by S. L. Eaves
Crina swings open the door.
“What's their surveillance like?”
“Couple cameras. One by the front door, few inside, nothing too elaborate.” Rex comes around from the drivers' side and helps us load the cases onto a dolly. “They figure you get this far, you've already been deemed worthy of the invite. It's not as if this address is publicized.”
“There's no good vantage point for me to set up the rifle.” Crina looks around.
“We're dealing with vampires, Crina. Unless that thing shoots arrows, you gotta stick to the ground game,” Rex holds out a crossbow.
She grumbles as she tosses the rifle bag back into the van and reluctantly takes the crossbow. I hand her a bag of arrows.
“Where should we set up?” I ask, trying to ascertain if there's more than one exit.
“Either side of the door I guess,” Rex says, looking towards Xan. “When they emerge from the stairwell they'll only have the front door and a couple of windows to escape through. Just have them covered. We're not aware of any other exit points.”
Rex begins to pull the dolly stacked with blood and weapons towards the house. Xan follows, carrying another case.
“I'll keep my comm on so you can hear things play out inside,” Xan adds, as he falls in toe with Rex.
“Good luck in there,” Crina looks up from the scope she's affixing onto the crossbow.
“If I don't kill something soon, I'm going to go crazy.” Quinn throws a jacket on to hide the stake sticking out from the back of her pants. Adding, “You two might be disappointed, I don't intend to let anyone make it this far.”
When they've disappeared inside the house, I turn to Crina.
“I'll go cover the other side.”
“You sure you're up for this? You've barely recovered from last night. Maybe you should hang back here by the van.”
She knows sidelining me won't work, so she refrains from making it an order.
“You're right, I'm not fully recovered yet. But I can fire a gun and should be able to hold my own against new blood.”
I light a cigarette. She nods, slides the pack from my hand and lights one for herself.
“Maybe I'm the one who's not up for this.”
“You? Never thought I'd see the day.”
“Yeah well it's here. I hate this. I hate killing our own. It's not the first time and it won't be the last, but every time prior it was self-defense.”
“Perhaps not every time.” She adds, studying the cigarette in her hand. She's referring to Marcus. I know better than to comment.
“Hunting our own kind just doesn't sit right with me. We have room at the mansion. We can reason with them. Bring them in, train them, give them blood, explain why our system has worked for centuries. We need to grow our numbers. Purebloods could benefit from this movement, too. It doesn't have to be this way.”
She has a point. And I get where she's coming from. She's from a time when large colonies of vampires resided under one roof. Why wouldn't we try to replicate that at the mansion?
“Except that it does. At one point it didn't, maybe when Malik was still at the mansion something could have been worked out to prevent this. But it's too late now. We're headline news, Crina. The humans will come for us. The Purebloods will come for us. We can't hide at the mansion any longer.”
Crina slides a quiver full of arrows over her shoulder.
“I understand, but I don't have to like it. And I wasn't hiding.”
She points to the house. “When it starts, shoot out the cameras then flank the windows on the other side and kill anyone who comes through them.”
***
From inside the little adobe hut, Rex gives a nod at the security camera as he knocks on the heavy metal door. After a moment, the door swings open and they are greeted by Nico, who pushes back the brim of his hat and immediately asks where Malik is.
“He's not with you?”
“We saw him earlier,” Rex covers, “He's following in his own wheels. Went to get more blood out of storage. Said you guys would be anxious to do this deal, but he wanted to confirm inventory himself.”
Nico purses his lips, eyes the crates propped up on the dolly.
“Blood you say? Well hell, come on in.”
They follow Nico into the bunker and past the arena. A fight is going strong and the crowd yells into the cage. Quinn points to the bar as they pass. Xan nods. It's easily two or three times more crowded than it was just a couple nights ago. Their numbers are multiplying at frightening rates.
“You've got one hell of a party going on tonight,” Xan observes, hoping they pick up on his concern through the comm.
“Yeah, we've got a full card tonight. We're only two fights in so you'll get to see a lot of action. You guys are hanging around this time, right?”
Nico holds open the door to the hallway they'd gone through previously. “Speaking of fighting, where's the big guy and the girl he turned?” His tone is more curious than suspicious.
“With the girl,” Xan offers. “They went out on the strip.”
Quinn shoots Xan a glare.
“Taking his new vamp for a night on the town?” Nico gives a knowing smirk. When he sees Quinn's cross expression, he pats her on the shoulder.
“Aw baby girl don’t look so vexed. The world’s our playground. I'd be happy to help you fight fire with fire.”
Quinn grabs his arm and snaps it behind his back, shoving him roughly.
“Watch it cowboy.”
“Quinn!” Rex scolds.
Nico raises his free hand. “My apologies, I didn't mean to overstep.”
Quinn stares at him unblinking before finally releasing his arm.
“Let's just stick to business tonight,” Xan suggests.
“Oh but I do love to mix business and pleasure,” Nico smiles as he straightens his shirt and leads them down a set of stairs.
