Exsanguination

  “Again, Jack, we were here, watching movies. Other than the occasional bathroom trip or run to the kitchen, we were all together.”

  “I’d assumed that would be the case,” he said with a wry smile.

  “I hope the poor man didn’t suffer much,” she frowned.

  “Crucifixion? The coroner said it was likely pretty awful.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “What kind of person would do such a thing?”

  “You’re feeding me a line of crap, Vanessa.”

  She laughed. “Of course I am. I freely admit it. We did it and you should know why.”

  Jack looked pained.

  Azar looked down at the man kneeling at the side of her chair. “Let Toady tell you,” she tapped the top of his head. “Did you come here a little over a week ago?”

  “Yes.”

  “Were you alone?”

  “No, two friends were with me.”

  “And what did you bring?”

  “Explosives.”

  “And what were you going to do with them?”

  “Blow all of you up.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re vampires and demons.”

  Vanessa looked at Jack. “Our guards apprehended them and, once we became aware of their intentions, we decided to make an example of the pastor upon whose orders the three were carrying out their mission. It’s as simple as that.”

  “And the other two?”

  “Gone.”

  “Well, you’d better hope they don’t turn up,” Jack shook his head.

  “Despite what you know, we’re sticking with our original story – movies and popcorn. You can pass it on to your commissioner,” she tilted her head and smiled. “Drink?”

  “What the hell,” he sighed and shrugged. “I break every other rule in the book.”

  As Vanessa handed him his drink, she tilted her head to the side.

  “You know, it’s a pity that Britain doesn’t have assisted suicide. We could really help with that, Jack. What more wonderful way could there be to come to your life’s end than in the throes of exquisite pleasure?”

  Nikki grinned. “And our rates would be quite reasonable.”

  Jack frowned as he looked at Phillip.

  “You’re conspicuously quiet.”

  He shook his head. “I’ve got a lot of stuff running through my mind.”

  Azar sat down next to him and gently rubbed her hand on his back.

  “It will get easier, Phillip. Our people have a long history of pain and death. It is something we have all come to live with. Each of us reacts differently to the memories. Vanessa? She sees humans as food for the most part. Me? I loathe them for what their species has done to ours. To me, there are no innocent humans. There are those who persecute us and those who will, in the future. I have no problem killing any of them.”

  “Are you always this brutally honest?” he turned to look at her.

  She didn’t smile but only nodded slowly. “Always. We gnaw on the bones of those who would destroy us.”

  A shot rang out in the distance and a pane of glass shattered. Before anyone else reacted, Azar was on her feet and out the door. Phillip made it to the broken window and looked out toward the gate. Azar was leaping over it.

  “Think she’ll catch him or her?” Phillip asked of no one in particular.

  Vanessa nodded. “You can count on it.” Turning to Jack, she made a suggestion. “You may want to leave, Jack.”

  He stood and held up his hands. “Say no more. I’m gone,” finishing his drink, he made his way to the door, meeting Azar on her way in as he left. She had a man by the back of his neck, using her right hand. In her left was a rifle.

  Dropping the weapon, she turned the man around. “Look at me.”

  He averted his eyes and she slapped him hard. His eyes met her.

  “Listen to me. You’re going to answer me truthfully, do you understand?”

  “I understand,” he responded woodenly.

  She looked at Toady. “Is this man from your church?”

  He nodded. “It’s Henry.”

  “Shut up, you shit!” the man yelled.

  Azar turned back to him. “Are you part of a group?”

  “Yes.”

  “A group to eliminate vampires?”

  “Yes.”

  Azar could see the turmoil behind his eyes He couldn’t understand why he was telling her this.

  “How many? How many in the group?”

  “Thirty-four.”

  “And how do you communicate?” her eyes narrowed. “I’ll bet you have meetings, don’t you? To discuss strategy, no doubt?”

  “Yes,” Henry struggled to stop himself but it was useless in the face of compulsion.

