That cop stache I was always going on about didn’t last long. After a few moments it was bloodied and bruised and I kept going. I didn’t fucking care. I’d worked with this guy for two years and all that time he’d been part of it.
It made sense. If the vampires were operating on campus then they had to have connections with the campus PD. How else were they going to cover up what they were doing on campus?
I guess I hadn’t been willing to believe it could be going on right under my nose. It also made sense that the people on the campus department who were in on the conspiracy would do their best to keep me from digging too deep where the vamps were concerned.
They didn’t want me interrupting their gravy train, after all. The payoffs wouldn’t keep coming if the people paying them off were piles of dust floating in the breeze, after all. Or piles of vampire muck that were quickly going up in flames.
I kept punching well after Hendricks stopped moving. I hadn’t lost control like this in years. Not since before I went into the service.
Somehow knowing someone I’d worked with day in and day out, even if the guy had been an asshole, was in on the conspiracy was worse than all the other shit I’d uncovered in this town in the course of my “investigation.”
It ended up taking several guys to pull me off of Hendricks, and by the time they got me free it didn’t look like Hendricks was going to last through the night.
I didn’t care.
I heard and felt bones breaking. Not mine. Bones on the cops all around me. Kinsey actually hissed and his eyes flashed as fangs descended.
I stared in horror.
“You too Kinsey?”
The guy had worked the night shift with me since I started on the department. Now it made sense why the guy was always working the night shift, but it didn’t make me feel any better about discovering another guy I’d been working with for two years was a bloodsucker.
What would’ve happened if Kinsey was the one who arrived on that call a couple of nights ago?
The vamp who murdered that poor girl probably would’ve gotten away with it. He would’ve been set free, the murder would’ve been covered up, and my family would still be alive.
I kicked out again. The kick landed right between Kinsey’s legs and he fell like a tree being toppled.
I grinned. That was one of the nice things I’d discovered about the vamps. They might be able to bounce back from the pain I inflicted faster than a human would, but they still felt every bit of that pain I inflicted on them. And they deserved every bit of it.
I spit on Kinsey as he went down. I would’ve given the asshole the same treatment I’d given Hendricks, except the factory chose that moment to go up like Krakatoa. The unholy wailing coming from the fire reached a deafening shriek and I fell to my knees next to a cop car with my hands over my ears, then felt a pressure wave pass over me and my brain took a little break from reality.
When I came to my senses I took a moment to look around. The squad car I’d fallen down next to had probably saved my life. The thing looked like some of the Humvees I’d seen torn to pieces by bullet holes on the other side of the world.
Despite what movies told people cop cars were incapable of stopping bullets, but it looked like having the whole car between me and the now smoldering remains of the factory was enough to save me from any shrapnel that went out.
There’d be hell to pay in the town tomorrow though. The fire was burning bright, far more normal now, and I could hear sirens off in the distance.
I really hoped there weren’t any more supernatural surprises in there for the firemen who came in to put that out. Not that I could do much to warn them.
Most of the campus vampire cops had been hit. There were a couple who were down for the count and they weren’t getting back up. Either they’d been pierced through the heart by something from the explosion or they’d been human.
But no. They had to be human. I wasn’t thinking right. If they were vampires then getting pierced through the heart would’ve dusted them.
There were a few vampire cops down for the count too. They moaned and writhed for all the world like they were going for some acting award in a World War II movie or something.
Not all of them were down though. A few had either missed the brunt of the blast or they’d healed up since, and they were moving in on me. Hands clasped around my arm and I didn’t have the strength to fight them after taking that blow.
Heck, there were enough of them surrounding me, three day guys and Kinsey, that I would’ve had trouble resisting arrest even if I was firing on all cylinders.
I looked across the parking lot as they stuffed me into a squad car that was full of holes but otherwise still running. I didn’t see any sign of any college kids dead in the parking lot. At least my little distraction had worked.
Good.
I’d gotten to punch in Hendricks’ face and I distracted the vamps long enough for the college kids to break free. They’d gotten away before the factory went up and I’d managed to survive through a bit of dumb luck. That was a win all around in my book.
Even if I had been taken captive.
They stuffed me into the back of a car, but didn’t bother to slap cuffs on. The assholes probably thought all the fight had gone out of me with that blast, but I was already feeling better by the moment.
I’d show them what a bad idea it was to take me captive.
Kinsey hopped into the driver’s seat. I noted that he seemed to be stepping lightly. As though he was a little stiff for some reason.
Good. It was the least the bastard deserved.
“You couldn’t leave it alone Byron,” he said. “You couldn’t just let things go on the way they’ve been.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled a move I’d seen a drunk college kid pull once upon a time. I pulled my feet up and kicked at the cage separating me from the front with all the strength I could muster.
It hadn’t worked for that college kid, but I figured I was in a hell of a lot better shape than some stupid drunk college kid trying to break free.
Or not. The screen didn’t budge. I growled and kicked again. Nothing.
Whoever manufactured those things was playing for keeps.
