“Next stop is Ketchikan, then I’m going straight to Seattle, weather permitting. I’m leaving first thing in the morning. I always travel alone. No need for a crew with this baby.”
Amp’s mind was working hard, trying to decide if she had enough time before morning to get a few things done. Like all vamps, Amp tried to stay out of the sun, the rays sucking her strength. She had heard some older vamps could function in the sun for extended periods, but she didn’t want to test the theory. Sunlight drained her, and she wanted to be finished in this town before sunrise.
“What’s your name?” she asked the man, the boat owner still standing where he had been.
“Donny Garrett…but my friends just call me Garrett. What’s your name, sugar?”
“Okay Donny, here’s the plan. You and I are going to leave together in the morning straight through to Seattle. No Ketchikan this time. First thing, we’re going below to the mess and get to know each other a little better, and then I have some errands to run. When I get back, we are gone…and I mean right away. Any questions?”
The man looked like he had a lot of questions, but his mind didn’t seem to be working too well. In the back of his mind he heard the girl say they were going to get to know each other. The thought was dictating his move to the steps. Amp followed.
Below deck of the cruiser was beautiful, a lavish mess, two cabins, and a spotless engine. Without a word, Amp turned to the man, wrapping her arms around his neck, her razor sharp fangs extended, and sank them into the man’s neck, sinking into his jugular, drinking hungrily, but with restraint. She needed this man for a few more days, and she didn’t want him weak or dead. Not right now. At first Donny tried pushing her off, afraid of what was happening, but when Amp’s serum entered his bloodstream, he was struck with first a small, wonderful orgasm, then a mighty, erupting one.
Sated, Amp licked the puncture shut, and then gave Donny a kiss on his cheek. “So, was it good for you, Garrett?” she asked, smiling.
“Oh my god, I don’t know what just happened, but you can do it any ol’ time you want, little lady,” he breathed.
“Look at me, Donny,” Amp ordered. “You do not leave Petersburg without me…got it? If you do, I will track you down…and you do not want me hunting you. Understand?”
“I ain’t going anywhere without you, honey. I’ll wait as long as it takes.” His eyes still held the glaze of Amp’s control, the girl hoping her power would last for several more hours.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Her strength returning with the fresh donation from Donny, Amp was gone.
------
Making her way through the town, moving from shadow to shadow, she reached the forest on the east end of the village where she was able to move with all her speed toward the Wilson compound. She had to find out where they were keeping Riley, and then figure a way to break him free and get him back to Donny’s boat. She had tossed her sword into a creek bed after she had hurled the fence, and now, approaching the compound, she found the creek, and after a quick search, found the sword beneath a dead bush.
Feeling a little better now she was armed, she crept quietly towards the spiked fence, her perfect night vision making it easier than she expected. She needed to find an opening, knowing the fence was probably armed with a high tech alarm.
Making her way north, keeping to the forest, she rounded the corner of the fence, stopping suddenly, her mind refusing to accept what her eyes saw. She stifled the scream starting deep in her chest, the horror of staring into the dead eyes of her two best friends, their heads jammed atop the spikes of the fence, trophies for everybody to see.
The flaking away of the vampire remains had been retarded by Wilson’s people, a common practice in the dark ages in order for the victors to exhibit their prizes. The chemicals were just now starting to wear, and the heads of the two had started to deteriorate. The picture it presented to Amp was so grotesque she would never be able to exorcise it from her deepest memories.
Taking one last look, Amp turned into the woods, stumbling away from the horror of Beryl Wilson.
I promise you, I promise with everything I have, I will take vengeance for this, I will kill Wilson and all of his children. If it is the only thing I ever do, I will avenge your death.
For the first time as a vampire, Amp cried the red tears of grief.
------
Amp returned to town, across the street from the Harbor Bar, the same place she and the guys had first met Wilson. Leaning against a wall in an alley, her form hidden in the shadows, Amp tried to gain control of herself. Seeing her friends spiked had set something off in her she didn’t know existed.