  “When is your next meeting?”

  “Mmmph! Tonight. Tonight at midnight.”

  “How nice! How convenient! I’ll bet you were going to attend to tell them of your successful mission, is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  “The address, Henry,” she smiled widely at him. “Give me the address.

  “12021 Gardenia.”

  Azar glanced at Vanessa, who nodded. “In that area? Likely a warehouse.”

  “Thank you, Henry,” Azar smiled as she patted the man’s cheek. “You’re going to do exactly what you had expected to,” she turned to Nikki.

  “Do we still have that suitcase full of explosives?”

  Nikki grinned widely and nodded. “You’re gonna blow them to kingdom come, aren’t you?”

  “If you can rig up a remote detonator.”

  “Can do! I’ve been studying demolition since the Parliament party,” she gave a dirty laugh and took off.

  Azar turned back to Henry. “You’re going to carry a present into that meeting with your friends. It’s a very nice one. You will tell them that you shot a vampire straight through the head but dropped your rifle when you had to run. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes,” he responded slowly, “I understand.”

  “And you found a suitcase on the grounds that Ollie had dropped.”

  Some twenty minutes later, Nikki returned carrying the suitcase. Setting it on the floor, she held up a small box in her other hand. It had a switch and a recessed button.

  “I want to do it.”

  To Phillip, it seemed that Nikki was becoming more and more bloodthirsty but he’d found a new way of dismissing the thoughts. Whenever they occurred, he summoned one of Azar’s memories. Such violent actions on their part would quickly become justified in his mind.

  Right after midnight, they arrived at the warehouse. A couple hundred yards from the building, Vanessa stopped the Escalade. She, Phillip, Azar, Nikki, and Henry got out of the vehicle. Azar handed the suitcase to Henry.

  “They are going to be so happy to hear the news that you’ve killed an important vampire and that they’ll have access to the contents of this suitcase. It’s going to be a joyful reunion for all of you, as you’re doing God’s work,” she waved her hand dismissively. “Off you go,” she said lightly.

  They watched as the man crossed the distance to the warehouse and entered. Nikki held up the remote and clicked the switch on. With a grin, she winked at Azar and pressed the button.

  It was an enormous explosion, flames shooting hundreds of feet in the air.

  Vanessa looked at Phillip. “That would have been us.”

  He sighed and nodded. “I get it. I’m good.”

  A mile out on the main road, the group encountered a long string of emergency vehicles headed in the opposite direction.

  “Well,” Nikki remarked, “they’re off to collect body parts.”

  Phillip nodded. “It won’t be more than a few days or a week before they put two and two together and realize that the whole lot of them come from the same church – the one with the crucified pastor.”

  Nikki shrugged. “Maybe Jesus freaks will get the message and stop attacking.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “Religious ze
alots never get the message. They all just stand in a long line and, one at a time or in groups, throw themselves on a pyre of their own making.

  Her mobile rang and Vanessa hit the button on the dash to answer it.

  “Hello, Jack. Before you ask, I don’t know anything about it.”

  “About what?” the voice came over the speaker.

  “About whatever you were going to ask me,” she chuckled.

  She heard him sigh.

  “In any case, I’d like it if you could stop by my home tonight. There’s something we need to do.”

  When the detective arrived an hour later, Vanessa met him at the door with a shot glass partially filled with blood.

  “You’re already turned, so this will have the desired effect. Drink.”

  Jack frowned at her as he took the glass. Tossing it back, he wobbled unsteadily and Vanessa guided him to a chair. As he sat there, looking stunned, sweat began to bead on his forehead. After about ten minutes, he wiped it off.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “Ancestral memory, Jack. Thousands of years’ worth going back through Azar’s lineage. Now you know what made us the way we are today. Sometimes our moves for self-protection seem to take on the appearance of vengeance but now you can sort that out for yourself.”