Rex and Xan carry the crates down the stairwell. When they reach a door at the end of the hall he slides a key card and it opens to reveal a large lounge. Two vampires look up from a pool table that serves as the centerpiece of the room. A screen on the far end shows the cage match going on upstairs. It's muted. As is the one on the wall opposite it showing the news. A story about Vegas kidnappings is highlighted on the crawler along the bottom.
“Good evening boys,” Nico greets them with a smile. “These are Malik's comrades from Europe. Old blood. And they come bearing gifts.”
Both vampires set down their cues and cross the room to greet them. After exchanging pleasantries, the vampires' focus turns to the boxes.
“So whadya bring us?”
Hang on, Nico raises his hand, “I want Harris here for this, you guys seen him?”
“He was here earlier, he probably went up to watch the fights. I'll grab him.” One of the vampires offers as he disappears. Nico follows him out.
Quinn and Rex exchange glances. Quinn pretends to admire the pool table, plays with a cue. The other vampire joins her. “You play?”
“Not for years, I'm a bit rusty. You think you could refresh my memory.”
“Now she flirts,” Rex mumbles to Xan.
“She's trying to justify having that wooden pool cue in her hand when this goes down,” Xan whispers.
Nico reappears holding a bottle of Fireball whiskey and busies himself at the bar. A minute later the other vampire returns with the one they'd called Harris in tow. He nods at them before turning to Nico.
“Malik been by?”
Nico shakes his head. “He'll be here soon. He's helping transport the goods our new friends have brought us.”
“Is that so?” Harris raises an eyebrow, looks them over. Nico takes glasses from the cabinet by the door and begins pouring.
“You guys try this? Burns so good you can almost taste it.”
“How's it pair with synthetic blood?” Xan smiles, holding up a beer bottle.
Nico laughs, “Nice packaging, are you bottling this at a beer distributor?�
��
“We're using the resources at our disposal,” Xan replies.
“I dig it,” Nico examines a bottle.
Rex hands out bottles as the vampires gather around, twisting off the caps and sniffing the contents.
“Smells like the real thing to me.” Harris gives an approving nod. “You made this in a lab?”
“Yeah, it's been years in the works. The ingredients aren't easy to come by but we've been able to procure enough to make a generous batch. Keeps us well fed and off the streets.”
“You don't hunt?” Nico frowns. “That's half the fun.”
“That may be, but it's also an easy way to get yourself killed.” Quinn doesn't try to hide the anger in her voice. Rex shoots her a look that says calm down.
Nico gives a huff and is about to respond when Xan interjects, pointing at the television screen showing the news.
“You really want to be headline news in the human world? That the kind attention you want? It's certainly not going to make hunting any easier. With your numbers growing, you need to build your own stash. A blood bank of your own. You said yourself blood was in short supply. Vampires are literally killing one another for food.”
He points to the other screen. A match has just ended and a bloody vampire is limping out of the cage. “You want to grow your numbers you're going to need a steady food supply. Kidnapping and draining humans comes with a number of risks. It's a hassle and it's barbaric. Welcome to the twenty-first century boys.”
Harris and Nico exchange glances. Nico shrugs. “You have a point. What I want to know is what your clan wants in exchange for this...service.”
“I'm confident we can work something out,” Rex holds up his bottle, “Why don't you try it first. Tell us what it’s worth to you.”
Nico nods and raises his beer to the others. “Cheers boys.”
“To the dawn of a new era. The world is ours to burn,” Quinn says, holding up her beer.
It doesn't take long. They aren't the sipping kind.
They all drop their bottles and clutch their stomachs before finishing. Quinn snaps the cue in half, jumps on the vampire closest to her, and drives the stake through his back.
“Seriously?” Xan asks, as the others writhe on the floor in pain.
“It's taking too long,” Quinn hovers over Nico. He tries to cry out as his white flesh glows and within seconds disintegrates into a pile of ash. Quinn picks up his cowboy hat, blows off dust, and watches as the rest join Nico in a matter of seconds.
Rex and Xan begin unpacking weapons from the boxes.
Xan eyes the remains and taps his comm. “You two hear that? It worked, but we only got four of the top guys. The leaders are dust but there's nearly a hundred vampires down here. We're going to start clearing rooms.”
Rex picks up a key card next to the bottle of whiskey, takes a pull from the bottle.
“That was almost too easy. Why don't we distribute the rest of the tainted blood before we start a full on assault?”
Xan nods, turns to Quinn. “Think you can keep the rampaging at bay for a few while we pass around the rest of these bottles?”
“Ugh. Fine. You two are no fun.” Quinn exchanges the cues for a couple of bottles and heads out into the hall.
“Why don't you follow her with the box, it won't take long before they catch on, but distribute as much as you can.” Rex holds up a couple packs of explosives. “I'm going to rig this room up with these in case anyone comes in looking for their leaders.”
“Just sweep them under the rug,” Xan laughs as he slides a stake into his boot and disappears after Quinn.
Chapter 31
Glass shatters from the broken window. Wires spark from where I ripped the camera down. I try to open the door to the bunker but it's sealed shut. I'll have to wait for vampires to open it from the inside. I return to my position outside the house, back pressed against the warm clay siding as I wait under the open window, kicking broken glass around.
“I need to get inside.”