She was vampire, but she had never been a trained fighter, had only been in a few scrapes over the years, mostly backing up Danner or Riley when they got into trouble. Now, she felt something primitive, something she didn’t recognize consuming her soul. Revenge was all she could think about, but she knew one vampire could not defeat Wilson’s lair. She would need help to fulfill her promise to her friends. But if the chance presented itself, she wanted to send a message before leaving the island.
She took one quick look inside the bar, hoping to find her new friends from Washington still at the bar, but they were nowhere to be found.
She stood in the alley for another hour before she saw her chance, and it was heaven sent. A black BMW sedan slowly made its way down the deserted street, passing within a few feet of Amp’s concealed form. Her night vision clearly saw the face of the blonde boy, and sitting across from him in the passenger seat, Wilson’s whore.
Perfect, Amp thought, watching the car as it pulled into a parking area next to the bar. Grasping her sword, she moved with lightning speed, standing at the end of the BMW when the doors opened.
As his head emerged from the car door, Amp struck, a clean strike, the blonde head severing with a geyser of blood. Without missing a beat, Amp was on it, picking up the head by the blonde hair, bending to throw it into the car, the bloody package landing in Miriam’s lap. The woman was in shock, a scream starting but suddenly stopping when she saw the look on Amp’s face, a murderous scowl speaking volumes. Miriam knew without a doubt she was dead, the severed head on her lap not important to her at all.
“Take it back to your master, whore,” Amp spit at her. “Tell him this is just the start. I’ll be back, and when I return, every one of your heads will hang on his fence…including you, human. If you’re still here, I will personally stake your head.”
Without another word, Amp was gone into the night, leaving Miriam holding the bloody head of the beautiful Sheldon.
------
Wilson was livid, Miriam on her knees before him shaking in fear, the tears mingling with the steady flow of blood dripping from her nose and mouth where the vampire had beat her.
“How could you be so stupid?” he was screaming. “You think you’re immortal, neither one of you paying the least bit of attention just days after being attacked. You’re a cow, a feedbag, a whore! And your stupidity cost me something far more valuable than you’ll ever be. Oh…you’re going to pay for this.”
Faster than her eyes could follow, he slapped her again on the side of her head, her body flying against the far wall, the blow stunning her but not to the point of unconsciousness, not even close to being fatal. Wilson had been beating Miriam for a hundred years, knew exactly how far he could go with his tirades. His vampire blood flowing through her veins gave her a strong pain tolerance, and the healing from her many beatings was accelerated far beyond what a normal human experienced.
He was insane, had been insane for a very long time, and Miriam felt she must be right behind him. No normal woman would spend a hundred years taking the abuse this man dealt out. All she held for him was revulsion so deep murder would not be good enough.
Sitting up, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her jacket, the woman’s eyes those of a wild animal, cornered by a crazed hunter.
“You’re blaming me because one
of your grand warriors lost his pretty little head to a tiny girl. He was supposed to be guarding me, not the other way around. If you had something besides immature little boys fighting for you, maybe we wouldn’t have to be so worried all the time. Somewhere in your muddled brain, you must know those three weren’t here as your enemies. You invited them, you guaranteed their safety, and then you slaughtered them. Real brave, Beryl; you’re a class act.”
His eyes were scarlet, fangs bared, his anger so deep he wanted to rip the woman’s head off her shoulders. Taking a step closer to her, seeing her stare up at him from the floor undaunted and defiant, he stopped in midstride and laughed. Reaching out his hand and helping her to her feet, he pulled her to his lap, cradling her like she was an infant.
“Oh Miriam, you always get right to the heart of the matter, don’t you, my love.”