“You might as well give up Byron,” Kinsey said. “Those things are designed to hold up against vampires, so you’re not going to be able to break free.”
“Yeah? Well you’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you. I’ve killed enough vampires over the past couple of days that I don’t have much respect for your strength.”
I kept kicking at the cage. Not because I thought I had any chance of breaking free, I figured Kinsey was right on that count, but because I could tell it really irritated him. If irritating the asshole was the only thing I could do then I was going to do it to the best of my ability damn it.
“Would you stop that?” Kinsey snapped.
“Y’know you assholes weren’t leaving well enough alone either,” I said. “Your boss in there was about to spread his vampire thing to a bunch of other college campuses.”
Kinsey snorted. “You think that idiot was the boss? Boy are you dumber than you look.”
“Yeah, well we’ll see how dumb I am when we get a chance to go toe to toe,” I growled.
I sat back and quieted down though. The asshole who killed my wife, the one who was plotting to send college kids to campuses in nearby states to stage a takeover, wasn’t the one in charge?
If he wasn’t the one in charge then who the hell was? And more importantly, did that new as-yet unnamed asshole have my daughter?
39
Back at the Job
Odd. Pulling up to the old job felt a little different when I was pulling up to it seated in the back of a squad car rather than in the front.
“Not going to take me out into the middle of nowhere and cap me?” I asked.
Kinsey rolled his eyes. “We heard how you disappeared the city cops. I’m not going missing out in the middle of some fucki
ng cornfield.”
“Yeah, it’s much better to let me kill you somewhere more familiar,” I said.
Kinsey exposed his fangs as he smiled. “Still a cocky ass. I always liked that about you even if it drove Hendricks nuts. Not that Hendricks is going to have to worry about much of anything after what you did to him back there.”
I shrugged. “I figure a Renfield has about as much right to life as one of you assholes. Can’t imagine how many people out there are dead because he helped you.”
Kinsey rolled his eyes. “If you’re trying to get me to feel bad about what I do then you’ve got another thing coming Byron. I’ve been doing this for far too long to feel bad about the cattle.”
“So how are we going to do this? You going to fight me out of here? Took four of you to hold me down back at The Factory.”
Kinsey didn’t answer. At least not in so many words. His eyes darted to the side and then the back door was ripped off. Not opened roughly. Ripped off. The sound of tearing metal filled the night and then the Chief was looking into the car with claws out, fangs bared, and his eyes glowing a dull red.
“Byron! In my office now!” he growled.
“Well hello there Chief,” I said. “Fancy meeting you out here like this.”
So the Chief was a vampire. Honestly I figured I should’ve seen that one coming. It made sense. If they were going to control the authorities around here and they could turn anyone into a vampire then why not turn the guy who was in charge of everything on campus?
Or had the Chief come here and started turning people after he got into his position of power?
Either way I was kicking myself for not seeing it sooner. The way the Chief kept late hours that no sane cop ever took once they got enough authority to force the younger guys to do that shit work for them. How he was still so well preserved despite the fact that he should have been a long dead. I should’ve seen that for what it was.
“Byron,” he growled. “In my fucking office. Now.”
That was good for a couple of surprised blinks. I’d just foiled a dastardly vampire plan to take over the world. I didn’t think getting called into the Chief’s office to get an ass chewing was the sort of welcome I’d get when we got back to the station.
No, that was the sort of thing that usually resulted in the person trying to take over the world trying their best to kill the person who stopped them. Sure in the movies the bad guy usually tried something ridiculous like sharks with laser beams or something and I figured a vampire getting pissed off would just rip me limb from limb, but still.
An ass chewing? Talk about unexpected.
“Why Chief,” I said. “I think you’re going soft in your old age.”
I learned just how hard the Chief could still be a moment later when I went sliding across the parking lot and then tumbled end over end before slamming into the hard brick of the station. Stars danced in front of my eyes and I really regretted opening my big mouth.
The Chief stalked across the parking lot towards me.
Yeah, this was more like what I was expecting. The Chief reached down and lifted me up. Slammed me against the wall. I was pretty sure I heard bricks crunching behind me.
This was one of those moments when I probably should’ve shut the fuck up. Ol’ Chiefy here seemed a hell of a lot stronger than any of the other vampires I’d gone up against so far.
Maybe they got more powerful the older they got.
Still, I had all my other experiences from the past couple of nights to go on. I hadn’t run into a vampire yet that I couldn’t turn into a pile of dust. Or a pile of goo for that matter. I still had the proof of that stuck to the bottom of my boots.
So I opened my mouth and kept right on saying stupid things because deep down I wasn’t all that terrified of the Chief even though getting slammed against a brick wall did hurt like a motherfucker.
“You’re going to ruin the nice brick out here if you keep that up,” I said.
The Chief stared up at me for a long moment. I was pretty sure that long moment was going to end with the Chief doing some serious damage, but that wasn’t going to stop me from shooting off my big mouth.
“You have a big pair Byron,” he said. “I’ll give you that.”
