It was and that was the scary thing. The vampire children that we put down in the hotel were pretty tough, but we managed. The female vampire that had been stalking me was about a hundred times more difficult to put down, and we barely managed. Whatever took out that helicopter was nothing I wanted to mess with.
Nick tapped me on the shoulder and pointed up the street. I took a look and saw that two female vampires were standing in the middle of the road about a block away. Reluctantly, I looked down the road in the opposite direction. I saw two male vampires, also about a block away and they were slowly walking towards us. I cast my gaze towards the park on our side. There were another four male vampires walking through the overgrown grass in our direction.
“Dudley,” I said after tapping my earpiece. “Get everyone back into the house immediately.”
“Gotcha,” Dudley said.
“I don’t see Kingsley with any of them,” Nick said.
“I doubt you will either,” I answered. “He’s apparently not exactly big on fighting.”
Nick laughed at my comment and the two of us slowly backed away from the wreckage of the helicopter to the front door of the house. We took our time. I didn’t want to run and give them a reason to chase after us. That wouldn’t have been good at all because they probably would have caught us.
I was the last one inside. My eyes were trained on the vampires the entire time. They all came together on the street in front of the house just as I closed the door. We were effectively trapped once again.
I had some bad news to deliver, but while I made myself ready to let everyone know just how bad our situation was, I realized that nobody was even looking at me. Instead, they were staring down the main hallway which branched off into the living room: a room that none of them seemed very keen upon entering.
I smelled fire. Someone had lit a fire in the living rooms fireplace. We had company, and judging from everyone’s expression, it wasn’t the good kind of company.
I walked past the huddled group and poked my head into the living room.
There was a man in a black suit stoking the fire. His suit was immaculately pressed and so was the white shirt underneath. I found that rather odd because the suit was old and worn. It had small tears in the pants and jacket. The edges of the sleeves were frayed. Yet, there it was nice and pressed.
The man wearing the suit had pale, grayish skin. He had the face of a man in his mid-forties, but his dark grey hair made him seem just a little bit older. His lips were black and his chin had smear marks from what seemed to be a constant wiping of his mouth. Even the ends of his white sleeves which peeked out of his jacket were stained by the black drool.
The worst thing about him was his eyes. They were white and filmy. If I had seen a human with those eyes, I would have assumed that he was blind and in need of medical attention. No such luck with this vampire though. I knew he could see. It was the way in which his eyes darted around the room.
“Come in, Guardian,” the vampire said with a motion of his clawed hand.
I moved my body into the room. Everyone else stayed more or less behind the wall. Yet the team was ready for action. I could hear them adjusting their weapons as I moved closer to the vampire.
He finally looked at me.
For what seemed like an eternity we simply sized one another up. Then with a smile and a sigh he began to speak.
“I felt her passing just as I began my slumber. It was as if my heart were breaking into a thousand pieces. I didn’t want her to go. I was against the idea from the very beginning, but my daughter was a hunter: probably one of the very best hunters to ever walk amongst us. She knew things, even modern things like explosives and weapons. She loved the hunt. She loved to toy with her food. She used her knowledge of all things modern when she hunted, but I would imagine that you already know that don’t you?”
I just stared at him.
“She had always wanted to hunt a Guardian. It was her dream, but I had always refused her. The last Guardian was much too experienced for her. It would be too dangerous. That was the excuse I used, but then you came along. A brand new and inexperienced Guardian, she begged me to let her hunt you. She came to me with tears in her eyes and begged me for the ultimate hunt. I could refuse her no longer. It was my mistake.”
I just stared at him.
“Once upon a time I would have had no problem letting her go. We vampires always killed Guardians. Your kind is nothing more than a pest. Even a young vampire is stronger than a Guardian, but times have changed. Weapons have improved. A Guardian can pose a threat in this day and age, and she was so young, my beautiful daughter. So very young and all her hunters skill proved inadequate. Tell me, did she die well?”
I just stared at him.
“ANSWER ME HUMAN!” he screamed in a voice so loud that I heard someone back in the hallway whimper.
“She died screaming,” I answered finally.
The vampires face contorted in fury. His clawed fingers dug into his palms causing the black blood to ooze. The black drool began to leak from his mouth. And then, he was under control again. His face was calm, almost serene. He smiled at me politely and nodded his head in respect.
“Forgive me,” he said. “I rarely lose control. I am almost ashamed of myself.”
I just stared at him.
“I’m going to kill you,” the vampire said. “I want you to know that. I don’t want the fact that you are going to die to come as a surprise. I want you to be fully prepared. I am going to kill you.”
I just stared at him.
“I could have my followers end your life, but that would cause me to lose respect. Vampires are by nature a rather violent species. The ones outside this home are under my control. They obey me, and I in turn allow them to exist in my territory, and this beautiful land has been my territory for a very, very long time. I claimed this land for myself after I destroyed the previous Master in battle, and I’ve held it ever since. Such is our way.”
I just stared at him.
