by Alex Dire
Norman closed his eyelids to slits and, in an almost calm voice, commanded, “Let’s go.”
Skip stammered. “What, but we’ll…”
Before he could finish, Norman snapped a look on him so deadly that it stunned him to silence.
Norman looked back at the scene as it was unfolding. “On my mark. One. Two. Three.”
As if heeding his command, Keon, Tyreese and Darius broke out into a sprint from the opposite side of the room. They charged screaming into the eight advancing Corps. V vampires. The rest of his class seemed awakened by the valor they witnessed, and began running into combat behind them.
Chubs’ eyes widened. “Damn. Bold motherfuckers.”
Norman’s rage transformed to shock.
“Jacked vampires are weaker. Maybe they got a shot,” said Chubs.
The mob of teens crashed into the momentarily confused vampires. They’d not expected such bravado, either.
A Corps. V with a handlebar mustache shouted in pain and fell to the ground as Tyreese staked him in the heart. The mass of students careened into the eight vampires, knocking them over with sheer momentum and falling on top of them.
Ivol took up the rear and sat on top of one who lay on his stomach. “Suck this, fat ass!” he exclaimed. The vampire writhed beneath him. “See, you got three hundred fifty pounds of mortal on your ass, now. How you like that?”
Another Corps. V shouted in pain, stabbed with a stake. Perhaps wood couldn’t kill them, but apparently it hurt like hell.
Then the handlebar-mustached vampire stood up holding the stake. A hole in his shirt revealed the healing chest wound. He placed a hand over it as sunlight shone on the newly forming skin.
The vampire under Ivol shoved off the ground in a massive push-up. Ivol flew through the air as the vampire landed on his feet. Ivol fell hard to the ground and didn’t move.
A scream rang out and Cindy appeared hovering above the fracas, held up by Skeete. She had two holes in her neck. Skeete let the blood flow down Cindy’s chin and off in a fluid stream into her mouth. She then hurled Cindy to the ground.
“Anyone want sloppy seconds?” She smiled at Norman as he raged in hiding.
Norman could hear the screams of his students, whose numbers couldn’t overcome the eight weakened but invulnerable vampires.
“I guess not,” said Skeete.
Chubs looked to Norman. “We got this? We gonna die anyway.”
Norman nodded. He looked back up at the fray ready to push off with his still-tensed legs. However, just before he sprang into the massive stream of sunlight, he heard the jingling sound of chains from above. He looked up. For an instant, he saw a figure clinging to a chain that had begun to swing on a wide arc. He recognized the blood-stained yellow shirt.
“Richie, no!” He realized the stupidity of his command as soon as he’d uttered it. After all, Norman and his small brigade were about to do the same thing.
The chain’s arc passed into the torrent of sun, and the figure on the end burst into flame. Norman pleaded in an almost inaudible voice. “No, Richie.”
Richie’s flaming form leapt from the chain at the bottom of its arc and flew directly into Skeete. Both vampires became engulfed by the conflagration. Norman could hear Skeete’s screams. The entire combat ceased in order to observe the sound and fury. Norman couldn’t make out what was happening through the intense flames.
After a few seconds, the fuel that was Richie Taylor exhausted its supply and with it, Richie’s life. Skeete pushed the pile of ash off herself. Massive flames shot from her neck and chest. Richie had torn away portions of her skin and the exposed tissue burned like gunpowder. She stumbled into the wall next to the door, where a thin skirt of shadow still remained.
Norman seethed. “I guess invulnerability is only skin-deep.” Richie had shown them the way. “Tear off their heads. Let the sun do the rest.”
Just as Norman saw his students begin to back away toward the door, he also backed out of his little cubby to the wall. He quickly led his vampires along the margin of the warehouse, taking advantage of what little shadow remained. He felt the lines of char sear across his face and arms as he moved through flecks of light.
