No Man's Land: An Imp World Novel

by Debra Dunbar

  “It’s Sunday night. Live racing is only Saturday through Wednesday, and only the die–hard gamblers will be at the casino late on a Sunday. We’ll have more humans to threaten at the hospital.”

  Ugh. He could wait. Should wait. Friday or Saturday night would be better, and vampires never did anything in haste. Kyle looked at the map, his eyes tracing the distance to Charles Town. Martinsburg was closer to the Maryland border. They could be in and seize the hospital before the werewolves even knew they were in the state.

  “There are fifteen buildings at the VA hospital, though. We’ll be too spread out.”

  “That is a drawback,” Juan admitted. “We could take the main building and the community center — they’re liable to have the most humans.”

  True, but Kyle didn’t like the way the other buildings crowded in close, or the one that stood between the main building and the center. It would split them into two groups, and even with the big parking areas, there were plenty of tall buildings and tree–lined walkways for the werewolves to sneak up on them. He didn’t want his trap to turn into a siege. But the casino…he should wait. One week, or maybe a few months when warmer weather tempted more humans to visit.

  “We’re taking the casino. Are we ready to move tonight?”

  West Virginia. It might be slim pickings, but it would be his — a territory of his own, no matter how small.

  “Yes, but we need to be elsewhere tonight,” Juan replied with barely concealed excitement. “Kincaid has crossed the border into DC and attacked. Durand has ramped up his fighters in the suburban Maryland areas. You and your staff are to provide back up in Potomac in an hour to flank Kincaid as the Master pushes him north–west.”

  “Kincaid what?” Kyle asked in shock.

  Maybe he didn’t need to wait for the Kincaid Consort to pick sides. If Kyle stood with his father, they’d push Kincaid back in a matter of weeks and have the justification and outrage to take at least three states. Of course, once his father got his hands on those states, he’d be unlikely to gift them to Kyle.

  The vampire mulled over the situation. This changed everything. He could proceed as planned, but ignoring his father’s summons would bring unwelcome notice to his West Virginia project. Plus he’d have to face the old man’s wrath. Forget New York — for that, he’d probably be shipped off to France.

  “Why in the world would Kincaid attack us?” Kyle wondered. There had to be a catch, something he was missing. It just didn’t make sense.

  “Kincaid claims the Fournier family has declared war on him by killing two of his vampires then trespassing into his lands to deliver the insult. Once there, the Fournier agent killed another of his vampires, displaying his body in a clear declaration of war.”

  Juan recited all of this as if reading from a paper. The man practically danced with excitement. All this intrigue in his own backyard was clearly too much for a young vampire to take.

  Kyle frowned. Could Kincaid be lying? It was inconceivable that his father, who had never shown interest in the southern lands, would have done such a thing. And besides motive, it wasn’t his style. That sort of message was arrogant and flashy, the act of someone who let unseemly emotion rule their actions.

  “Who? I didn’t do that, and my father wouldn’t have bothered. If he wanted their territory, he would have poisoned them all, or had Kincaid knifed in the back. Is this possibly a ploy of Kincaid’s to turn my father against me, to somehow implicate me in a sloppy incident?”

  Because this would be blamed on him. He was the caretaker for the lower states. These events would land right on his doorstep. His responsibility; any protests of innocence would fall on disbelieving ears. The whole family would think he screwed up and started a war without adequate planning.

  Kyle thought furiously. What would Kincaid gain from this? Did that Consort of his set this up? He couldn’t see an advantage to her if Kincaid was killed. She’d be forced to immediately become Kyle’s Consort and hand the whole lot over as a sort of dowry. No, the most likely result from this move would be a split between him and his father, and a significant delay of his plans for seizing the lower states. If his father thought he’d been carelessly assassinating vampires, risking the family and acting without permission, he’d be kept in New York for centuries. Kincaid would have bought himself time.

