“Aren’t people a higher species of animal?” The guidance counselor sighed. “I wish you’d taken Edna LittleHawk’s elective, ‘Ethics for Bloodsuckers.’ She has a whole unit on the pros and cons of killing humans. Asking a vampire to live on animal blood would be like asking you to eat and drink nothing but celery juice for the rest of your life. To vampires, blood is like what food is to humans.”
A whimper came from the foyer.
Hector shuddered. “So are you going to kill me, too?”
“Me, darling?” Finkelstein sounded offended. “I’m your school counselor. I have ethical responsibilities. And I usually don’t eat on the job.” He cleared his throat. “Of course, Arvin’s free to do as he pleases. But he likes you. And now he’ll be adequately hydrated for a while.”
“So what am I? Emergency rations?” Hector’s tone was bitter.
“Not necessarily. Arvin’s too proud to ask his warmblood friends directly, but he does offer a monthly donor’s program. Depending on how much you give, you could be a subscriber, a friend, a patron, even a blood brother.”
“I’m better than the Red Cross,” said Arvin, coming into the living room. “I let you choose between cash back and points.”
“Wipe your mouth,” said Finkelstein. “You have a moustache.”
Hector didn’t need to see in the dark to imagine Arvin’s bloody grin. Oh, God. I have to get away from these guys. But how will I ever find Kathy?
“Arvin!” Edna LittleHawk’s voice came from the hall. “Get out here, now. I’m tired of picking up after you.”
“I want to finish my pizza.” Arvin picked up his slice.
“You left his body on the carpet?” asked Finkelstein.
“What’s the difference?” Arvin whined. “We’re going to burn the house down, anyway.”
Hector covered his mouth with his fist. Murder plus arson. I am totally screwed.
Edna LittleHawk spoke from the doorway. “You should respect all the Great Spirit’s creations. That man gave you his blood for a new lease on your life. Go thank and apologize to him.”
“He’s dead,” said Arvin. He bit off a chunk of pizza.
“His soul is not.” The teacher lowered her voice as she moved toward Arvin. “Souls of the dead see and hear us from another plane. Go apologize. Otherwise his soul will haunt you. And I couldn’t respect you.”
With a sigh, Arvin put down his slice.
Hector strained his eyes trying to see the sturdy Shoshone vampire. He could only imagine that she was in the black tactical jersey and pants she’d worn on the trip, but she’d apparently done something to blacken her face and hands, for only the whites of her eyes were visible in the dark.
“Go, son,” said Finkelstein. “Take the body upstairs and lay it out on one of the beds. After you apologize, pile a lot of flammable stuff around it. I’ll bring the pizza. You can eat more in the car.”
“I suppose I should also apologize for burning his body.” Arvin started for the hall, then stopped. “Who’s going to apologize to the people who own this house?”
“I’ll find a piece of mail with their names and address,” said Finkelstein. “If we survive tonight, we’ll send a note.”
“It’s life that truly matters, not possessions,” said LittleHawk as Arvin left.
Finkelstein shrugged. “Still…”
“Arvin, bring the delivery man’s cap,” LittleHawk called out. “Hector will need it.”
Hector’s head jerked upward. “Me?”
“Yes,” said LittleHawk. “I scouted the safe house where the DHS agents are holding Dr. Quintz prisoner. There are several guards outside. They’ll be ready for vampires. Arvin would never get to the front door with the pizza. You’ll be our delivery boy.”
Hector shook his head. “Uh-uh, I’m not doing it. Not to get more people killed.”
“No,” said Finkelstein. “Not for that. And not to save your own life, I’m sure. But you’ll do it.”
“Because you’ll hand me back to Dr. Baneful?”
Finkelstein waved the idea aside. “Darling, once a boy escapes that snake’s fangs, we don’t give him back to be devoured. You’ll do what we ask because, if we survive, we’ll take you to Kathy. It’s the only chance you have to save her from becoming a vampire.”
“A vampire? I thought Bunny wants to kill her.”
