Jenna, pointing ahead. “She thinks she’s tough.”
Ed went on. “Jenna, do you see all of these beautiful chandeliers? Some of those crystals are cut very slender and they come to a strong point. They could be taken and wired or tied to smaller table legs to make a lethal spear,” he called out above the din of voices. ”I think we should gather small table legs and break pool sticks in half. There are knives in the kitchen? Let’s tie and wire them on table legs and make spears.”
Jenna flushed. “Ed, did I ever tell you that you look like a young Robert DeNiro. I hope you can fight.”
Angela ran to the back with Lucy. “We can grab some knives!”
“Good idea!” said Lucy.
Jenna called out to Barry and Paul. “You guys, start smashing chairs. We need wooden stakes and spears.”
Barry looked at Paul in disbelief. “Look who suddenly woke up.”
“She’s right,” said Paul.”Let’s do it.” Barry needed no further invitation to smash stuff.
“Be careful,” Jenna called as Ed climbed up on the table and began to hand crystals down. Barry and Paul shook their heads as they slammed wooden chairs against the ground, thinking she was talking to them.
As Ed finished, he reached down and took Jenna’s hand to steady himself. For several long seconds, he gripped her hand tightly.
She dared to look at him. “I can’t believe you came this far to find me.” Her face was burning now. She had never felt embarrassed in front of him, but tonight she was very self-conscious.
“Me either, especially since you were there, in front of me the whole time.” He suddenly blushed, realizing they had said two different things with vastly different meanings. He busied himself in gathering the crystals and motioned to Angela and Lucy to hurry and join them.
The four of them ran back up the stairs, following Jenna. Paul and Barry followed with bundles of wooden stakes in their arms.
When they returned to the room, before Jenna could introduce Ed, they smelled something sickly sweet and nauseating. All heads turned to Barry.
“What?”
“You…smell funny.” Lucy wrinkled her nose.
Ed went to Barry, knelt, and carefully removed the gauze. He shook his head. “Get me some alcohol. No…ha
nd me that rum. Just pour it onto a few tissues…that’s right…okay…this will hurt….”
To everyone’s surprise, Jenna scurried to gather the supplies, dousing tissues with rum.
“What’s this crazy bitch doing?” asked Barry.
“Cut it out, Barry,” said Lucy. “She’s coping the best she can.”
Before Barry could respond with some wise-assed remark, Jenna slapped the rum-soaked tissues onto his neck. Barry howled and jerked rigidly.
“Oh come on….”Angela began, but she stopped as they all looked at the wound.
It wasn’t a small nip anymore. At first, it was like a deep cut that bled profusely, never clotting, but now it looked as if a zombie had leaned in and snagged a huge chunk of skin and muscle and ripped it away. The original cut had opened up deeper and wider and leaked a lot of blood.
Worse than that—the edges of the wound, while spreading open, looked greyish yellow with bright red streaks. Along with the oozing blood, there was a great deal of something else—a thick, dark yellow slime boiled up from the injury, staining the gauze and Barry’s shirt.
Barry ripped the shirt off and had Paul grab a collarless shirt while he finished swabbing the bite. Doctor Ed had Jenna rip apart a sheet that she used to bind Barry’s neck.
Barry looked like he was going to snap at Jenna, but when he saw what she was doing, he let her finish. “Thank you,” he said tentatively, eyeing her cautiously.
“Don’t mention it.”
Doctor Ed shook his head. “That is comparable to an injury that’s several days old. It’s infected down into the muscle. He’s running a serious fever as well.”
“Jesus H. Christ, Barry,” said Paul, drinking straight from the bottle of rum.
Angela made a face, but handed over a glass for him to pour her a few shots. Stefania wiped the lip of the bottle and took several hefty swigs. Jamie held out a glass and Paul gave him a little.
“That would make a good Molotov cocktail,” Ed said.
“Now that’s a good drink,” said Paul. “Just what the doctor ordered.”
“His name is Ed, and he’s my friend,” Jenna blurted out. “He was worried and came all the way over here to check on me.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Lucy.
“I think Jenna’s losing it,” said Jamie.
“You’re the traitor, right?” Ed snapped. “So, what is your great plan, now? How are you going to save your ass?”
“She can’t help it,” said Angela. “Leave her alone.”
“Well, she’s the only one who gets our situation,” said Jamie. “C’mon guys. We can’t fight these vampires with broken chair legs and…” he looked at the crystals that Jenna tossed on the bed, “pieces of chandelier. If I can convince you all to hand over Barry and Paul…then we’re all in good shape. Look…what’s his prognosis?” He pointed to Barry.
Doctor Ed frowned. “He’s very sick. He needs IV antibiotics immediately and topical antibiotics and maybe some surgical debriding of the infected flesh….”
“Do we have a surgical room all ready to go? A team of doctors? No?” said Jamie sarcastically. “He’s dead anyway, and we have vampires and lunatics beating at the doors promising a slow, grisly death if we don’t hand his half-dead ass over.”
Barry groaned.
Jamie nodded and held his glass out to Paul to give him another shot. “He’s dead either way, so why not let Viktoriya have him? Isn’t the safety of the whole more important that the whims of a single, dying man?”
“That’s cold,” Angela said as she wrapped a knife against a broken pool stick she had retrieved. She had three weapons ready.
“And what about me?” asked Paul. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly dying.”
Downstairs, there was screaming. There were shrieks and then the begging and pleading that ended in horrid slurping. The noises of running turned from bumps and thuds to sliding and silence.