He kept his eyes on the combat. The vampires moved closer to the side of the building as his students attempted retreat through the door. They’d never make it. However, in a few seconds, hopefully they wouldn’t have to. Norman stopped just shy of the opposite side from where they started, now very close to the Corps. V and his students. He looked back at his seven companions. Without time to speak, his eyes told the story. We won’t survive this, but God damn it, neither will they.
Then, in a silent rush, they sprinted into the searing light.
53
A Moth to Flame
Norman felt massive heat engulf his whole body. He’d been in the light before, but had never embraced the sun this completely. Searing pain ripped through his skin.
Felicia screamed. Declan moved to the sunward side of her as they ran to provide what shade his body could. Norman felt his skin bubble and sizzle.
Norman sprinted through the pain and fear to plow into the first Corps. V, grabbing his neck. Norman struggled to see through the flames erupting from his own body. The enemy grasped his wrists, trying to pull Norman loose.
Norman’s skin turned black and peeled away. He slipped behind the vampire and wrapped his arm around his neck. Rufus landed in front of the Corps. V in an explosion of fire. Stabbing down with a massive flaming arc he slammed a stake into the vampire’s heart.
The staked enemy groaned and grasped at the wood in his chest, which had caught fire from Rufus. Norman wasted no time. With an intense twist and heave, he tore the vampire’s head off. Blood spurted from the gristly neck and ignited into a fountain of flame. His armor of mutant human skin compromised, the vampire’s neck erupted into fireworks as he fell, burning him out from the inside. One down.
Norman fell along with him. He placed a hand on the ground and looked for another target. He saw his friends in flames all around him grappling with the Corps V. How much longer until their bodies burned too badly to respond to their commands?
Norman pushed off to stand, but his hand—burned through—snapped off. He fell onto his face. His burned nose crumbled off. The pain was overwhelming. He tried to turn his head to find his students. Each motion left burnt chunks of his face stuck to the floor. When he opened his eyes, they melted to jelly.
Norman tried to scream in pain, but a gurgled, hissing sound bubbled from various holes in his throat. He could hear the sounds of his dying friends around him before his auditory canals dried up and ceased functioning. Cruelly, enough of his nose remained so that he could smell their burning bodies. Vomit exploded through his ruined neck.
However, he clung to the smell, his only sensory connection to the world. It repulsed him but he hung onto the last thing he would ever sense. He could not think of a worse smell to send him off to oblivion. He’d failed. He would die. His students would die. For the first time, he wished he’d perished in the war long ago, that he’d never survived to ruin these kids. As if to mock him, oblivion sent him one more smell: the smell of dog. Norman hated dogs.
Then, Norman Bernard thought no more.
54
Reunion
Norman opened his eyelids, which had healed enough to resume some amount of their function. He felt the cool sensation of shadow drape his regenerating body. Next to him, he made out the badly charred form of Rae. Next to her, Felicia.
He forced himself back to awareness. He saw the warehouse door next to him. How had he gotten into the shadows? How much time had passed? Judging by his barely reforming hand, only a few seconds.
Norman looked into the light, and squinted his still-healing eyes. As the scene came into focus, he couldn’t quite believe what his new eyes revealed. He saw two massive dogs, struggling to drag Declan’s large, flaming body into the shade. A host of other dogs leapt at the Corps. V vamp
ires and rolled with them in combat.
Norman pushed his back against the wall and sat, taking it in. As the two dogs dragged Declan into the shadows next to him, he realized they weren’t dogs, but wolves. One wolf approached him and looked into his eyes.
As Norman’s own eyes became more functional, he recognized the deep-blue irises that stared at him. The pupils were ringed with swirls and looked like pools of moonlit water. He knew this creature. The beast huffed twice into his face and then darted back into the light. Norman gasped and blinked as he watched the wolf leap at a Corps. V vampire.
Felicia, healing more by the moment, dragged herself over to Norman. “Mr. Bernard, what was that?”
Norman kept staring into the light. “Juda.”
As the members of his little brigade healed, they all became transfixed on the battle before them, as if spectators in an arena. Norman watched Juda closely, still not quite able to believe what he was seeing. Even amongst vampires, werewolves were relegated to superstition.
