Sands of Time

by Bruce A. Sarte

  I quickly checked on Sandy and Natalie. The vampire now had Sandy pinned to the wall by her neck, which was apparently a mistake. She used the leverage from the wall to deliver a strong kick to his stomach, and he dropped her hard on the ground. She lay there for a moment, rubbing her neck, before getting back to her feet.

  Natalie was furiously trying to get the vampire off her back. I could see he had pulled up her hair and was bearing his teeth about to bite her. I pulled the gun from my back pocket, took aim, and fired a round. It struck the vampire in the shoulder and he screeched in pain, falling from Natalie’s back onto the hard floor. He was writhing around in agonizing pain, but not dead.

  Natalie ran to the table and reclaimed her backpack. She walked quickly back to the injured vamp and drove a silver stake into his chest, killing him instantly. His body went limp, and blood pooled underneath him so quickly that

  Natalie had to jump back. I ran over to Pastor Paul and began to untie him when a booming voice came from the door the far hallway.

  “If you all want to live, stop right where you are.”

  There stood Max Khayman, the head of the Khayman clan. And he was staring directly at me. I finished freeing Pastor and stood to return the hard stare.

  “Khayman,” I said.

  “Sam Shepard, what a wonderful family reunion this is. Sandy, please tell me you didn’t kill any of your brothers here.”

  “No, Max. I didn’t. But Sam needs to take Tyler and Caitlyn out of here.

  They don’t belong here, and you know it.”

  Khayman’s expression changed to a cold, hard look.

  “Don’t tell me what I know. The only reason you were allowed to live at all is because I enjoy screwing you and feeding off you. Your children will grow and become Caelitus just like you.” He smiled, an evil and knowing smile. Sandy looked down at her feet, appearing embarrassed and ashamed of where she was and what was happening to her.

  “I’m taking my children. Whatever Sandy did, she is paying for it, but I won’t allow my children to stay here,” I said firmly and flexed the hand with the gun in it. Khayman paid the gun some regard—apparently he hadn’t seen it before. He began walking slowly towards me. Natalie lunged for him, but he swatted her away like a fly, and she hit the wall hard. She wasn’t out, but she was definitely down. The two remaining vampires fell in step behind their leader, and when they reached Sandy, they all stopped. Khayman put a finger under her chin to left her face up to him; she appeared to be crying.

  “You will be punished,” he said simply, and nodded to the two behind him.

  They stepped up and grabbed her by each arm and began leading her back the way Khayman came in. She didn’t appear to fight them.

  “Pastor,” I whispered, “Tyler and Caitlyn are on the stairs. I will handle

  Khayman. Go get them. Get them out of here.” He nodded and started to walk towards the stairs.

  “Where you are you going, Padre? Not staying for the party? I don’t think that is very nice.” And in a flash, he was in front of Pastor Paul and had knocked him to the ground.

  “Sit, stay; this is going to be very entertaining for you.”

  Max Khayman turned his attention back to me now that the pastor had, at least temporarily, been subdued. He walked slowly toward me. I could see that Natalie was starting to stir and the pastor was slowly getting to his feet. None of this seemed to concern Khayman in any way, as he was now fully focused on me and approaching fast.

  “Stop right there, Khayman.” I raised the handgun and pointed it at his chest. His expression changed to one of amusement.

  “Oh, no.” He raised his hands and looked up mockingly. “Don’t shoot, you big bad vampire slayer man.” He dropped his hands and looked at me flatly.

  “Who do you think you are? Buffy? She was way more attractive then you. You can’t kill me. And I would have killed her, right after I violated her in many, many bad ways.” He smiled. “You, I won’t kill you; just make you suffer.” In the blink of an eye, he was upon me, and with a flick of his wrist he knocked the gun from my hand.

  Before I could react, his face screwed up with pain and surprise. His hand went slowly to his back, where he pulled out a dagger. He held it up in front of his face and tossed it aside with little regard.

