“Leo, everyone has email. There are Taliban living in caves with active email accounts. Just asking if someone has an email account makes you sound…well, lame.”
“Just give me your damn email account,” I snap.
“Sure, man, I’m just trying to help you out. It’s [email protected].”
“Marvin, [email protected].”
“Sent.”
“Oh, man, is that really your account?” Nick asks with a chuckle a few seconds later.
“I didn’t pick it.”
“At least it isn’t AOL. What am I looking at?”
“Stakeout locations. You can ignore the ones in green. I need eyes on all the others. Can you cover it?”
“Uh, yeah, I can put a crew together to cover them. Who are we looking for?”
“I’m sure you have heard about the vamp going on a killing spree lately.”
“Is this the same one who…didn’t quite kick your ass on camera?”
“The other one, the one that took out two squads of Sheriffs in Jamaica and recently tore through a police station.”
“That sounds a little dangerous.”
“It sounds extremely dangerous and he is far more dangerous than he sounds. This is eyes only. If anyone even thinks they see him, they need to make the call and run like hell.”
I can practically hear him thinking as he ponders the danger Jack represents compared to displeasing me. “This is big, isn’t it?”
“It is,” I answer, my voice low, warning him that this is not the time to screw with me.
“All right, I’ll gather my troops. But after this, I think you owe me a little bit of respect.”
“If you come through, I’ll owe you more than that.”
“Cool, man, it’s all I ever wanted.”
“Just don’t piss away whatever you earn by acting like a dipshit again.”
“Naw, man, I’m turning us into a legit business enterprise. Those days of trifling nonsense are behind me.”
“Glad to hear it. I’ll be waiting for your call.” I hang up and turn to Trinh. “It’s done. We should have eyes on every location within the next hour. All we can do now is wait.”
Trinh nods. “I’ll ditch my suicide vest and gear up. Carol, you want to put on something more appropriate?”
Marvin travels his eyes up and down her cosplay outfit. “Looks damned appropriate to me.”
Carol rolls her eyes and sucks her teeth. “Boys…”
“Hey, I am a man!”
“Does my man want to suit up and be my spotter while I’m in Kill Mode hunting scary vampires?”
“Oh, hell no. My one and only field assignment is over. I ain’t ever putting this beautiful body in the path of bullets or head–chopping, blood-drinking vampires again. Nope. You call me if you need tech support. That’s what I do.”
Carol stands, leans down, and kisses him on the cheek. “You stay here while Momma takes care of the bad man for her little pooky bear.”
Marvin watches her disappear behind the folding screen and looks at Trinh and me. “Does that make me a bitch?”
Trinh smiles and tilts her head. “It kinda does.”
Marvin slouches and folds his arms. “Fuck it, I might be a bitch, but I’ll be a live bitch.”
CHAPTER 26
The fog was not as thick as it had been the past few days, but it was heavy and clinging, almost to the point of being a light drizzle. The city noise carried on through the night despite the terror gripping much of the populace, but it seemed somehow subdued.
It was like watching a nature documentary of a herd of antelope drinking at the edge of a muddy river. On the surface, everything appeared ordinary, but there was tension within the herd as each of them knew that a crocodile could take one of them at any moment and pull them beneath the murky surface never to be seen again. The truly sad part was that few would care. They just hoped to get their drink and move on before the crocodile came for them next.
“I don’t know what’s dumber, Nick asking us to look for a serial killer or us for fucking doing it,” Anton complained, not for the first time.
“Do you know what’s even dumber?” Laura asked. “Making a bunch of noise by bitching about it while we’re doing it.”
“Why do we even listen to Nick anyway?” Anton continued as if he hadn’t heard her rebuke. “He’s kind of a douche when you get down to it.”
“Uh, because he owns a club where we party all night and he hands out molly like it’s candy on Halloween. Other than that, yeah, he is a douche.”
“Why are we out here? That’s what I want to know. Sure, Nick gets in good with Malone, but what do we get out of it? What happens if we actually find this guy?”