“I think I deserve that considering all your buddies I’ve sent on to whatever hell’s waiting for you on the other side of a dusting,” I said.
The Chief’s free hand moved up to my neck. He squeezed. Hard. The kind of squeeze that said he meant business. That he was done fucking around and now it was time to take care of yours truly once and for all.
“Y’know I was supposed to take you into the station to get yours,” he growled. “But I think I’m going to do this out here, and fuck the consequences.”
He squeezed harder. I could feel darkness sneaking in around the edge of my vision. I couldn’t believe this was it. I’d killed hundreds of vampires tonight and probably saved the world. Avenged Rachel’s death.
And now it was all going to end with the life getting squeezed out of me by some old fucker I’d hated before I knew the asshole was a vampire.
No. I wasn’t going to go like that. Not with Kinsey standing back there with that self-satisfied smirk on his face.
I was Blake Fucking Byron. Former special forces. Campus cop. Defender of the innocent.
Vampire killer.
And it wasn’t going to end like this.
I flailed my arms as though I was trying my best to get away from the Chief. I beat against his chest and his gut, but of course it didn’t do anything. The old man was scary strong which wasn’t necessarily a problem under the right circumstances, but these were hardly the right circumstances considering I’d been stupid enough to let him get in a couple of sucker punches.
My arms flailed down as I kicked at the Chief’s gut. The thing stuck out so far that there was no way I was going to be able to go for a nut shot. Which was a damned shame considering how much fun it would be to deliver a good old fashioned nut shot right to the Chief’s family jewels.
“This is it for you Byron,” the Chief said. “You’ve fucked things up for me for the last time. You’ve fucked things up for us for the last time. And when this is all done I think I’m going to turn that little girl of yours so I can torture her for a good long time because of everything her daddy did tonight.”
Oh yeah. That was it. That pushed me over the edge. My hands found what I’d been looking for and behind the Chief Kinsey seemed to realize, too late, exactly what was going on.
Campus cops. It was fucking amateur hour around here.
I pulled the Chief’s gun out of its holster and fired a shot at Kinsey. It wasn’t the greatest shot since my life was being choked out of me and all, but it was enough to hit Kinsey in the shoulder and knock him down.
Next I brought the gun up to bear on the Chief. Put it right over his sternum. Right over the most sensitive piece of anatomy a vampire had.
“I wish I could say it’s been nice working for you,” I choked out, though my epic line was messed up because it came out more as a series of gags what with the way access to my windpipe was being closed off.
Oh well. The Chief got the general point. He looked down and his eyes went wide. I pulled the trigger and the fat old cop was knocked off his feet.
I was knocked off my feet too. I was a little dazed, to be honest. Having a gun going off that close without any ear protection did that.
Oh well. I already had that Middle C as my constant companion. It’s not like it was going to get any worse or anything.
The Chief fell to the ground and twitched a couple of times. For a breath I worried that maybe the old man had enough padding that the bullet didn’t go through to his heart.
I’d heard of people having their asses saved because a bullet lodged in fat rather than a critical organ. I’d never seen it happen, but considering how my luck had changed since escaping The Factory I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened now.
Th
at would be just what I needed. A pissed off vampire with super strength and a bullet lodged in his expansive gut who wasn’t happy about the situation.
Then the Chief started to decompose. I let out a relieved sigh I hadn’t even realized I was holding in.
It looked like the old man was going to whatever great beyond waited for vampires. I hoped it was someplace nice and warm.
I hadn’t really believed in that stuff before, but I was willing to keep an open mind now. After all, I hadn’t believed in vampires just a couple of days ago and now I had some very concrete proof as to just how wrong I’d been on that score.
I walked over to Kinsey. He was thrashing about on the ground holding a hand up to his shoulder which wasn’t exactly spurting blood, but the bullet had ripped a nice nasty hole in him.
A nasty hole that was already starting to knit up.
That wouldn’t do.
I fired a couple more shots into noncritical areas. At least they were noncritical areas on a vampire. That was the funny thing about humans. Despite what Hollywood said there really was no such thing as a non-lethal shot when you were dealing with bullets.
A shot that nicked the right artery or vein or carrying the wrong kind of bacteria could kill someone even if it was in the extremities rather than the torso or the head while a shot to the head or torso didn’t necessarily mean it was lights out.
I didn’t have to worry about any of that on a vampire though. I could fill Kinsey with bullets as long as I didn’t hit the heart, and I was just irritated enough that I did just that.
I leaned down and rested my arms against my knees. Kinsey’s fangs were out and his body rolled from side to side as he screamed in pain.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” I asked.
I reached out and kicked one of the newly created ventilation shafts on Kinsey’s body for good measure. Then I did it again on another one. For some reason I was in the mood to really make this guy feel some pain.
I wasn’t sure if it was the shock of finding out my coworkers were vampires or the irritation of knowing I’d done so much tonight and I still hadn’t found my little girl.
Blake Byron: Paranormal Investigator Page 25