“So you see,” the vampire said. “If I fail to avenge my daughter’s death, the others will see me as weak and will eventually attack me. I have no doubt that I can destroy each and every one of them. That isn’t the problem we’re facing at all. It’s much simpler than that. You see, I actually want to kill you. I want to end your life. I want your death to be slow. I want you to suffer and most importantly, I want all of the humans around you to see you suffer. I want your death to have an audience. I want the humans to know what happens when they cut down an immortal.”
I just stared at him.
He gazed back at me, and the black ooze began to drip from his lips again. He slowly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, but he never took his eyes off of me.
“Excuse me,” the vampire said. “The fluid aids in our digestion and it tends to flow heavier when our hunger is at its worst or our emotions are at their strongest. It probably seems rather revolting to you.”
I just stared at him.
“You are a warrior,” the vampire said. “That much I can tell; you aren’t afraid of me. You know that you can’t possibly win, but still, you want to attack.”
My eyes narrowed.
“What are you waiting for little Guardian?”
With the speed of a demon I freed my tomahawk and let it fly at his face. It was a perfect motion. There were no slips or stutters. The action was so fast that no living, breathing person on the face of this earth could have survived.
The vampire caught the weapon in mid-air. It reminded me of what I did to his daughter.
Then he moved. He was fast. He was unbelievably fast. He crossed the room in the blink of an eye and grabbed a hold of me. The team poured into the living room and took up positions. I could hear Merrick growling. He threw me into the lot of them.
I crashed and tumbled and hit my head against the wall. The vampire was still moving. By the time I had gotten to my feet and had my mp7 pointed in his direction I realized he had incapacitated th
e entire team. Even worse, he held Georgie by the throat in front of him.
I didn’t have a shot.
Everyone was pretty banged up, but they were slowly coming back to their senses.
“That was almost impressive little Guardian,” the vampire said. “Ultimately it was a futile gesture, but it was nonetheless impressive.”
“Squeeze any tighter on my buddy’s throat and I’ll blow your mind,” I snarled.
“Have no fears about that, Guardian,” the vampire said. “Our time is not yet ripe. Like I said before, I want your death to have an audience. Tonight I simply wanted you to have a sample of the power you will soon be facing. Enjoy your stay of execution. Use the time to prepare for your final battle, but I warn you make no attempts to leave this house, for if you do, my revenge will be terrible.”
Then he hurled Georgie through the air as if he were nothing more than a ragdoll. I did my best to catch him. I partially succeeded, but we both sort of just collided into Nick and Dudley. When I turned back to have another go at the vampire he was gone.
Merrick gave a soft whine and rushed over to cuddle up next to me. I reached over and began to scratch her behind the ear. Nobody said a word. I guess we were sort of shell-shocked.
“Well that fucking sucks,” Nick said, breaking the silence.
I had to chuckle at his ability to sum an entire situation up with just four words. It wasn’t long before Dudley joined in on the laugh and before I knew it, everybody was laughing heartily.
“I agree with Nick,” Dudley said.
“Well I agree with you agreeing with Nick,” I announced.
And we all laughed some more. I’m not sure why we were laughing. I think it was because none of us knew what else to do.
“Why did you have to go and kill his daughter?” Nick asked.
“I didn’t like her haircut,” I answered.
Everyone laughed even harder.
“That mother fucker whooped all of us in a matter of seconds,” Nick said.
“He sure did,” I agreed.
“And he was holding back,” Dudley added.
“He did take us by surprise,” Georgie said. “Next time we’ll be ready for him.”
“Take it from me, Georgie,” Nick said. “If he can whip us that easily, it won’t make much of a difference how ready we are. We could have a month to prepare ourselves and he’d still kick our asses.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?” Georgie asked.
Everyone looked to me.
“We gotta get the fuck out of Dodge,” I answered. “The Master is out of our league. Add in his followers to the mix and none of us would even make it through the first round.”
“What about all the survivors?” Dudley asked.
“I think you guys cleared most of them out of the Westside,” I answered. “I’m sure there’s still more, but they’ll have to hold on until we can figure out a way to deal with these vampires. Maybe we can drop food and supplies to their locations. Give them enough to hold out until we can come up with a new game plan.”
“It’s a good idea,” Javie said. “We need to get out of this alive so that we’re able to fight another day. If we hang around here any longer, all of us are going to get ourselves killed.”
“We need better weapons,” Nick said. “More powerful bullets might do the trick. Something that will put them on their ass with the first shot.”
“I like the sound of that,” Georgie said.
I was smiling. The team was already thinking about returning, and we hadn’t even left the area yet. It was good to see that they were all aboard, but I was still pretty unhappy about retreating. I hate running away from a fight. It’s embarrassing.
“Alright,” I said. “We’ll hang out here for the night because I don’t want to endanger any more helicopters. Come sunrise, we’ll fly out of here and figure out a better game plan before returning to deal with these blood suckers. Everyone agree?”
Everyone agreed.
“Hardin,” I said after tapping my earpiece. “Hardin, are you hearing all this?”
There was no response.
“Hardin?” I asked. “Are you there?”