“That one I can answer. We run like hell.”
Anton pulled the zipper of his jacket up higher. “Do you think the vampires are that tough? I mean, we’re not weak, and there’s two of us.”
Laura rolled her eyes. “You must be a noob. You only think you’re tough because you don’t have anything to compare yourself to other than your old self. Were you there when Malone dragged Nick out of the bathroom with his pants around his ankles? Nick might be a douche, but he’s no pussy, and Malone had him crying like a bitch, without hardly touching him.”
“Yeah, but legends are always bigger than the man, right? It’s like in Braveheart. ‘He kills men by the hundreds. And if he were here, he'd consume the English with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.’”
Laura laughed. “You sound more like the Lucky Charms guy than William Wallace.”
“Excuse me Mel Brookes.”
“I think you mean Mel Blanc.”
“Whatever! Who the hell is Mel Blanc?”
“He does the voice of Bugs Bunny and a bunch of other old cartoons.”
“I think my parents probably watched those. How do you know who he is?”
Laura shrugged. “I like the oldies. I’m nostalgic like that.” She stopped Anton with a hand against his chest. “Did you hear that? I heard something down the alley.”
Anton shifted from foot to foot and as he cast his eyes up and down the street, seeking out the illusory safety of the few night-time pedestrians. “I think that’s out of our jurisdiction.”
Laura tugged on his jacket. “Come on. You were all alpha male a minute ago with your talk of deposing Nick and thinking Malone isn’t as bad as his rep.”
“That is not what I was saying at all!”
“Pussy.”
Anton tried to see deeper into the alley, but his improved vision was not enough to pierce the miasma and deeper darkness. “Fine, but if it’s two homeless guys jerking each other off again I’m going home.”
“What are the odds of it happening again?”
“I don’t know, slightly less than when it happened the second time? I swear, it’s like we’re in the Village instead of Brooklyn.”
Anton shut his mouth and wished he could stop breathing, like real vampires did. It sounded like a train in his ears as he tiptoed after Laura as she crept deeper into the alleyway. There was definitely something going on farther in.
Laura stopped, forcing Anton to brace his hands on her back to avoid a collision. He looked past her shoulder and tried to deduce the meaning of the dark shapes just visible through the fog. It took a moment for his eyes to focus and his brain to decipher what he observed. The larger blob was almost certainly someone’s back. The longer, low shape was probably someone’s legs sticking out from behind a trash bin.
Anton prayed that it was just another pair of bums trying to break the tedium of their existence, but the terror making his heart race convinced him that it was not. Laura’s mind must have come to the same conclusion, as she turned, gently pushed Anton away, and strode back the way they came.
Laura had her phone in her hands and tapped out a quick text as they moved as quickly and quietly away as they dared. Muted light seeped into the alley from the entrance, beckoning the tw
o bloodlings like moths. Relief poured into them as they approached the egress. Fear, raw and fiery, erupted when a dark form dropped to the street an arm’s length in front of them, blocking their path.
“Well, what have we here?” Jack asked, his voice soft but as soothing as a Brothers Grimm fairytale.
Anton felt Laura press against his side, her body rigid and shivering from fear. “W-we were just walking.”
“And texting it seems. I hear it is rather dangerous to walk and text. Is it about me?” Jack reached out, plucked Laura’s phone from her trembling hands, and read the screen. “He’s here. Then it gives the cross streets. Perhaps it is just my vanity, but I can’t help but think that the ‘he’ you are referring to is me. Would this text be going to Mr. Malone? Perhaps I should call him and say hello?”
“Please don’t hurt us,” Laura whispered, her voice cracking as tears started rolling down her cheeks.
“My poor, dear children, you have chosen to involve yourselves in a very grown-up game. Far be it from me to deny you the opportunity to play. However, there is a small entrance fee.”
