The Hunger

by Dandridge Doug

  “Remember,” said Washington. “If she is a vampire then she is a destructive force of nature. Random in her killings. And she needed a victim, and this one just came along at the right time. Or the wrong time for the victim, if you look at it that way.”

  “Or she’s just some psycho,” said Sanchez, looking directly at Washington. “She wants to look like an avenging angel, but she’s only human. So she made a very human mistake, and killed the wrong person this time. It had to have happened eventually.”

  “But it happened in my city,” growled Jamal Smith, staring down at the body of a citizen that he had sworn an oath to protect from this kind of tragedy. “Now I really fucking want this bitch.”

  * * *

  “So why the hell did you call the police?” asked Tashawn, sitting in the passenger seat of the car, listening to the police scanner that Marvin had purchased that day.

  “I wanted to tarnish the image that she had created,” said Marcus, looking out of the window and to the sky. “And it takes the police away from the person she really wants.”

  “And all this shit about protecting our kind from the world,” said Tashawn, shaking his head.

  “I consider it a minor divulgence of information,” said Marcus, looking back at the huge vampire. “She is already going about her business, giving away our existence to the world at large. If it helps to drive her into our hands, it actually minimizes the damage to us, in the long run.”

  “And what about leaving her head on her body?” asked Tashawn. “She normally takes their heads off. Don’t you think the police might notice that?”

  So the youngling is not as stupid as he looks, thought Marcus. The four years he spent in an institution of higher learning playing ball must have inoculated him with a bit of knowledge and reasoning ability after all.

  “That was my mistake,” confessed Marcus, looking down sheepishly at the floor of the car. He looked up and into Tashawn’s eyes, challenging the big man to gloat at him.

  “I thought she might make a good minion,” continued Marcus, looking again to the outside of the car as if he were looking into forever. “I prefer women to serve me. And she had a pleasant appearance about her.”

  "Goddam,” said Tashawn with a chuckle. “Thinking with the little head, were you. And I thought Mr. Superior never let emotion intrude on his logical mind.”

  Turning from the window Marcus stared Tashawn straight in eyes, boring into the vampire’s soul with his will. Tashawn recoiled back before the gaze of the elder vampire.

  “Remember who is master here,” said Marcus, feeling the minion’s will collapse before his. “I do still have emotions, youngling. Hate and anger among the most noticeable. Take care that you do not arouse those emotions toward yourself. You might regret it, in the short time that you still exist.”

  Marcus moved his gaze away, seeing Tashawn relax as the onslaught was discontinued. Catching the eyes of Marvin, Marcus beat down the man’s will in an instant.

  “Drive us to the Padillas manor,” ordered Marcus, using the same tone of voice he would have used to order a legionnaire to face the enemy. “And drive within the limits of the law. I would hate to be stopped and have to explain our presence to the police. Or to have to kill one of them, and bring notice to ourselves.”

  Marvin turned the key in the ignition and the V8 engine roared to life. Still listening to the scanner, telling that the police were engaged elsewhere, Marcus grinned a mirthless smile to the night.

  * * *

  “I’m sorry,” said DeFalco to Smith as the detective was jotting down notes on his pad. “I don’t believe that this killing was done by our girl.”

  “Why not?” asked Smith, looking up with a sour face at the FBI man.

  “Her head,” said DeFalco, nodding toward the body that the forensics men were carefully picking up and placing in a black plastic body bag.

  “What about her fucking head, DeFalco?” growled Smith.

  “It’s still attached to her body, for one thing,” said the Agent. “She has always made sure the head was off the body. Or destroyed in some other way, so that the victim would not rise from the dead.”

  “Fucking vampire shit,” Smith spit out. “Maybe she was rushed and had to go.”

  “Maybe she forgot,” offered Sanchez.

  “How could she be rushed?” asked DeFalco. “The woman was killed last night and we didn’t find her till tonight. And I really don’t think she would forget something that was a part of her MO for so long.”