Rocking her and speaking softly, the woman finally allowed herself to relax in his arms, confident the worst was past, and she would live another day. She couldn’t say the same of the vampire Sheldon, the blonde head turning to dust on the floor across the room. He had been an arrogant child, but had been useful to Miriam. He had been the only vampire Wilson had turned who could enjoy women as well as men. Miriam would miss him. Being constantly surrounded by homosexuals pushed the woman to her limits, so it was no small thing the only bi vampire in the compound had lost his head.
At one time, Wilson was capable of functioning sexually with Miriam. Not especially well, she remembered, and not often. She was very inventive, and Wilson, although never enjoying the time with a woman as much as with the boys, would go along with her games, up to a point. It hadn’t happened in decades, and the human woman had tried to teach some of the younger ones the joy of female companionship. It had only worked with Sheldon.
As Wilson’s paranoia had grown over the last 25 years, all his attention had been on building his security, stockpiling arms and surrounding himself with more of his creations. Miriam couldn’t actually call them warriors; the term was a bit strong for the young boys strutting around with an elevated sense of self-importance. They were bodies, numbers Wilson used to fuel his fantasies, nothing more.
A warrior, in Miriam’s mind, was brave and not afraid of death. A warrior was more like the vampire Riley. The man had fought to the death, at the same time saving the girl Anne Marie. Riley had single handily killed seven of Wilson’s vampires, and the number would have been much higher if not for the shotguns knocking him down. Miriam would have enjoyed seeing how many kills Riley claimed without the shotguns. It would have to remain another of her fantasies she kept hidden in her head.
“Beryl, you called Danner here. He wasn’t the enemy; he was answering your call. The enemy might very well come at some point, but these three were not them. You don’t even know who the enemy is…if there is an enemy. Don’t you think this little delusion of being attacked should end? People are dying because of it. We have no proof of enemies, Beryl. We mind our own business, and people leave us alone. Can’t we be satisfied with what we have? ”
“That is where you’re wrong, my dear. They are coming, oh yes, they’re coming to try to take what is mine, and this was just the first skirmish. You saw how they acted; they disrespected me in my own home. They were the enemy; it was obvious to everyone, but you. Your way of thinking is stifled by human emotions...inferior emotions. We’ll be ready; we proved we can deal with the likes of them.”
You stupid, crazy man, Miriam thought. There is nobody in the entire world who wants what we have. The multitude of vampires living in the south wouldn’t waste their spit on Beryl Wilson, his money, or his coven.
Just play the part, Miriam. Just play your part, and live to enjoy another day, she counseled herself.
The blood she took from Wilson kept her young and alive. She couldn’t bear the thought of living out her life normally, growing old and dying like an ordinary human. This was her motivation for taking this monster’s abuse. Wilson kept her on a leash by promising to turn her, to grant her immortality, and she had decided a century ago she would do whatever necessary to achieve it. Including the beatings and whatever else the lunatic dished out.
Something had changed in the past few years. The beatings she could handle, but being such a primary part of this man’s fantasy world was wearing her down.
The girl Anne Marie had reawakened feelings of shame and self-loathing, emotions Miriam had buried decades ago. The vampire’s willingness to fight against all odds was incredible, and Miriam could only look on it as the finest form of womanhood she had ever witnessed. The girl vampire had possessed a structure of honor Miriam had never known existed, and her promise to return and avenge her friend’s was something Miriam was certain was going to happen. Suddenly Miriam realized she had not a shred of self respect in her body, and the vampire Anne Marie must be full of it.
Wilson finally got enough control he could talk in a normal voice.
“With the loss of Sheldon, we have only 14 warriors left. I make 15. Enough to fortify our home, Miriam, or should I go out and find more?”
“Please, Beryl, we’ve had this discussion. We have so many living here; it’s a stupid waste of our resources. Any more is cost restrictive. Fourteen is more than enough to protect us. You have guns and swords, and people willing to die for you. Leave it as it is. Please.”
Considering the woman’s words, he finally reached a decision.