“I spoke to Bunny about that,” said LittleHawk. “Kathy’s too good a woman to waste. Besides, Kathy’s great-grandfather turned me into a vampire.” LittleHawk cleared her throat. “One belief vampires share is that ‘turn-about is fair play.’ If Kathy is to be turned, I’m the one to do it.”
Finkelstein shook his head. “You know the Banefuls don’t give a damn about fair play. That’s why these kids are in so much trouble. Truly, I feel for them. Either of you want some pizza?”
34
The Assault
Arvin switched off the headlights and turned the pizza delivery car down the narrow private road. Sitting next to him, Hector twisted the pizza man’s cap in his hands. He couldn’t see anything outside the car, but images of death, his own and the pizza man’s, filled his mind’s eye.
Inferior beings to be sacrificed, that’s what we are to them. Baneful wanted to hang me from a hook and bleed me dry. Now these guys are putting me in the line of fire so they can rescue their precious scientist. Vampires don’t care who they hurt when they want something.
“How do you live with yourself, guey?” asked Hector.
“I don’t understand Spanish,” said Arvin.
“But you understand the question. You committed murder and arson in that house. You’re sending me – your amigo, your blood brother, remember? — out as a sacrificial goat. How do you live with yourself?”
“I’m not living. I’m existing. The better part of me has died.”
Hector slapped his own thigh. “Answer my question!”
“I try not to think about those things, okay?” Arvin sounded annoyed.
“No, it’s not okay. You must think about it sometimes.”
“I tell myself a starving person does what he has to do to survive. Do you think I can tell myself I’m a monster?” Arvin’s tone begged for understanding.
Hector had no answer. The hum of the tires seemed louder than before.
“Believe me,” Arvin said softly, “if I have to think, I have a lot worse to think about.”
“What’s worse than killing someone?”
“Worse is when horrible things happen to you or the people you love. Imagine you were molested until you were ten and then turned into a vampire at fifteen. Wouldn’t you want revenge? Be filled with hate?” Arvin glanced over at Hector. “You know why I don’t hunt? The more I kill, the more I enjoy it. I’m afraid I’ll get to where I’ll never want to stop.”
Hector straightened in his seat. “Until you were ten? Jesus! I’m sorry, man. Even vampires don’t attack children that young.”
“Some do. They kill the kids so they don’t have to take care of them.”
“Oh, Christ,” muttered Hector.
Arvin stopped the car at the beginning of a tree-lined private road. He kept the lights off, the engine running. “We’re here. Get that cap on your head, pizza boy. You’re going to drive. Just put on the lights, drive up to the house and deliver.”
Hector swallowed hard, then jammed the cap onto his head. God, please help me. He got out of the car and walked around to the driver’s side.
Arvin had stepped out of the car. He was screwing a silencer onto a handgun.
“Since when do vampires use guns?” Hector asked.
“Even a vampire can be overpowered.” Arvin’s eyes came up to meet his. “Now do us both a favor, man, and drive straight toward the house. No deviations, no heroics. It’s the only one back there behind the trees. LittleHawk and Fink should be in position already.”
Hector jerked his thumb toward the bundle of pizzas in the back seat. “I just walk up to the door and deliver thos
e or you shoot me? C’mon, man.” His voice quavered. He cleared his throat and tried to project a mocking tone. “I thought you said that my blood was so valuable.”
“Don’t worry. You’re my friend, my donor. I’m not going to shoot you unless you screw up.” Arvin extended his hand. “I’d hate to do that.”
Hector narrowed his eyes and curbed his tongue. “You know, for a vampire, you have a warm heart.” He shook the icy hand.
“Good luck, amigo,” said the vampire.
“Chingas a tu puta madre, amigo.”
Arvin raised an eyebrow. “What’s that mean?”
“Bless you and your mother.”
“Then the same to you.” Arvin stepped back into the darkness.
Hector got into the driver’s seat, fastened his seatbelt, then turned on the headlights. Here we go!
Floodlights illuminated the outside of the two-story, white farmhouse and the detached garage. Three sedans and a pickup truck occupied the parking area to the far side of the garage.