  “He’s right,” said Tamesha Washington, coming up behind the arguing men. “She should have done that she has always done.”

  “So now you’re on his side?” accused Smith, glancing back at the woman.

  “This isn’t about sides,” said Washington, laying a hand on Smith’s shoulder. “You know it isn’t. It’s about the truth, and bringing the murderer to justice. And I believe that we have another vampire in town, taking his own prey and trying to blame it on her.”

  “Jesus Christ,” exclaimed Smith in anger, turning on the woman. “One crazy bastard chasing after one vampire wasn’t enough. Now we have to have you join him, and bring another undead creature into the mix. Goddammit.”

  “You know you have to sterilize this body,” said Washington, nodding at the now filled body bag that a forensic tech was zipping up.

  “What do you mean, sterilize?” asked Lowrey, moving over to stand looking down at Washington.

  “She means that the woman was killed by a vampire,” said DeFalco, moving aside as the gurney was wheeled into the hall. “The woman will rise again in three days as a vampire, and the situation down here will grow even more complicated.”

  “Like fucking Jesus Christ,” said Lowrey with a sneer.

  “Like a parody of Jesus,” answered Washington. “The devil’s own rises into unlife after three days in the grave. So she must be prevented from coming back to unlife, or more people will suffer.”

  “Sure, Washington,” said Smith, giving her a short smile. “We’ll get right on that.”

  The other detectives and police in the house gave out a variety of laughs. Even the techs that were placing the body on the gurney joined in. Washington looked from face to face, tears welling up in her eyes.

  “It’s OK,” said DeFalco, putting his hands on her shoulders and kneading the muscles. “I believe. You believe. And we can set matters straight ourselves.”

  “I’m going over to watch the Padillas house,” said DeFalco, dropping his hands from the detective’s shoulders. “Anyone else coming with me?”

  “You know we’re not allowed over there,” said Smith. “You saw the court order.”

  “Which didn’t mention anything about the FBI,” said DeFalco, moving up chest to chest with Smith. “And if it did, I have a Federal Judge who would be willing to write an order overruling your little Circuit Judge. So anyone?”

  “I’ll go with you,” said Washington, walking toward the door. “There’s nothing for me here.”

  “You walk out that door with that man, Tanesha,” growled Smith, “and you can kiss your job goodbye.”

  Tanesha Washington stopped for a moment, her shoulders slumping. Then, with a shake of her head, she walked through the door and out into the night.

  “You just fucked her career in the ass,” said Smith, turning his anger on DeFalco.

  “I think I can fix that problem as well, Smith,” said DeFalco, returning Smith’s stare. “You don’t know what you’re messing with, either with Lucinda Taylor, or with me.”

  DeFalco turned on his heel and stormed toward the door, as all of the eyes in the house followed his back.

  “Son of a bitch,” hissed Smith under his breath. He continued to stare at the door for a moment before getting control of himself.

  “OK, people,” he growled, looking around at the officers all standing staring at him or the door. “We have an investigation to conduct. So let’s get a move on.”

  * *
*

  Lucinda over flew the house a dozen times, scanning the night with all of her senses. She could not feel the presence of the police. Or the scent of the FBI man. There were some men around the house, but she could feel the taint on them. They were bought men. Padillas’ men.

  She bared her teeth as another scent came to her. A faint scent, but one very recognizable to her from its intrusion into her life.

  The priest, she thought, flapping to get higher into the air. But the scent was very faint. As if he had been there earlier but was no longer there. She flew over the house a couple of more times, noting the men walking the fence line. A pair of large dogs ran through the yard, barking up at her in their frustration.

  The giant bat descended toward the shadows of a power substation a couple of blocks from the house. The city had placed lights on high poles to illuminate the important structure. But the lights on one of the poles had burned out, and the other poles cast dark shadows on one side of the complex.