Jack’s hands were a blur. Laura felt the pressure of them clamped to the sides of her head for a split second before he twisted her head around. For a brief instant, she could see the alley behind her before her world went black. Jack’s movements were so fast that the phone he dropped never reached the ground. Jack snatched it from the air before it landed next to Laura’s crumpled body.
“Laura, no!” Anton shouted.
“Seeing as how I am a sporting man, and I have a little time to kill before Mr. Malone arrives, I shall give you a five-count head start. One.”
Anton spared a fraction of a second to glance down at Laura before tensing his muscles in preparation of flight.
Jack placed a hand against his chest, preventing him from bolting out onto the street. “Not that way. I am in no mood for spectators just yet.”
Anton turned and raced down the alley. He was never an athletic person, but he could beat the best sprinters in the world since his transformation and a five-second lead gave him time to put considerable distance between him and the murderer.
Jack tapped out a message on the phone and clicked send. “I’m waiting.” He dropped the phone next to the dead girl. “Five.”
Anton’s feet beat the pavement with the speed of a jackhammer, propelling him at a record-breaking pace. He was already two blocks from where he had to abandon Laura. He choked back a sob as the image of the life leaving her eyes projected itself into his mind. He prayed that Malone was as terrifying as his reputation so that he would kill the bastard who had callously murdered his friend before his eyes.
The area was largely industrial, but this was New York. There were few places in the city where you could not find large groups of people even this late at night within a few blocks of wherever you found yourself. All he needed to do was circle around to get back onto one of the more populated avenues. He came close, but close counted for nothing in the game in which he found himself.
A heavy weight slammed into his side, his body flying parallel with the ground, and sent him smashing into a building. His collision with the wall blasted the air from his lungs before he struck the ground with a dull thud. He tried to get to his feet, but stumbled back onto his hands and knees.
Anton looked up into Jack’s smiling face. Jack was a somewhat small man, and his soft, English accent made him about as intimidating as the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins. Anton lurched to his feet and swung for Jack’s face. Jack flicked the hasty punch aside with ease.
Vampires were so much faster and stronger than Anton had ever imagined possible. That was his last thought before Jack’s slender sword punched through his ribs and neatly severed his aorta. He collapsed to the ground and watched the streetlights dim until they went black.
Jack cleaned his sword on the boy’s jacket before sheathing it back into his cane. “That was disappointing. I do hope Mr. Malone arrives soon and provides me with better sport.”
CHAPTER 27
“He says he’s waiting for you,” Nick tells me over the phone. “I think he killed Anton and Laura.”
“I’m sorry about that, Nick. I won’t let him get away with it, I promise.”
“I hope you put him in a lot of fucking pain before he dies.”
I hang up. “It’s on, but he knows we’re coming. At least, he knows I am.”
“Since he doesn’t suspect that I’ll be there, maybe we can still surprise him,” Trinh says.
“That’s what I’m hoping for. Are you ready?”
Trinh and Carol shoulder their gear. “We’re ready.”
The two women follow me on my bike in their SUV. The area Nick gave me is uncomfortably close to my new home. I don’t know if Jack knows that or if it is coincidence. I’m just glad it’s not downtown. We stop maybe three blocks from the address where Nick’s people found Jack.
Trinh looks to Carol as she slings her rifle and laptop over her shoulders. “Carol—”
“Kill Mode,” Carol corrects.
Trinh grunts. “Kill Mode, stay with the car until we find Jack. I don’t want you to run into him while you’re getting into position.”
Carol, or Kill Mode, or whatever the hell she wants to call herself at this particular moment in time, gives her friend a sharp salute. Trinh adjusts the LED halo on her head and double-checks her weapons loadout before giving me a nod. I have to admit, she does a good job of striking the look of a dark superhero.
We turn off the main thoroughfare a block from where we left Carol. “You put a lot of faith in someone who seems preoccupied with catchy nicknames.”
Trinh gives me a sidelong glance. “She outsmarted your genius and is an excellent sniper. Your sidekick has a cartoon bedspread and more toys than Walmart. Do you really think you should be talking shit?”