Somehow, the lack of noise, the quiet, the emptiness, was far worse.
Paul silently crept to the door, listened, and dared to look out. He managed to see down the hall before closing the door again, locking it.
“They’re leaving,” Lucy said as she looked out the window. “All the men from the sanitarium, I see them leaving.” She saw all the men walk out of the building and stumble and lurch back towards the asylum as if summoned back to their nest. Each had injuries, from broken bones to deep cuts and gashes. All were blood drenched. A few crawled on their hands and knees.
Jamie crowded Lucy as he looked out the window, “There. That’s my father. Oh, thank God, he’s okay.”
“If you consider that okay.” Lucy addressed the group. “It’s over. We’re okay. They’re leaving, and we’re safe….” She stopped when she saw the others looking at her, “What? What is it?”
Paul wiped his mouth, stone-cold sober despite the rum. “Out there, there’s nothing but blood everywhere. It’s on the walls, the floors, and the ceilings. It’s like someone painted everything bright red. There are…pieces…pieces of flesh and goblets of fat. I saw an arm torn away. I saw a shoe with a foot still inside.”
“Paul….” Lucy began.
“There’s nothing human and alive out there now. But, you know what? I could hear them. All over, like a droning of hornets…it isn’t a buzz, but a constant noise from all over—a slurping, licking, smacking sound.”
“But…they’re going….” Lucy began again.
Jamie shook his head. “The men are going. Those are the puppets. But the women…Viktoriya…they are all downstairs feeding.”
Angela suddenly looked nervous. Her hands shook. “Throw Barry out. My God. We have to do something.” She held up her homemade spear and handed the rest over to her friends.
Doctor Ed turned to Jenna with an expression of urgency. “Jenna, I resign as your doctor, okay? I am not in a doctor-patient relationship with you anymore.” Ed took Jenna’s hand, “I meant to do this long ago but…it’s unethical and I can’t…but there are vampires coming for us, and we may not make it out of here alive, so I’m saying it, just in case. It’s wrong and I know better, but if we do survive, would you consider going out to dinner with me?”
Jenna leaned into him, savoring his strength and warmth. “It’s old fashioned and dorky, but Ed, I’d say if we make it out of this, I’d like to be your girlfriend.”
He grinned. “Well, the singles trip did find you the perfect match after all…just in a weird way.” He leaned in for a deep kiss that sent his adrenaline flowing and wetness into her nether regions.
Lucy watched her friend, concerned. Poor Jenna. She noticed the others watching Jenna nervously and knew it would only be a matter of time before they turned on her.
Lucy was about to speak to Jenna and express her concern, but she was interrupted by a loud crash from the hallway.
Down the hall, maybe two doors down, a door was bashed in, broken into a hundred splinters. Glass shattered. A woman screamed. A man yelled and then gurgled. Suddenly, the scream stopped.
All was silent again.
“Don’t they get…full?” Angela asked.
“They’re insatiable,” said Jamie.
There was noise in the room next to them, and then silence again.
“Okay, weapons ready,” said Angela as everyone picked up their makeshift stakes and spears. Death would be knocking on their door, finding them ready. “If we’re going down, we’re going down swinging.”
Everyone nodded their silent agreement. The time to hand over Barry and Paul had passed. They, as a group, had made their choice, and there was no time for regrets. Shit was about to get real.
Ed dared to get closer to the door where he tried to listen for movement. Nothing. With no warning, the heavy door burst into the room, splintering and flying off its hinges, slamming into Ed. It was like being hit with a solid hundred-pound weight, and Ed went down, knocked unconscious by the force.
Jenna cried out in a showe
r of splinters.
The woman who stood in the doorway, her pretty head slightly cocked, was a blonde. Her hair fell in shining, thick curls to her waist, and her face looked classically sculpted. Her figure was curvaceous, but slender with a full bosom encased in a pretty violet bustier, and wide, generous hips in tiny shorts. Although her eyes seemed to burn and glow, she was a beautiful woman if one ignored the gore. Bits of flesh stuck to her bare legs and shoulders, and blood caked her hair, plastering some of it to her skull.
She licked her red, bloody lips.
For all her intelligence and strength, Lucy made a sound that was like “Eeeep.”
The woman glanced to her left where Lucy stood close to Ed, who was covered in the remains of the big door. It was all Angela needed. Like an arrow shot from a bow, she raced across the room, spear held chest-high, and used her weight and momentum to plunge the knife-tipped spear into the woman’s heart.
Only she missed.
Angela lost her balance and collided with the vampire, who quickly cast her off with a swipe of her clawed hand. Moving as one, the group charged the demon, spears raised, swiping and jabbing, cursing wildly.
The vampire crumpled under the weight of the small throng as Paul and Angela stabbed wildly at any part of the vampire that was exposed. The woman hissed at them, craning her neck for a bite, but in the disorganized heap her teeth found no purchase.
“Hold her hands down!” Angela pushed herself up off the heap, rolled Jenna off the top of the woman, and lined her sharpened wooden chair leg up with her heart. She allowed herself to fall back down, driving the stake into her chest with all of her weight while Paul and Lucy held her wrists down against the carpeted floor. Stefania pressed down on the vampire’s forehead, forcing her head against the floor as the she hissed and spit.
The vampire let out a horrid shriek as the wood slid into her black heart. Just as legend dictated, the woman’s face took on wrinkles, her hair began to go grey and then white, and she grew smaller, less curvy, and she quickly looked to be centuries old.
Feral Hearts Page 32