I reach for my comm at the sound of Crina's voice then realize she wasn't using it. She slides in next to me, peering into the window.
“This isn't the plan,” I start to object. We can hear muffled sounds from below. Things are starting to intensify as vampires are realizing the threat inside.
“You couldn't get the door open?” Crina asks. She's standing flush along the window, crossbow aimed at the door. I get to my feet.
“You're blowing my element of surprise,” I mutter. “But yeah, we need someone to open it from the inside. Shouldn't take long now.”
“You heard Rex, there are more down there than they expected. As soon as the door opens I'm working my way inside.”
I nod. “Okay. You want me to stay out here?”
“Yeah, hold your position. If there's a mass exodus I won't be able to stop them all.”
The door slides open. Crina fires. The vampire drops to her knees, clutching her chest as she disintegrates. Two more vampires jump over her as they emerge from the doorway. While Crina reloads, I leap through the window and tackle one to the ground, jamming a stake through his chest.
Crina has the scope to her eye and fires a shot through the other's heart as he flees. She enters the house, reloading. I pick up the arrow from the ashes of the first one she hit and toss it to her, then slide the gun from my shoulder holster and begin firing into the horde of vampires running up the stairwell towards us.
“Slowed 'em down for ya.” I step aside as Crina descends the stairs.
***
Rex takes cover behind the bar. From here he has unobstructed view of the room where they'd stored weapons for the cage matches. Naturally the vampires rushed for the room when the chaos broke out. Using a modified compound bow, Rex picks them off one by one.
He sees a blur of motion to his right, spins and stops when Crina joins him.
“We weren't expecting this many. We took out the top guys and Quinn had some luck distributing the blood before they caught on to it being tainted.”
Rex fires, drops back behind the bar. Crina fires, then returns to reload as Rex pops back up.
“I'm not as good with this bow as I was in the firing range. I'm used to having more time to line up my shots. Good thing these aren't seasoned vampires, we'd be in trouble.”
Crina grumbles, “No kidding, this thing keeps jamming on me.”
“Hey now don't blame the equipment.”
“Is that where they store their weapons?”
Rex nods.
“Good. Cover me.”
Crina drops the empty quiver and crossbow, hops over the bar and dashes past the cage.
A vampire jumps her as she reaches the room. She flips him onto his back and jams a stake into his chest. This gets the attention of several vampires and they move in to surround her.
Rex hits one in the shoulder, Crina finishes the job. She spins around at the sound of a blade slicing through the air, catches the sickle in her hand, pulls the attacker towards her and into her stake.
As she pulls the blade from her palm, Rex joins her, using the wire from his bow to decapitate another attacker from behind.
***
Once we'd cleared the stairwell things quieted down at the surface. I pace anxiously around the perimeter and stake the occasional vampire that reaches the exit. So far only a handful had made it this far; they came out running for their lives, not ready for a fight. I felt the weight of Crina's words.
It was like killing defenseless children, these new vampires didn't ask for this life. I’m sure many didn't want this and they were ill prepared for the consequences of their new existence. The Purebloods had turned us against our own. In many ways our servitude to them had always meant this was a possibility. We were equally unprepared for it to come to fruition.
As much as it pains me to admit it, part of me is relieved every time I see one fall. They might be like me and hate themselves for what they've become. They may hate that part of the
ir existence that revolves around feeding off the living. They may hate that it's the only time they feel alive. They may hate the euphoric thrill of it. They may hate that it’s never enough.
Every time I take out a vampire I see myself die. Again and again. It's cathartic. One might ask if it's possible to equally love and hate something. I can say, without doubt, that it is absolutely possible. I hate myself for loving it, but I won't stop. I can't.
Awhile back I was accused of working with humans to track down and eliminate my own kind. And while I was innocent of the act at the time, and killing anyone unprovoked isn't something I make a habit out of, part of me was glad there were less vampires in the world. Adrian didn't turn me to save me, he turned me to unleash the killer he saw inside. I was born a killer before I was ever born a vampire.
What he didn't count on is who'd fall victim to my wrath. Now the Purebloods are using this lust for their own gain and I'm happy to oblige.
“A bunch of doors just opened at once, this whole hallway is flooding with vampires.” Quinn's voice comes over the comm. “We must've found their living quarters. They're all making a run for it. Xan nearly got trampled.”
That's my cue.
“Ready and waiting.” I move into position.
It doesn't take long. Roughly a dozen reach the stairwell at once. I begin firing rounds as they ascend. The first to reach me is the easiest to take out, I'm firing behind him as my stake connects with his chest. It's slowing them down, just not as much as I’d hoped.
Two hit me at once, I stake one as they knock me to the ground, dust explodes around us. The other sprints out the door and into the dessert. From my back, I extend my gun past my head and shoot for his legs. I roll, tripping up another and firing into her legs. I know all too well how hard it is to run when there's bullets lodged in your legs.
When the girl drops I drive the stake into her back as I get to my feet. Dropping the gun from my other hand, I slide the second stake from my boot as another vampire smacks into me. These vampires are in pure survival mode. He bites my shoulder as I struggle to wedge the stake up into his chest.