Juda and the wolves had quickly herded the vampires into a clump in the center, encircling them. They growled ferociously as the circle tightened. The six remaining vampires displayed their fangs and hissed furiously at their attackers. The largest wolf, black and muscular, stepped forth growling and sneering at the vampires, taunting them.
Norman thought back to the night he was ambushed by inhumanly strong thugs in that alley. This large wolf reminded Norman of the leader of that back-alley gang. Juda was one of them. That’s how he was able to save Norman that night. That’s also how he was able to move with such speed and stealth through the streets.
As the wolf leader moved closer to the compact group of Corps. V, a vampire began to poke at it with a long, wooden stake. He stabbed spastically as the nimble wolf easily dodged and leapt out of the way. One time, he thrust his stake a little too far and the wolf grabbed it with his teeth. Snarling, he dragged the vampire away from the group by the spear. The vampire shook the spear with spastic jerks, trying to free it from the wolf’s bite. As the wolf pulled him further from the group, he finally abandoned his weapon. Too late.
The instant he dropped the stake, the large wolf leapt up and landed on the vampire’s chest, pushing him down onto his back. He snapped his jaws across one side of the vampire’s face, tearing it off. His face exploded in flame as the light shone on the sensitive tissue beneath.
The vampire pulled his hands up over his face, attempting to shield it from the light. His vital organs now unprotected, the wolf dug his lower jaw under the bottom of the vampire’s ribcage and clenched his teeth together. A mighty shake of his head wrenched a section of rib and muscle away. As the vampire’s innards ignited, the wolf dug deep into his chest, chewing his way through burning muscle and sinew.
When he withdrew his face from the burning carnage, there was a chunk of muscle clasped between his jaws. It did not burst into flames in the light. Norman realized this was the vampire’s human heart, the source of his immunity to wood.
The wolf stared at the group of vampires who had stopped hissing and whose ferocity had clearly transformed to fear. With a flick, he tossed the heart to the edge of the circle of wolves where two of them fought over it, tearing it in two and devouring the pieces like steak.
The hairs on the lead wolf’s mouth smoldered black with burnt blood. He then roared out a ferocious bark, which visibly deepened the terror of the remaining Corps. V and summoned his pack into action.
Juda leapt first, landing on the vampire nearest him. The rest followed close behind. Hideous screams merged into one shrieking soundtrack of horror as the rest of the Corps. V vampires met the same fate.
Despite all he’d seen, Norman almost had to look away as the wolves chewed through the ribcages and ripped out the mutant human hearts, devouring them. He smelled the odor of burnt fur as the wolves attacked, despite being singed by the flaming wounds of the futilely struggling vampires.
Norman had always been saddened and disgusted by the carnage that wiped out nearly every vampire during the war. However, he could not suppress a sense of satisfaction as he watched the last of his enemies burn from the inside out as their hearts were eaten in front of them. They represented the worst of his kind. They were a distilled version of what Corps. V had become—a band of murderous sociopaths. They had forced Norman to choose sides. He still wished he’d never had to, but was glad that it all ended now.
The gladness, though, had a tiny grain of doubt in it. Something was wrong. Norman looked around at his recovering group. He saw Declan and Felicia to his left. Chubs sat to his right, shaking off his burnt flesh. Rae and Hector watched the wolves finish off the last of the Corps. V. Skip lay next to them, still unconscious. His students were nowhere to be seen. They must have run out the door the second the wolves had entered the fray.
Then Norman heard that sound again. A child, was sobbing to his left.
Felicia pointed to the door. “Mr. Bernard!”
There, standing in the open doorway, framed by the intense light of the sun, stood Skeete. At her side whimpered Daeshaun, with one of Skeete’s hands around his neck.
Chubs leapt to his feet.
“Easy there, lover,” said Skeete, looking down with a phony expression of concern. “His neck really is so thin and delicate. It would be such a shame if we handled it too harshly, especially because it’s so delicious.” It was then that Skeete moved her hand slightly to reveal two bloody holes in Daeshaun’s neck.