Fifty yards from the house, two men holding large flashlights flagged down the pizza car. Hector swiped his sleeve across his forehead, then lowered his window. A powerful beam of light made him look away from the man behind it.
“Lightning Pizza,” said Hector.
The flashlight beam from the man on the other side of the car explored the back seat and floor.
“Show me your teeth,” the man at the window demanded.
“Why?” asked Hector. “What’s going on?”
“None of your business.” He aimed the boxy end of a taser at Hector. “Let’s have a smile.”
Hector bared his teeth.
“Okay.” The man lowered his weapon. “Pop the trunk. Who ordered the pizza?”
“I just deliver where they tell me.”
“You have to have a name or phone number. Who ordered it?”
“I did, darling.” Hunting knife in hand, Finkelstein rose up from the weeds behind the guard.
A groan came from the other side of the car. Hector whipped his head around as a body hit the car, then turned back to the guard at his window.
Finkelstein had his forearm clamped around the man’s neck, muffling his surprised grunt as he pulled him away.
Oh my God! Hector tensed; his eyes went wide.
The guard clubbed Finkelstein’s forearm with his flashlight; his other hand swept the taser back toward the vampire. Finkelstein slashed with his knife. The guard screamed and dropped the taser. Inch by inch, Finkelstein forced the struggling guard’s head back, then plunged the knife into the man’s neck. The guard’s choked cry was drowned in blood. The vampire dragged him to the ground, withdrew the knife and put his own mouth to the wound.
“Jesus!” Hector shuddered. He sensed rather than saw someone coming around the back of the car. He unlocked his seatbelt and prepared to run.
“It’s me,” said Edna LittleHawk.
Hector didn’t see her until she was three feet away, for her painted face, black tactical outfit and Kevlar vest blended into the darkness. With her bow and a shotgun slung over her shoulders, LittleHawk was using a bandanna to clean a bloody arrow. She looked down at the guidance counselor sucking blood from his grounded prey. “Finish your drink, Isadore. We have more work to do.”
Finkelstein gave a powerful slurp, then rose to his feet, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “Waste not, want not,” he told Hector. “A good piece of guidance.”
Hector popped out of the car. “You guys are nuts! I’m out of here!” He started to walk back up the long driveway. They’ll never let me go. He bowed his head and raised his shoulders to shield his neck. His back muscles tightened in anticipation of an arrow.
“I won’t kill you.” LittleHawk’s tone was icy. “I will cripple you and give you back to Dr. Baneful.”
Hector stopped, then turned to face her. “And you teach Ethics?”
“For bloodsuckers. Neither kindness nor mercy are part of our ethical code.” LittleHawk fit the arrow she was holding to her bowstring. “Either you deliver that pizza or we’ll deliver your manhood to Kathy and you to Dr. Baneful.”
Hector grimaced. “Shit! You and Dr. Baneful were made for each other.” He walked back to the car. “Are more guards going to stop me before I get there?”
“No. Edna and I already took care of the two in back of the house.”
“Okay. So what do I do after the feds open the door?” Hector asked him.
“Common sense, darling. You get yourself out of the way.”
“Duck and cover,” said LittleHawk. “And don’t park in front of the door.”
Hector looked around. “Where’s Arvin?”
LittleHawk slipped the arrow back into her quiver. “On his way to the basement. Now get going.”
It took Hector less than thirty seconds to drive past the front door and park the car. Wondering what the vampires might have put in the cloth warmer instead of pizza boxes, he pulled the bundle from the back seat. It wasn’t particularly heavy.
Please God, get me through this, he prayed as he walked toward the house. He forced himself to smile at the security camera bolted to the white siding and then took the two steps up to the front porch in a single stride. His hand trembled as he reached for the doorbell. Before he could push the button, the door opened a crack.
“Who the hell are you?” a hoarse voice demanded.
“Lightning Pizza.”
“Did anyone order pizza?” The agent shouted back into the house.
He’s a government cop. Tell him the truth? And get an arrow in the back?
“No,” came the reply from within.