  Of course, there was another possibility nagging at his mind. The one who truly gained the most advantage from this was the old man himself. Kyle had allies, but support for him would be weak if his family thought he’d been so rash and impulsive as to whack the Kincaid wasp’s nest without an adequate plan in place. They’d all think he wasn’t ready. His Father’s lands would be safe from him for centuries while he rebuilt support. It would be the perfect thing to put him in his place, and the whole time his father could appear the disappointed Master, lovingly holding his son back until he was ready.

  “I wouldn’t put it past the Master to do this,” Kyle thought out loud. He’d normally never say this sort of thing, but Juan was the only vampire in his family he could trust enough to speak candidly around. “I’m implicated. It will turn some against me and might force me back into his fold. I won’t have the backing to move forward with this hanging over my head.”

  “A temporary setback,” Juan commented. “We’ll assist him, protest that you’re innocent, and wait for better timing.”

  “But what about West Virginia? We’re ready — everything is in place.” Kyle asked, more to himself than to Juan.

  The best move he could make would be to join his father and push back Kincaid. That’s what every reasonably intelligent vampire would do. Leaving the Master to his own devices and taking West Virginia would give Kyle nothing but a tiny, poor territory. He’d not have the time to wait on the other parts of his plans. He’d need to strike right away, or risk being sent off by his father and losing his newly won territory after holding it a scant few weeks. It was madness.

  Juan shook his head. “You should be conservative in your plans, cautious. Wait until you’re completely ready to make a move; don’t jump ahead and lock yourself into a course of action that might lead to exile. There will be another opportunity.”

  Kyle thought for a moment. His starting territory would be miniscule. Once his father’s forces repelled Kincaid, either or both groups would squash him in a matter of weeks. He wasn’t ready. The smart, mature plan would be to support his father, push back Kincaid, head to New York like a dutiful son and wait for a better chance. He was young. He could wait hundreds of years for the right moment. It was what an Old would have done, what any intelligent vampire would have done.

  “Tell my vampires to advance as planned,” he told Juan. “Tonight. Then pull together a meeting at sunup to plan phase two. We need to think of all the scenarios that could result from this little war and have plans in place to take advantage of any of them. I want more than West Virginia in my hands before the blood dries.”

  Juan’s face was tight, but he nodded. “Yes, my Master.”

  Not yet, Kyle thought. But soon. Very soon.

  26

  At least Jaq gave a perfunctory knock before she barged into the trailer, unlike Melody and the other neighbors. It still didn’t give Kelly much time to clean up the mess. Jaq halted abruptly on the doorstep, her eyes sweeping over Kelly with alarm before she shuttered them back into calm friendliness.

  “Give me a moment to wash up,” Kelly grumbled, sponging herself off with paper towels. There was already a pile of bloody ones on the counter and in the sink, but she was still bleeding, gaping holes and gashes unhealed from where she’d dug out the silver. It wouldn’t get any worse, but it sure as heck wasn’t going to get any better. Not that it mattered. She just needed to run on adrenaline until they’d safeguarded the neighborhood from any more vampire intruders. Perhaps after that, Jaq could keep watch while she rested. Rested for all eternity.

  “What’s this?”

  Kelly glanced over her shoulder to see Ja
q holding up a tangled mess of yarn.

  “It’s supposed to be a scarf. I’m not having much luck with it though.”

  “Vampires knit?”

  “No, humans knit. Vampires make a big knotted mess and pretend they know what they’re doing. Maybe I can use it as a tourniquet. I can’t seem to stop bleeding.”

  The werewolf dropped the yarn back onto the sofa and walked to Kelly, gently examining her arm. “Should we tear up sheets and bandage it? Probably wouldn’t be a good idea for you to be leaving blood trails everywhere.”

  Kelly pulled up her shirt, showing her the taped gauze at her waist. “That was the worst. These have almost stopped bleeding.” Stopped bleeding, but not even scabbed over. If she needed to run or fight, she’d be covered in fresh blood as the fragile clotting broke open.

  Jaq’s jaw set into a hard line. “Come on then. We’ve got a lot to do and we need to make a brief detour first.”