  She landed there and again changed, a plan forming in her mind. The dogs were something that needed taking care of first, if she was to have a chance of getting into the house without an alarm being raised. But taking the dogs out would in itself raise an alarm. It couldn’t be helped, and might provide the impetus to flush her prey from cover.

  The large red wolf sprang from the cover of the substation and ran across the street. Through one yard it hurried, leaping the fence into another. A dog barked at her, then backed up with a squeal as she turned baleful red eyes on it. Another leap and she cleared another fence. She ran along the back fence of the Padillas house, hearing the large dogs barking at her as they ran along the other side of the fence, paralleling her moves.

  “What the fuck’s wrong with them?” called out a voice in the yard. “What’s driving them so crazy?”

  “Hell, I don’t know,” said another voice.

  Lucinda ran to the corner of the property, under a large tree that provided shadow on both sides of the fence. She ran away from the fence and into the adjoining yard, turned one hundred and eighty degrees, and rushed the fence. With a leap she was in the air, flying toward the fence to smack three feet up on its ten-foot height. Boards splintered as her forepaws struck, then caved inward under her one hundred forty pounds of weight. But she had timed the speed and momentum of the jump perfectly, and did not completely smash in the fence.

  “What the fuck was that?” yelled the first voice she had heard outside the fence. Something hit the broken boards hard as she backed up. She let out a low growl as the large body hit the boards again. Then again, as the boards splintered out and the head of the Rottweiler growled out at her, its paws scrambling to propel it through the hole in the fence.

  The large dog landed heavily on the ground and scrambled to its feet as the second dog appeared at the fence and started to push through. Dog one moved in a crouch to the side of Lucinda while number two fell through the fence and came back to its feet. It took one look at Lucinda, another at its partner, and then moved to the opposite side of the giant wolf. Both dogs growled as they moved forward, and cursing and yelling voices approached the hole in the fence on the other side.

  Lucinda turned and leapt into the night, her long legs propelling her at great speed along the grassy lawn. The two dogs yelped, looked at each other, and took off after her. Lucinda ran tirelessly across a street, then through other yards, howling into the darkness. It sounded to Lucinda’s canine ears as if every dog for a mile started to barking or howling. But she could also hear the breathing of the two she was interested in following far behind her. She slowed for a moment, allowing them to close the distance. She wanted them to continue to follow, until they reached the place of her choosing.

  The vacant lot came into view. Lucinda moved across the last asphalt street and into the weeds, the dogs within twenty yards of her heels. As she reached the center of the yard she spun around and launched herself at the lead dog, jaws wide. She clamped down as she struck the eighty-pound Rottweiler, pushing the dog back on its heels as she felt its windpipe give under her fangs. Planting her feet, she shook her massive neck and shoulders and felt the snap of the Rottweiler’s vertebrae through her jaws.

  The second dog hit her in the flank, its teeth ripping through her fur and into the flesh beneath. Lucinda tensed her neck muscles and flung the dying dog up and to the side, releasing her grip and sending the dog into the air, to hit hard on its side in the weedy yard. She turned on the other dog, which was standing there snarling at her with the hair on the back of its neck standing on end. Lucinda growled back, baring her large teeth as she moved toward it.

  The other dog whimpered and yelped, and then turned and ran from the yard. Lucinda took off after it like she had been shot from a rocket launcher. She could feel the flesh healing on her flank as she ran, a bit of stiffness that slowed her slightly. But not enough to save the dog. She leapt through the air and landed heavily on its back, knocking it to the ground. The dog struggled to throw her off, but she clamped down on the back of its neck with her strong jaws and sank her teeth into its flesh.

  Lucinda bit down hard, her teeth chomping through muscle, then bone, as the vertebrae cracked in her strong jaws. The Rottweiler went into a frenzy of motion, trying to get its killer off of it before it was too late. Then its muscles went limp as Lucinda severed its spine with her more than canine jaws.

  Lucinda released her grip on the dead beast, standing over it for a second as she fought the regret that threatened to overwhelm her. She shook the feelings from her as she raised her muzzle into the air and let out a mournful howl. Answering howls erupted in the night air.