“You’re right…for now, my dear. We will leave it as it is. But if I get any information of a pending attack, we will seek reinforcements.”
The vampire swept out of the room, leaving Miriam to shake her battered head.
One crazy, crazy bastard, she told herself.
------
Danner had set up contingencies for unforeseen disasters, and Amp was thankful for her sire’s foresight. There were several bank accounts throughout the country, and Amp knew each contained an abundance of wealth. Vampires didn’t have a lot of trouble making money. The three friends had amassed a tidy sum, a bit more than 2 million dollars, so Amp had more than enough money for whatever she wanted. What she wanted was revenge.
Arriving in Seattle, she fed one last time from the sweet blood of Donny, then erased his memory, and was on her way. Catching a cab to the airport, she had time to think about where to go, and what exactly she could do. Once at Sea-Tac, she sat down at a pay phone and called a number from memory.
The voice on the other end of the line served as a salve to her high strung psyche. “Hello,” she heard, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Amylee, its Amp,” she said quietly, not trusting her voice.
“Amp, what a pleasant surprise, I haven’t heard your voice in forever. How are those sweet boys you run around with?”
Amp paused, gathering herself. Amylee was one of the few vampires Danner’s group considered a friend. She and Danner had known each other since before the Civil War, had stayed close, although they lived completely different types of lives. Amylee was a member of a large coven headquartered in Los Angeles, and she tended not to wander far from her family, earning a nice living as a computer expert. Amp had always suspected at one time Danner and Amy had been lovers, and the bond had seemed to carry over through the ages.
“Amy… Danner and Riley…Danner and Riley are dead,” Amp finally got out, although the effort took all of her will.
There was silence on the other end of the line, and then Amylee’s strong voice came back. “Are you in danger, Amp?”
“I’m not sure, I don’t think they know where I’m at, but if they show up, it could get bad.”
“Where are you calling from?”
“Sea-Tac.”
“Got your ID?”
“Yes.”
Amp heard Amy pecking away at a computer keyboard, pounding hard to find the right information.
“Hold on…come on, come on…okay, got it…there’s a plane leaving in 45 minutes, United, Sea-Tac to LA. I just bought your ticket, get your boarding
pass at gate…wait…okay, gate 45, E concourse, be on the flight, and I’ll see you at the airport when you land. Move now, Amp, and keep a low profile. I’ll meet you in LA. Go!”
The line went dead, Amp staring at the instrument, knowing her first decision had been the right one. Jogging down the concourse, she jumped on a monorail, got off at E, got her ticket just as the plane was boarding, and was out of Seattle before anyone even knew she had been there.
------
As the plane taxied to the gate in Los Angeles, Amp gathered her thoughts, telling herself she must be strong in order to accomplish the things she needed to do. She had never been alone since Danner had turned her, one or the other of the two guys had always been near. The three had been inseparable, and Amp now felt like she had nothing, the loneliness filling every pore of her being..
Waiting for the line to work its way out the plane door, she finally stood and followed at the end, hoping Amylee was going to be waiting for her. Although Amylee was one of Danner’s best friends, she and Amp had always had a good relationship. Amp didn’t know where else to turn, and almost felt like an orphan.
She needn’t have worried. As she moved through the door into the terminal, Amylee was waiting for her, along with three very serious looking men, vamp warriors, Amp realized. Each one of the men was well over six feet, solid looking, and very serious. Amylee rushed forward, throwing her arms around the much smaller Amp, hugging her to her chest, as a mother might a returning child.
“Oh Amp, I am so sorry, so sorry, and so damn pissed. Come on, honey, let’s get out of here and get you home. You can tell me what happened then, let’s just get gone real quick. Morgan sends his regards, and said he will see you when we get to the compound. He sent some protection in case you might have been followed, but I don’t think you were, nobody who exited the plane gave off any vibes.”
Kill Wilson (Petersburg Vampires) Page 4