  Kelly didn’t protest as the werewolf led her out the door and down the lane. Her mind whirled as they climbed the step to Melody’s house. Were they collecting supplies? More silver chains? One of Joe’s carving knives?

  Bright fluorescent light greeted the vampire as Jaq flung open the door and half dragged her into the trailer. Inside were Melody, Barbara, Margaret, Shanna, and Kristen. They stood with arms crossed, regarding her with somber expressions. Kelly’s eyes strayed around the room and froze as she saw a chair. It was padded, with arms that hinged out to the sides. Everything else faded into a blur except that chair. It was eerily similar to one from her memory. She felt the panic race through her veins, remembered the feel of metal on her fangs, the pain that had collapsed her surroundings to white.

  “I know you’re pissed, but I had to tell them.” Jaq’s voice jolted her out of the nightmare, and she reached out, clinging to the werewolf’s thin arms.

  “Oh, I can’t believe we’ve got our very own vampire, right here in the neighborhood!” Margaret squealed, hopping from foot to foot in excitement. “I’m A positive and so is Barbara. Melody and Kristen are O negative, and Shanna is O positive. Which would you like today?”

  Kelly’s head spun with relief. The chair wasn’t for her; it was for them. Jaq had told them, and strangely enough they seemed excited by the prospect of having a vampire living down the street. How could she explain this to them? It wasn’t like they saw in the movies, all sex and pretty drops of red — especially since she had no fangs.

  “I …I can’t. You’re my friends, my neighbors, not a source of food.”

  Melody shook a finger at Kelly. “You eat my tuna casserole, don’t you?”

  Kelly couldn’t help but grin. “Every chance I get.”

  “Well then, feeding you tuna casserole isn’t any different in my book then giving you some of my blood. It’s the neighborly thing to do.”

  Kelly felt this went far beyond neighborly care. “But without my fangs it would hurt horribly. I’d need to cut you over and over again to get enough blood.”

  “Nonsense,” Barbara announced, waving a thick bag wrapped in plastic tubing. “I do this every single day. Thirty minutes tops and you’ll have a pint. See these tubes? You can drink it right from here, like one of those juice pouches.”

  “There’s ten of us, including the husbands,” Melody chimed in. “Barbara says we can donate every eight weeks, so that’s a little more than a pint a week until we can get some other people on board.”

  “And I can smuggle out expired blood from the hospital if that will do you any good,” Barbara added. “It might not be as beneficial as fresh, but it might work as a supplement.”

  “How old?” This conversation was surreal.

  “We have to dispose of it after forty–two days.” Barbara paused, an apologetic expression on her face. “Of course, our supplies are chronically low. I might not always have expired blood available.”

  Kelly shook her head. “Forty–two days is too old, even if it’s been refrigerated. It’s not worth you risking your job over.”

  Barbara looked relieved. “So which shall it be tonight?”

  One pint per week would take the edge off, keep her just this side of starvation. It wouldn’t be enough, though, if she was going to fight. Kelly hesitated before making her decision. She wasn’t likely to live past the end of the week if the assassins kept coming, or if the war brewing between the two families sparked into flame. Might as well go into it as strong as possible.

  “Would it be possible to have three tonight and two tomorrow?”

  Jaq shook her arm slightly, leaning over to whisper. “That’s half your available supply, and you’ll need to go seven weeks on five pints if we can’t line up any more. Can you do that?”

  A twinge of guilt went through Kelly. “Yeah. Once I’m up to full strength, it shouldn’t be a problem,” she lied.

  It shouldn’t if she lounged around in bed for seven weeks. Racing through forests, fighting vampires, and healing injuries was another thing entirely. With all that, she’d go through her available supply by next week. Kelly put the thoughts in a corner of her mind. She’d deal with that later, if she survived long enough to worry about it. What mattered now was making sure she could protect her new friends.

  “Yep. Do you want A and A, or O and O, or mix it up?”

  “All three O’s tonight.”