  “You are going to have to excuse me—I have to deal with a small issue.”

  He turned and I saw Pastor Paul behind him, holding a small silver crucifix at arm’s length towards Khayman. Khayman swatted the crucifix out of his hand, but Natalie came at him from his blind side and delivered a swift kick to his side.

  He felt it, but it didn’t take him down.

  “Sam, go!” yelled Natalie, “We’ve got him!”

  It seemed my partners didn’t follow instructions well, so I sprinted towards the stairs, picking up the gun along the way. I found Tyler and Caitlyn on the landing. I bent down, picked up little Caitlyn, and positioned her in a fireman’s- style hold on one shoulder, then Tyler on the other. I heard Natalie cry out in pain, while the pastor was chanting some Bible verses. I took the steps as fast as I could and saw that in spite of the cry of pain, it looked like Natalie and Paul were at least keeping Khayman occupied.

  I got to the door and stopped, looking back just in time to see Natalie go flying against the wall again. Khayman turned on Pastor Paul and picked him up by his neck. I put Tyler and Caitlyn down safely in the hall and turned back into the room. I pointed the gun toward Khayman.

  “Now, Padre, you have become more than a simple annoyance.” Pastor’s arms and legs were flailing helplessly in the air. I took aim and fired a shot. But I missed Khayman and hit the wall in the back of the room. He looked toward me, and he looked angry. He dropped Pastor Paul to the ground and was on top of me in a flash. He delivered a punch to my midsection that doubled me over, and I couldn’t breathe.

  “You poor, weak human. Don’t you understand that you are little more to me than a selection on my buffet table?” He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me back into the middle of the room, delivering a vicious kick to the side of my head. I felt consciousness slipping from my grasp: My vision was blurry and I was having trouble moving. I could feel blood trickling from my nose and my ear. I couldn’t hear anything out of the ear where he’d kicked me. In a blurry blob, I saw Khayman drop to his knees beside me.

  “And now, you become the appetizer before I go fuck your wife. What do you think about that? Oh, don’t worry; she likes it. You should hear her moan with pleasure when I drink from her. Oh, and I know what you are thinking. You didn’t see any bite marks on her neck, did you? No, of course you didn’t. That’s not where I feed from.” Although my vision was blurred and hazy, I could see the wicked smile on his face when he threw his ugly head back and laughed loudly. I picked my head up in time to see his fist coming down on me. I heard the cartilage in my nose crunch like a cracker, and the blood flowed freely as I fell over onto my side. That’s when I realized I still had the gun in my hand.

  “I know what else you are thinking, little man. You are thinking, Oh, I am the chosen one; you can’t hurt me. But tell me, oh chosen one, how does your face feel? Hurts like hell, doesn’t it? That’s only the beginning. And believe me, I can drink from you—it just won’t turn you. I can drink from you and you will hurt like you have never hurt before; pain will stab your heart with each gush of blood that I suck from your withered and weakened body. I’ll leave you alone for a couple of days, let you build your strength back up a little, then I’ll do it all over again. It will never end, until the day you die from natural causes. Or maybe it will be a heart attack.” He laughed finding himself amusing. “So, you see, Sandy has it pretty good. She can enjoy being screwed by me and is able to experience the pleasure of me feeding off her every day… forever. But for you, because you can’t be turned, the feeding will be torture. And the God thatyou love so much, the one that is protecting you from becoming one of us. The pain will all be because He is protecting you from our p
ower. If you are wondering about your friends over there… don’t worry, I’ll turn them and make them bloodthirsty minions who will do my bidding. And since I know you can’t wait to experience it, I’m going to stop wasting everyone’s time and take a nice big bite.”

  I raised the gun just off the ground and pulled the trigger. The round hit

  Khayman’s knee and blew it to pieces, blood flying everywhere. His scream was deafening to my good ear. I rolled onto my other side, shielding myself from the horrible sound.

  At that moment, the first explosion rocked the building. Khayman stopped screaming and looked up at the ceiling as particles of dirt and rock shook loose.