  “You could have asked if I wanted to do that.”

  Vanessa smiled. “I could have but didn’t want to give you the opportunity to say no. The information is far too important. It’s crucial that the police have an understanding of us and you are the face of the police.”

  XXXV

  “I’m going to visit that church this Sunday,” Vanessa announced in the drawing room, after lunch. “Possibly I can put enough fear into them that they’ll be prompted to find some other group to persecute.”

  The tablet that was on the mantle vibrated and Phillip got up to look at it. He frowned.

  “Anyone know a Doctor Hill?”

  Heads shook and murmurs of ‘no’ were offered in response. He shrugged and accepted the Skype call.

  The voice on the other end started immediately.

  “Oh, you’re Phillip,” the woman appeared disappointed. “Is there a chance I might speak with the Countess? This is Doctor Hill with the London Institute of Palaeontology.”

  He looked at Vanessa with a smile. “It’s a Doctor Hill and she’d like to speak with you, mon petit cherie,” he held out the tablet to her.

  Vanessa turned and grinned at Azar. “I just love it when he speaks to me in French.”

  “So what’s this?” she looked at him questioningly as she took the device.

  “She sees you, you see her . . . she talks with you and vice versa.”

  “Delightful!” Vanessa grinned as she looked at the woman on the other end of the call. “Can you hear me and see me?”

  “Yes, Countess,” she looked furtively to her left and right. In front of the woman was some sort of round object covered with a towel. “I may not have much time. I wonder if there’s a possibility we could meet?” she looked apprehensive. “I don’t think I can get out of here with this,” she rested her hand on the object. “They were looking for it after I took it and I misdirected them. I don’t know how long I have, but this is important,” she lifted the cloth, revealing a skull. Everything about it looked normal but for the two long fangs coming down from the upper jaw.

  The screen went dark and Vanessa sighed. Looking around, she asked. “Should we?”

  “It’ll be fun,” Phillip responded with a crooked grin.

  “Joe, John, you cover the home front. Phillip and Nikki, you’re with me. Azar, are you in?”

  She laughed. “Wild horses couldn’t hold me back!”

  The Escalade pulled up in front of the Institute and the four piled out. Vanessa had her twin blades over her back, Nikki’s hands were on her pistols, and Phillip had his M-4 across his chest. Azar carried no apparent weaponry. He looked at her questioningly.

  She shrugged slightly and gave him an innocent smile. “I’m kind of a hands-on girl.”

  Two guards came toward them with guns drawn.

  “You can’t come in here today. The building is locked down. Leave!”

  Azar was behind one in an instant, one hand under his chin and the other on the side of his head. There was a crack as the man’s neck snapped. She turned the dead man to face the other guard as he opened fire, riddling the first with bullets. The man threw his gun down and began running. Nikki was in front of him, face to face, her pistol held up to his forehead. She squeezed the trigger.

  Less than a week before, these actions would have disgusted Phillip in the extreme. With the memories from Azar’s long line of ancestors, it no longer bothered him. It was as if the memories were his own.

  Almost in unison, they leapt to the balcony that overlooked the entrance to the building. Landing, they heard yelling coming from the corridor to their right.

  “Let’s go,” Vanessa said softly.

  As they approached a door about a hundred feet down, a woman cried out.

  Nikki moved in front of the others, facing the door.

  “Allow me,” she turned the knob and walked in, guns drawn. “Party’s over, people.”

  Everyone turned and the five guards drew their pistols. Nikki took a bullet in the chest and, two seconds later, the guards were dead. She rubbed her ribcage and frowned. “That’s unpleasant.”

  As Vanessa removed the zip ties that held Doctor Hill in the chair, Azar turned her attention to the woman in the lab coat who appeared to have been in charge of the guards.

  “No! No! It must be destroyed! It cannot be revealed! It will destroy everything! All of society!”