  It was easier than she ever dreamed it would be. The girls chatted as Kristin, Shanna, and then Melody’s blood steadily filled the plastic bags, like they were getting manicures and not giving blood to feed a starving vampire.

  “Here.” Barbara handed over the three bags, and Kelly rolled them in her hands. Oh God, they were still warm. Her ears buzzed, and she felt weak at the thought.

  “Hold the bag like this, then push this needle in through the seal of this tube. Make sure you stick the other end of the tube in your mouth first, because it’s going to flow out right away.”

  “Thanks.” Kelly looked around at all the expectant faces, hesitant to do this right in front of them.

  “You can use my bedroom, dear,” Melody beamed. “Or the bathroom if you’re worried about spilling anything. When you’re done, we’ll have some of these lovely brownies that Margaret made.”

  Bathroom it was, because it would be mortifying for Melody to walk in and find her frantically trying to suck blood off her comforter.

  The tub actually was ideal. Kelly sat on the edge and stuck the tube in her mouth like a straw, following Barbara’s instructions. The blood flowed almost as quickly as it did with her fangs, so warm and sweet that she almost cried. She never thought she’d experience this again. She’d truly thought that she’d spend her remaining days trying to ineffectually lap blood from messy razor–blade cuts.

  Finishing the first bag, Kelly set it aside and started on the second one. Already she felt better, strength flowing through her limbs. The wounds from the silver shot granulated, the edges beginning to close as she watched. Her skin lost its gray tone, taking on a faint golden hue — a remnant from her human past that would remain for another few centuries before fading away.

  With the second bag gone, Kelly moved on to the third. She felt full for the first time since she’d nearly killed that drunk outside the strip club. Her body had quickly absorbed the blood and its nutrients, and now her stomach growled, reminding her that she was still young enough to require other food. Brownies would be good right now, and maybe some of Melody’s tuna casserole.

  There was no time for tuna casserole. Kelly had barely made it out of the bathroom when the door to Melody’s trailer burst open, and a burly man in a heavy tan jacket filled the doorway.

  “They’re swarming the state,” Mike said, his expression grim as he faced Jaq. “There’s fighting in DC and Virginia, but a group crossed the border and they’ve seized that racetrack/casino in Charles Town.”

  “What?” Jaq rose to her feet. “They can’t expect to hold one business in our territory. Have they made demands? Are they holding hostage
s?”

  “Don’t know. Jonah wants us all there to assist. And if that’s not bad enough, the other battle might drag through here as they surge north.”

  “What’s swarming?” Melody asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

  Mike turned to glare at Kelly. “Vampires,” he spat.

  It was one thing for two families to battle it out, but why were they grabbing the casino and holding hostages? Oakwood. Kelly remembered the peculiar hostile takeover attempts from vampire companies into West Virginia businesses. They had been the Prince’s domain. The Master would never lower himself to bother with a small werewolf–held state, but the Prince….

  “I don’t trust this,” she told him. “There’s no reason for them to physically take the casino — they’re on the verge of buying it out anyway. You’ve got nothing to negotiate against human hostages. I doubt you all would vacate the state and turn it over for a few–hundred humans.”

  “No way,” Mike exploded. “This is our land. I’m not letting a bunch of stinking blood–suckers tromp all over my home. We’ll storm the place and take them out. Rescue the humans. I don’t care what they’re asking for, they’re not getting it.”

  “How many vampires are in there?” Jaq asked.

  “Jonah said maybe ten or fifteen. We’ll have a few hundred of the pack in Charles Town in less than half an hour. It’s overkill, but they’ll think twice about trying this again once we send a truckload of body parts back to them.”

  “Ten or fifteen,” Kelly mused. “It’s not enough. This whole thing doesn’t make sense. Is the fight in the southeast vampire on vampire? Or are they gathering a force to attack you from the east?”

  “It’s those north and south families, fighting it out,” Mike told her. “So far, they’re pretty busy with each other, but there’s a good chance it will spill over our border.”

  “Crap. Should we head there in case they cross the border, or to Charles Town?” Jaq asked.