“Touché. I doubt he’s expecting you, and I would like your involvement to come as a surprise if at all possible.”
“You and me both. I prefer to avoid stand-up fights with anything that can rip my arms off.”
“Drop back and try to hide where he won’t spot your heat signature. I’ll stay in the open and draw him out. When you see an opportunity, run in and hit him hard.”
She nods. “I can do that. Just try not to get killed before I get there. I’ll give Carol a heads-up the moment we know where he is. She’ll need some open ground to get a shot, so try to lure him into an area within sight of one of the rooftops.”
“This is so much more complicated than my usual methods.”
“Yeah? How have those been working out for you lately?”
“Double touché.”
Trinh hides behind a dumpster, wedging herself between the bin and the brick wall behind it. Jack said he was waiting, and I have no doubt that he is. I don’t expect to have to look hard to find him. Despite my attempts at stealth, he finds me just a block from where I left Trinh.
“Mr. Malone, so nice of you to accept my summons.”
I scan the rooftops and fire escapes for the source of the voice echoing out of the darkness.
“I am a bit surprised that you would send children to look for me when all you had to do was extend an invitation.”
“Sorry, I guess I lost your number.”
“Well, we are both here now and that is all that matters. Are you ready to continue our game?”
“Show your face and find out.”
“I shall. I hope you do not disappoint me once again.”
“I guess maybe now you can understand how your mother felt every time she looked at you.”
“I am going to enjoy hurting you, Mr. Malone.”
I draw Shalonda and my sword. “Bring on the pain.”
Something heavy crashes down to my left, a short distance away. I spin, raising my sword parallel over my hand and extending my gun to point at the source. I have just enough time to call myself an idiot before Jack crashes into my back.
The kick i
s so swift and hard, I fail to register the sword thrust through my back until after I slam into the brick wall and feel the blood trickling down. I’m up in an instant. Jack leaps two stories onto a fire escape. I snap off a hasty shot, but my aim is wide. Jack jumps onto the roof before disappearing over the edge.
I can hear Trinh’s tiny voice in the receiver set deep inside my left ear as she gives Carol orders, directing her to our location. There’s an industrial park a few blocks over, practically in my new backyard. I need to get Jack to follow me there. It will give Carol the opportunity to take a shot while minimizing the chances of Jack stumbling across her during his rooftop escapades.
I run down the length of the alley, keeping my eyes pointed toward the roof ledges while moving toward the industrial park. Trinh says she’s not far behind me. I don’t have a mic like she does, but I suspect that she comprehends my motives. I’m too focused on the roofs. Jack appears from around a corner just ahead of me and to my left. 9mm rounds slam into my body, staggering me as I try to leap from their path. One finds its way through my battered Miguel Caballero and lodges low in my side.
I take cover around a juxtaposed corner and fire off a pair of shots, wrecking the brickwork of the century-old building. Jack vanishes once more into the fog-shrouded darkness. I slip three new cartridges into my pistol as I try to peer through the haze. At least he’s following me.
Clamping off the blood flow to my newest wound, I jog across the street into the industrial park. I make my way to a group of small buildings surrounded by a large open area. It should minimize Jack’s ability to ambush me while I maneuver him into an area that will give Carol a clear shot.
Jack’s voice cuts through the darkness. “I must say, Mr. Malone, you are becoming somewhat of a disappointment. Whatever you once were seems to be gone. This domesticated shadow of your former self is pathetic.”
“Then why won’t you come out and fight me?”
“Because, unlike you, I am still a hunter, still a beast of the night. My instincts are strong and primal. I am a wolf whereas you are but a dog.”
I slash my blade at a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye, but once again, I’m too slow. Jack ducks below my swing and shoulder checks me at close to thirty miles an hour. He sends me flying into the side of a building. I recover in time to intercept his sword as it cuts through the air toward my neck.
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