  Natalie was shaking her head and trying to adjust her sense of balance. I watched her struggle to get to her feet. She went over to the pastor and helped him up. Once he was on his feet, they came over to me. They were both hurt, but in better shape than I was. Natalie helped me to my feet.

  “Are you okay, Sam?”

  “No,” I answered, “but I’ll make it. Get the kids; get out of here now!” I yelled.

  Khayman saw us and tried to get up when the second and third explosions went off. Curtis must have been setting them off at specific intervals. Once I cleared my head a little bit, I turned back to the doorway. Pastor and Natalie

  went through before me, and I turned to look at Khayman lying on the ground, holding his knee.

  “This is for Sandy,” I said with no emotion in my voice and shot him in the other knee.

  “Now, you get to lay there and suffer while the building comes down on top of you.” As I shut the door to the room I saw several vampires running into the room to Khayman’s aid. Natalie had already picked up Caitlyn and was on her way up the incline toward the opening in the wall. Pastor just about had Tyler in his arms when I got to him.

  “Come on, Sam; let’s get out of here before anything else blows up.” I nodded, and we began the ascent behind Natalie. She moved quickly and got to the opening well ahead of us. I watched her disappear into the tailor’s shop.

  Pastor and I were about halfway up the hall when the next two explosions went off. We both looked at each other, I grabbed his shoulder to help him with

  Tyler, and we sped up our pace the best we could. We were both hurt badly and struggling to make it up the passageway. When we finally reached the opening, smoke was everywhere, and the door at the entrance was wide open. We began coughing violently. Natalie and Caitlyn were nowhere to be seen.

  “They must have made it outside,” I yelled in Pastor’s ear. He nodded his head, but it was hard to see anything besides Paul, Tyler and the light from the doorway.

  “Go to the light, Pastor!”

  He started toward the door and ran headlong into a table, yelling out in pain. I took Tyler from him and pushed him around the table toward the door.

  We were about ten feet from the door when he suddenly went down.

  “Come on! Get up!” I yelled. But he was on the ground, coughing violently.

  “I—“ cough “—can’t—“ cough “—Go! GO!—” cough.

  He was lying on the ground, and I couldn’t reach down to help him up with Tyler in my arms.

  “I’ll be back!” I yelled, and he nodded in understanding. I looked up for the light again, but the smoke had increased in thickness and I had trouble finding it.

  I started coughing and realized that I had no idea what the smoke was doing to

  Tyler. I didn’t know where the door was, but I had to get out, so I decided to just keep going in the same direction. I would hit to door eventually, but how would I get back in for Pastor? I said a quick prayer, asking for aid and guidance, and continued towards where I thought the door was.

  “SAM! Where are you?” I heard Natalie’s voice coming from the door. I was close. I turned slightly, relieved that my prayer had just been answered.

  “I’m here, I’m coming!” I started to feel heat from behind me. The shop must have caught fire from the explosion of the Naval Science entrance.

  “Sam! This way!”

  Then I saw the blood that had colored the skin surrounding her eye. I saw the cuts on her face and it was the most beautiful sight I could imagine at that moment. The light from out on the formation blocks just outside the tailor shop door was silhouetting the lovely shape of her head. Natalie’s smile beamed through the smoke, and she reached to help me through the doorway. Once I was out, I ran to the grass and fell to my knees, coughing violently and placing Tyler down next to Caitlyn on the grass about fifty feet from the now-burning building. Sirens were wailing in the distance. It wouldn’t be long before the fire trucks arrived—the volunteer firehouse was only a few blocks away.

  “Where is Pastor Paul?” asked Natalie with alarm in her voice.

  “Still—“ —cough “—inside! He fell about ten or fifteen feet from the door.

  I couldn’t pick him up then; I have to go back!” Just then the van came screeching into the parking area and Curtis jumped out.