  “You have a big mouth. Let me help you with that,” Azar snarled and her hand shot straight out, palm down. Her fingers in the woman’s mouth, she gripped and yanked with all her strength. The woman made a half screaming, half gurgling sound as her jawbone separated from her head. Her eyes wide with pain and horror, the woman’s hands went to her face, fluttering helplessly.

  Azar looked at Nikki. “May I use one of your guns?”

  Thinking she was going to put the woman out of her misery, Nikki handed the Beretta to her.

  Casually, Azar put a bullet in each of the woman’s knees and then two in her gut. She turned to Nikki and handed back the gun with a smile. “Thank you, my dear.”

  Doctor Hill looked on in horror as this mayhem transpired. Her boss was writhing on the ground, clutching her midsection, eyes rolling and bulging.

  “Oh my God,” Doctor Hill whispered at the sight.

  Vanessa finished removing the zip ties. “Don’t mind Azar. She has anger issues.” Helping her up, she nodded. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  As they were walking through the front doors, several police cars were pulling up. Men got out with weapons.

  Vanessa moved to the front and called out loudly.

  “Vampire business! Nothing to see here!”

  Several of the constables nodded and stepped back, motioning to others to do the same. This gave the five open passage to the Escalade.

  “That,” Phillip exclaimed, “was just amazing! I had no idea we had that much clout.”

  Vanessa smiled. “Most of those constables were vampires.” She looked at the doctor. “So, where did you get the skull and do you think it’s real?”

  “I believe so. It’s from a dig in Australia in the twenties.”

  “And why has it stayed under wraps for so long a time?”

  “I think it’s because of the strata level at which it was found.”

  “And that means . . .?”

  “It’s over half a million years old,” she held up the skull. “This individual is the oldest person, if I can use that term, we’ve known to exist.”

  “May I?” Azar reached across into the front seat next to the doctor.

  She passed the skull back to Azar and she scrutinized it closely. “It’s real. If the fangs were a fabrication
, they wouldn’t have the blood channels on the rear of them. No human knows about those. Not that they’re a closely guarded secret or anything, but I can’t imagine the subject coming up.”

  “Blood channels?” the doctor looked confused.

  Azar nodded as they pulled into the drive at Smythe house. “Feel the backs of the fangs. You’ll notice slender grooves running from tip to root. Those are blood channels. They have to do with the way we feed.”

  “I don’t understand,” the woman in the lab coat frowned as she shook her head.

  “Let’s get inside and relax with a drink and I’ll explain,” Vanessa smiled.

  In the drawing room, Azar gently placed the skull on top of the mantle and the doctor was offered a drink, which she accepted eagerly. Vanessa sipped at a glass of wine and then looked at the woman.

  “When vampires snack, they bite down and the fangs pierce the flesh down into the carotid artery. Left in place, blood travels slowly through the narrow channels on the backs of the fangs. This is why sipping off two or three ounces can take as long as ten minutes. If, however, one bites down and then immediately draws back a bit, you get an increased flow. Withdrawing more, there’s a lot of blood, very quickly,” she sipped again. “The point is, I don’t know of a single human who knows anything about the channels in the posterior of a vampire’s fangs.”

  “So, it’s authentic then?”

  “Most definitely.”

  The doctor looked nervous. “There are people who won’t want my findings published. I’m afraid they might go to any lengths to stop me.”

  “Why?” Nikki frowned.

  “Because its very nature threatens human primacy,” she held out her hands. “For over a hundred thousand years while human ancestors were trying to drag themselves up onto two legs, while they were still throwing rocks at one another, vampires were already fully evolved with full brain capacity. Your species has been feeding on humans before they could even be called humans. You are actually earth’s primary species,” she shook her head. “Not humans.”

  Vanessa shrugged. “So, what good does that do us?”

  “From a scientific standpoint, it puts you in perspective. Humans are your natural food and you have every right to consume. Of course, from a societal position, it becomes rather iffy.”