I tapped and cursed for about ten minutes before giving up and asking the others to try and see if they could get through. None of them could, but we kept on trying. In fact, we were still trying to make contact with Hardin when the sun finally rose up in the sky and the time for making some choices was at hand.
“Well shit,” I said as I gazed out the boarded up window at the empty street. “I’m not sure what’s wrong, but it looks like we’re on our own. The suns up, so we won’t have any vampire problems. What do you say we just hop in the Jeeps and drive the fuck out of here?”
“Can we get through the gates around the city?” Georgie asked.
“I don’t have this little badge because it looks pretty,” I answered. “Besides, if the guards give us any problems we’ll just kick their asses.”
It didn’t take long for everyone to agree. The alternative was to sit in the house and wait for the vampires to come back for us and nobody wanted to go through that again.
It didn’t take but a second for us to load up our meager supplies and head out the front door. The air was incredibly cold. So cold that it actually made me shiver. The sky itself was a leaden grey. I guess if I thought about it, the weather had been turning colder and colder. There was a storm coming and it had been gathering its strength for a while now.
We crossed the street and headed into the park towards the Jeeps at a slow jog. It didn’t take but a second of looking at the vehicles to realize they were trashed.
The armored hoods were tweaked and bent from being forced open. I knew it was going to be hopeless, but I looked at the engines anyway. They were torn to pieces. The metal was bent and twisted. Some parts were crushed and others had been ripped away.
We had no vehicles.
The team had spread out in a circle around the Jeeps to give me some time to check things out. The survivors were next to me inside the protective ring. I didn’t know what to say to them as they all looked at me imploringly. Fortunately, Dudley came to my rescue.
“We have company.”
“How many?” I asked without bothering to look up from the demolished engines.
“There are two of them,” Dudley said.
“I’ll take care of it,” I announced as I rested my hand upon my tomahawk.
“They aren’t zombies,” Dudley said. “Not unless zombies have started carrying hunting rifles.”
That got my attention immediately.
I went over to Dudley and the two of us began to walk towards the armed newcomers. I allowed Merrick to come along as well. Odds were that they were good people, but I wasn’t about to take any chances. My mp7 was twisted around on its strap so that it was pretty much hanging on my back in a nonthreatening manner, but the Sig on my right side could be drawn and fired faster than most people could blink.
If one of them made a move, I was going to shoot both of them dead.
Both parties stopped about ten feet from one another in the middle of the park. Dudley seemed relatively calm. He’d seen me shoot before. I, on the other hand, was tense. I didn’t like them being armed. I didn’t like how they were the only survivors that I’d seen walking around outside instead of hiding in a house and boarding up the windows.
The woman was the first to speak.
“Are you guys the Regulators?” she asked.
“That would be us,” Dudley said. “What are the two of you doing outside?”
“We were gathering supplies yesterday, but when we opened a door on this one house, the street suddenly began to fill up with zombies. We were able to get out and hide in a house up the road, but the entire area was way too hot for us to try and leave.”
“At least until you guys started clearing them out,” the man added. “How the hell did you manage all that?”
“That wasn’t us,” Dudle
y said. “And trust me, you don’t want to know about it. I wish I didn’t.”
The conversation was interrupted by pounding footsteps. The man tensed up and raised his rifle just a little bit higher. I responded by inching my hand closer to my pistol. Merrick sounded off with a low growl. I didn’t turn around to see who was running up behind us. I wasn’t about to take my eyes off the man and woman. Dudley however had no problems checking it out for me, and since he seemed unconcerned, I assumed that it was probably one of my teammates.
“Joe? Claudia?” Javie asked. “Is that you?”
“Javie?” the woman asked. “You’re a Regulator?”
“Yes,” Javie said with a smile. “I can’t believe you guys made it. This is freakin’ awesome. Dudley and Jaxon, allow me to introduce Joe and Claudia. I know them from college and a school trip to England.”
Everyone instantly relaxed. Javie was a pretty good judge of people. If these two were friends of his then they certainly weren’t a threat to me and mine. I immediately offered my hand along with Dudley.
“So if it wasn’t you guys that took out all the zombies,” Joe asked. “Who was it?”
“Vampires,” Javie said. “Jaxon and Dudley killed a Master vampire’s daughter and now he wants to fight Jax and give him a slow death.”
“Are you kidding me?” Joe asked.
“What?” Claudia laughed. “You can accept zombies, but vampires give you pause?”
We all sort of chuckled at that. It was sort of funny how easily I accepted that I was being hunted by a vampire. Before I became the Guardian, I probably would have thought anyone believing in zombies and vampires was out of their minds. Now it seemed that even vampires were easily believed in.
“Are they the scary kind or the teenage love story kind?” Claudia asked.
“Definitely the scary kind,” Dudley answered. “They drool this black slime and everything.”
“But they killed all the zombies?” Joe asked.
“Yeah,” I answered. “They only did that to get them out of the way. After the zombies, they brought down one of our helicopters when we tried to extract some survivors.”
“You guys are rescuing survivors still?” Claudia asked.
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