  It had to be done, she thought. The dogs had been the best early warning system Padillas had. And now they were gone. But there was no way she was going to penetrate the yard and into the house tonight. Not with the uproar that reigned in that neighborhood.

  She sniffed at the dead dog, and then trotted over to the other. It too was dead, and therefore of no use to her. And she felt the hunger coming over her again, as her body after its exertions and metamorphosis’s demanded sustenance. Without a backward look she loped into the night, keeping to the shadows as she headed toward a seedier section of town and the prey she knew abounded there.

  * * *

  “What the hell was going on out here?” called George Padillas to his men from the back door of the house.

  “Something got to the dogs, sir,” said one of the men looking at the hole in the fence. “It opened a goddamn hole here from the outside and the dogs got out.”

  Flashlight beams moved on the other side of the fence as some of his men looked over the hole from the other side. And whatever evidence they could find of what had caused it.

  “Fucking big paw print here,” yelled a man from the other side of the fence. “Looks like a big ass dog was over here.”

  “Or a massive wolf,” said Father O’Connor from behind Padillas. “That is one of their powers. The ability to take the form of several animals.”

  “You shouldn’t be out here, sir,” said one of the smaller men, walking back toward the house.

  “I’m quite alright, Dominic,” said George Padillas, stepping out into the yard.

  “He’s right you know,” said O’Connor, following the boss out of the house. “She can get to you out here. You’re safe in the house, as long as she isn’t invited in.”

  “Then how the fuck we gonna get her into the house?” said Padillas, turning on the priest. “I want the bitch. Even if it takes putting my own life at risk to take her.”

  “I told you, Mr. Padillas,” said the priest. “We will find a way to lure her into the house. But we may have to let the commotion the police caused die down a little.”

  “Well, we can tell that she’s still interested, can’t we?” said Padillas with a chuckle. “Why don’t we go back into the house and plan how we’re going to get the spider to come into our lair. Since she’s so interested in getting to me I wouldn’t
want to disappoint her.”

  O’Connor stood outside for a moment after the boss went into the house, searching the sky with his tired eyes. I hadn’t thought about how we get her to come into the house, he thought. I knew Padillas would be the bait. But I never thought about the opening to the trap.

  * * *

  “Dammit,” cried Marcus, as he walked back and forth outside of the car. He glared at Tashawn and Marvin as they sat in the car, looking at him with worried expressions of their faces.

  “She was here,” he said, looking over at the lit up yard of the Padillas house. “She was here, mere minutes before we got here. We could have had her.”

  “And who was the one who wanted to see for himself if the police would swarm to the decoy?” asked Tashawn.

  Marcus brought his fist down on the top of the car, denting the metal of the door frame above the driver’s seat. Marvin jumped as he tried to retreat backwards, coming to a stop against Tashawn. Marcus stood quivering, looking back at the house. He closed his eyes and looked down at the roadway, thinking back to his Stoic training, gaining control of himself.

  Turning back to the car with a slight smile on his face, Marcus transfixed the two in the car with his gaze.

  “I was in error, yes,” said Marcus, nodding his head at them. “It was my fault that we missed her, and my impatience is unbecoming a being of my age.”

  Looking down at the large dent on the roof of the car he chuckled. Temper, temper, he thought. Here you go and throw a tantrum out in public, with all of your talk of not drawing attention to your kind.

  “I am sorry that a frightened you, Marvin,” he said, looking at the man with his best calming look. “I think it might be a good idea for you to go back to the, crib. Since you will have to be up in the morning to get the dent taken out of the car.”

  “I’m starting to get hungry,” complained Tashawn. Marvin seemed to notice that he was up against the big vampire, and scrambled back to the driver’s seat.

  “Then we had better take care of your appetite, my big friend,” said Marcus with a smile. “We can’t have you eating the hired help after all.”