“How’d you get by Perry?” asked the agent.
“The guy with the taser? That dude was weird. He checked my teeth before he called someone in the house and let me through.”
The opening between door and jamb didn’t widen. “The last ten minutes, did Perry call in?” the agent shouted.
Hector’s mouth went dry. He struggled to swallow.
“No,” came the reply from deep in the house. “I’ll call him to check.”
“Drop the bag, kid! And put your hands behind your head!”
Hector placed the bag beside the door. He raised his hands slowly. “This is a screw-up, dude. I’ll leave the pizzas here, but I’m going back to the store. I don’t want any trouble. I’ll let my boss straighten it out.” With his hands behind his head, Hector turned and walked toward the steps.
“You’re not going anywhere.” The man opened the door, came out on the porch and yanked Hector backward by the collar.
Hector kicked upward with both legs. As he fell, an arrow whizzed by his ear. The agent cried out and lurched backward through the doorway, pulling Hector down on top of him. Hector tried to roll off the convulsing body, but the man gripped him as if he were clinging to life itself. Hector saw Finkelstein burst through the doorway and leap at an agent who’d come into the hall, gun in hand.
“Vampires!” the agent shouted. Finkelstein swatted the gun aside. There was a bang and a shower of splinters from a staircase banister beyond Hector’s head. Finkelstein blocked a karate chop to his neck, then drove his knife into the agent’s chest. Feet pounded down the staircase. Finkelstein spun his victim around as a shield against the new threat. Then all the lights went out.
Hector lay as if dead as two handguns fired from above. Beneath him, the man who’d grabbed him made a choking noise, released his grip and lay still. Hector tried to roll off him quietly. From the staircase came a warning cry of “the door!” followed by a blast from a shotgun. Bodies tumbled down the staircase as the other barrel let loose. Hector didn’t dare move again. He heard new shells being inserted and the breech snap close, then felt the barrel poke his back. Hector flinched. I’m dead.
“Stay down,” whispered Edna LittleHawk. “We still have more work to do.”
The shotgun and Edna were gone before he could say anything. She was so light on her feet, he barely heard her go up
the staircase.
“Good job,” whispered Finkelstein, and then his footsteps came from the stairs. It was obvious that he was following Edna but couldn’t match her speed and stealth.
No more. I’m out of here. Hector gave Fink a few seconds to get up the staircase, then got quickly to his feet. Upstairs, the pop-pop of a handgun was followed by a blast from the shotgun and a shriek of pain. Hector took a hurried step toward the door and tripped over a body. He lurched forward, his arms out for balance. A strong hand grabbed his elbow to keep him from falling. Jesus!
“It really helps to see in the dark,” said Arvin.
“You cut the electricity?”
“And sabotaged the generator.”
“Let me go, Arvin. I got you guys in. What more do you want from me?”
“Dr. Quintz doesn’t know us. You’re living proof we don’t kill every warmblood we meet.”
“Hands in the air! Now!” The shouted command and a blinding light came from the front doorway.
“Oops,” said Arvin, raising his hands. “Missed one.”
“Drop your weapon,” the agent with the light demanded.
Arvin tossed his gun aside. They both raised their hands.
Hector blinked against the light. “I’m not a vampire. I’m a prisoner. See, normal teeth!”
“Shut up and put your hands behind your head.” Behind the flashlight, the agent sounded young and frightened.
“Look I’m fed up,” said Arvin, “so why don’t you just leave us alone and live a long life.”
“Get down on your knees, hands behind your head. This gun has special bullets to kill vampires.”
“I’m not a vampire. Look, no fangs!” Hector bared his teeth.
“Doesn’t matter,” said the agent. “We can’t have witnesses claiming vampires exist.”
As the agent fired, Arvin threw himself in front of Hector. The vampire grunted as a bullet smacked into his shoulder. “Upstairs! Find Edna!” he gasped, then sprang toward the flashlight.
Hector leaped toward the staircase. Behind him Arvin yelled “Chingas a tu madre, cabrón.” The agent fired two shots.
The Cure Page 21