Chubs stopped. He clenched his fists and jaw, paralyzed by his love for his little brother, but nearly unable to control his rage over what Skeete had done to him.
The wolves shared no such concerns and, as soon as they’d finished off the super-vampires, they charged at Skeete.
“No!” shouted Chubs.
Juda leapt in front of the charging pack and faced them down, growling and snarling. They stopped their advance.
Chubs looked over at Juda and nodded in thanks. This was the second time Juda had stopped his pack from attacking.
“Well, isn’t that interesting. Don’t you think, Norman?” said Skeete, raising an eyebrow. “And all this time, I thought they were just fairy tales!” I’d love to stick around and chat about it, but I really must be going. I’ve got a tremendous amount of homework to do. I haven’t forgotten about my Shakespeare assignment…right? Mr. Bernard?”
She began to turn but stopped and looked back, unable to resist one more dig.
“Oh, and I’ll be taking little Daeshaun along with me, he’s helping me with, shall we say, a science project. I can understand why you care for him so much, Stanley. He’s got such a big heart.” Her lips curled into that wicked smile she loved to flash around.
Norman had no options left at this point. He’d used up all his surprises and had discovered a few new ones to get him this far. He was exhausted, not yet recovered from his burns, and any attempt to attack would mean the end of Daeshaun.
Skeete looked into Norman’s eyes. He felt her victory and domination over him. She positively reveled in it. She seemed to wait, delaying her departure, prolonging Norman’s suffering. Norman could see her soaking up every ounce of his grief. Clearly, she wanted to extend this moment for as long as possible. She raised her free hand to her lips and blew a kiss. “Goodbye, Norman.”
Just as Norman’s name left her lips, a wooden point exploded out the front of her chest. She grabbed it with both hands, releasing Daeshaun.
“Eat wood!” shouted Keon with revenge-filled rage as he dragged Skeete by the stake through the door and out into the sun-filled street.
Daeshaun ran toward Chubs, but before he could take two steps, Chubs had snatched him up in a blur. He crouched and held him in the shadows, sobbing and stroking the boy’s hair.
The wolves released their restraint and charged through the door. Norman followed, stopping suddenly in the doorway. The bright light shone on the ground. Its reflection was almost enough to cook his healing flesh.
Skeete grasped with one had at the stake. With the other she swung away at the wolves who barked and moved to surround her. Sparks flew from the wounds on her chest and back as blood leaked and spurted into the sunlight.
The wolves formed a circle around her. She stopped swinging and stood still in a defensive pose, pulling at the stake with both hands. She turned her head and looked Norman in the eyes. Her sarcasm had fallen away and raw anger radiated from her face.
Norman couldn’t suppress a smile.
She lowered her head and her eyes became slits.
Norman raised one hand to his face and blew her a kiss, waving goodbye.
Skeete’s fangs descended as she belched out a hideous hiss. She yanked out the stake, put a hand over her chest wound, and leapt up and away from Norman. She landed outside the circle of wolves and bounced back up through a window in a building on the opposite side of the street.
The wolves barked and ran toward the structure. They stopped and paced around the window for a moment. The lead wolf barked twice. The whole pack looked to the west and ran off down the street, abandoning their pursuit.
“Why are they leaving?” asked Rae.
Norman looked over to the west to see the last bit of setting moon, barely discernible in the daylight, descending beneath the horizon.
“Bad timing.”
55
A Very Long Day
Keon sat up in the sun. Portions of his shirt had smoking black streaks and dots from where Skeete’s burning blood had spurted onto him. He brushed his hand over his hair, releasing the dirt that had been trapped there.
“Aren’t we going to chase her, Mr. Bernard?”
“No. We’re trapped in the shadows here until nightfall, and you’re…” Norman searched for delicate words, however exhaustion overcame his efforts and he settled for the correct ones. “…too slow and weak.”