  “Curt, Pastor is still inside the tailor shop.” He didn’t say anything, but quickly took action. He ran to the van and grabbed what looked like a gas mask, putting it on as he ran into the burning building. Moments later the fire trucks came wailing onto the formation blocks. Some of the trucks continued around to the front of the building on the grass. After what seemed like forever, Curtis emerged from the flame-engulfed building with Pastor Paul on his arm. Curtis was now coughing, and Pastor had the mask on. They both seemed okay, if not a little toasted.

  “I got him! He’s going to be okay!” Curtis yelled over the amalgam of clashing sounds.

  I looked up to see Farragut Hall burning from within, all the wood and dangerous asbestos polluting the air with a huge plume of black smoke. That vision would be imprinted in my memory forever.

  The next thing I knew we were surrounded by firemen, policemen and emergency medics asking questions. It seemed like the questions would never end. But we were all here, and we were all okay.

  And then I passed out.

  March 17th

  I awoke the next day in the hospital with Natalie waiting at my bedside.

  When she saw I was awake, she leaned forward and grasped my hand. Her eyes were lined with concern, but her lips were smiling.

  “Sam, you’re awake,” was all she said, but the sound of her voice felt like

  a big hug.

  “I’m awake, but I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.”

  “Doctors say you have three broken ribs, a broken nose, and a punctured eardrum. They treated you for smoke inhalation and sedated you.”

  I tried to move and was immediately halted by the searing pain in my side.

  “Sam, lie still; you’re going to be here for a few days. And those ribs are going to be very sore.”

  “Tyler and Caitlyn?”

  “They’re fine; they woke up about two hours after arriving at the hospital.

  They don’t remember anything about….” She hesitated, trying to decide how to say it. “Well, you know.”

  “I know. Sandy told me they wouldn’t remember anything besides the accident.”

  “Yeah, they seem to be okay, but they keep asking where Mommy and Daddy are. I told them you were here, but I don’t know what to tell them about

  Sandy. That seemed to hold them for now, but they want to see you.” Natalie’s expression was troubled; she was really conflicted.

  “That’s probably for the best for now. I’ll have to explain it to them, when I can.”

  Natalie sat with a sad, reflective expression on her face.

  “Did they find anything? Bodies? Were they asking questions?”

  “The police think we got a phone call telling us where the kids were and that it was some kind of trap to kill us all. I’m sure they will be by to ask you questions, but they seem satisfied about Tyler and Caitlyn, and mostly about the fire. So far they haven’t found any bodies, but they’re still sorting through the wreckage of the building.
”

  I looked at her with the question in my eyes. “It’s…?”

  “It’s completely gone—they couldn’t put the fire out, so they let it burn out.”

  For a moment I stared off over her shoulder, realizing that the building, the legacy of the school, my wife—it was all gone. And lying here in this hospital bed, I had no assurance that the evil infecting the underworld of Pine Beach was actually destroyed. I felt like I had to go there, had to see what was left, see what remained of the evil rooted there for who knows how long. I would get there, in due time.

  “It’s going to take some time for them to clear the debris. But I’m sure they’ll find the bodies, or at least some semblance of bodies. Just give it time,

  Sam. Everything will be work out the way it is supposed to. The doctors said they’re going to release Pastor Paul this afternoon. He’s okay; the smoke really got to him, though. Who knows what was in the air of that building that we all inhaled.”

  And she smiled a lovely, reassuring smile.

  “What about you; are you okay?” I asked, trying to look her over for any obvious injuries aside from the stitches. She kept smiling.

  “Just these—“ she looked up at the stitches and rolled her eyes “—and my head hurts like hell. But I’m all right. Mostly worried about you.” Her smile turned a little bashful. She seemed to care about me quite a bit.

  “Sam,” she began as something darkened her face, “I need to ask you, about…” She paused for a long moment, and I took in the strange combination of beauty and concern. “…your drinking. I don’t want to see you fall back on the whiskey; there is so much here for you. I’m here for you.” She flashed a questioning smile at me.