Blood Heavy (Blood Heavy Series)

by S. L. J. Shortt

  With that thought, more pictures of Cassandra flooded his mind. He just couldn’t get past how beautiful she was. Her flowing brown hair; her big deep brown eyes; her small tantalizing mouth; her athletic body and long legs - everything about her made Jerry’s heart beat faster. He knew he shouldn’t be thinking these things, but he couldn’t help it.

  “What do you think will happen if Black Forest are there?” Goose asked.

  “This is just a recon, if they’re present they’ll gather in force and ambush them,” Joe said, speaking from experience. “It’s a smart play.”

  “What if they’re not?”

  “If they’re not, they keeping looking. That Sophinia seems pretty sharp. She’s not waiting for them to attack you; she’s keeping a look out for a first strike possibility. It’s a good idea.”

  “They aren’t gonna use us as bait are they?” Goose gulped.

  “Nah, Jerry’s too important to them and his blood’s too volatile. Sophinia’s own soldiers might get tempted if they use blood to draw Black Forest in,” he said, then turned to his nephew. “You’re like the Holy Grail to these guys; they aren’t going to risk that.”

  “Nice to be needed,” Jerry snorted, still hating the situation.

  “Yeah. Anyway, I got work tomorrow and you guys got school so I’m gonna hit the bunk,” Joe said.

  “You’re kiddin’, it’s like ten to eight?!” Goose said, looking surprised.

  “And I’m getting up at five in the morning, are you?” Goose shook his head. “That’s what I thought.”

  “I’m going to stay up and read a little more about...Changelings and how to identify them,” he said, re-checking the book cover. “We’ll keep it down.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Joe said, before walking up and hugging Jerry.

  It shouldn’t have seemed weird because he was his uncle, but it was. Joe never hugged him. That kind of display of affection was usually lost on him, but here he was, actually hugging his nephew.

  About ten seconds passed and suddenly Joe seemed to clock on to just how awkward this really was for him. He had done it without thinking and now it was getting uncomfortable. He quickly released Jerry and walked off to his bedroom.

  “Wow,” Goose whispered sarcastically. “I wish I had a camera for that little Hallmark moment.”

  “Shut up!”

  “No, really, it was touching. I thought I was gonna need a tissue,” he laughed.

  “Goose, there’s a bunch of live weapons over there so don’t make me shoot you,” Jerry growled.

  Goose kept the rest of his teasing comments to himself for the next half hour while they continued to read through the ancient books. That was until a visitor called.

  KNOCK! KNOCK!

  Jerry and Goose’s heads snapped up towards the door. They looked at each other for a second, before simultaneously pulling out loaded pistols locked with silver rounds. They weren’t expecting anyone. Steve had made it clear on the phone that he wasn’t ready to meet the vamp yet, so who the hell was this?

  Jerry slowly got up and moved towards the door, ready to blast holes through the wood if he had to. Goose kept his gun trained on the small crack between the door and the frame.

  Jerry reached his hand out and very carefully moved the small white curtain that covered the door window to the side. His caution immediately turned to complete bewilderment.

  He opened the door.

  “Buenas noches bitches!”

  “Roach?!” they both blurted out at the same time.

  Sure enough, the big stoner was standing right there on the step with a beer cooler in his arms, looking just as messed up as usual. His hair was all over the place and he had bags under his eyes, but he seemed as cheerful as ever.

  He didn’t even wait for an invite; he just barged right in and put the cooler down on the table.

  At least they knew he wasn’t a vampire.

  “Roach, what the hell are you doing here?!” Jerry asked, trying to keep his voice down for Joe.

  “Delivery for Claire, heard she was staying here for a while,” he said.

  “Claire? You know Claire?!” Goose asked, looking at him like it was all a dream.

  “Yeah. Known her for years. She here?”

  “Nah, she just left...you know about -”

  “Vampires? Hells yeah, me and Sophinia are tight,” Roach grinned and crossed his fingers.

  “You’ve known the whole time?!”

  “Yeah, how do you think I can afford my own place without working? Sophinia’s cheques always clear,” he said, before seeing the confused looks on their faces. “Oh, right, recap time. So, about four years ago, I’m high as a kite and walking home from my buddy’s house. I get jumped, and I think I’m being mugged, but these guys ain’t after my wallet, if you take my meaning. Anyway, Claire and a few others show up, save my ass and that’s all she wrote for a while. I thought it was some drug hallucination, but when I realize it wasn’t, I go snooping and what do I find...vampires!”

  Jerry and Goose were still looking at him in stunned amazement.

  “Anyways, they saved my ass, so I figured I could at least repay the favor. So, Sophinia gave me a job delivering her blood shipments...can’t argue with the pay.”

  He opened the cooler and sure enough about half a dozen blood packs were in there, sitting on a mound of ice.

  “So, wait a second...Sophinia gets the blood from animals at her farms and then you act like the plasma Santa and deliver it to all the good little undead boys and girls?” Goose surmised.

  “Pretty much, yeah. It draws a lot less attention if you hire a guy that looks like he’s pizza delivery, instead of a vamp or an armored car or something.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Jerry gasped. “How many more of our friends know about the supernatural?!”

  “As far as I know, it’s just me...oh and that teacher at your school. We’re sorta sworn to secrecy,” he shrugged. “Lot of nasty stuff out there…”

  “Yeah, we’ve met it,” Goose groaned.

  “Yeah, I know. Heard you guys had a run in with Black Forest. Those guys are mean bastards,” Roach nodded.

  “You think we don’t know that? They smashed Steve’s car right off the road, then treated me like a freakin' BLT!” Jerry waved a hand at his neck, still keeping his voice down.

  “Yeah, I saw em snooping around when I was making my runs. Luckily they got no idea I work for Soph.”

  “Not all of us are that lucky...wait, what do you mean you saw them?” Jerry asked, suddenly looking worried.

  “After you guys came and got beer from me, I went on my rounds and I saw a bunch of their goons on, what was it...Wolfer Street? I found out later that you guys got ambushed there. You got some kind of magic blood, right?” he said conversationally.

  “Yeah, I mean no, I mean - never mind! Roach, what time was it you saw them there?”

  “Err, I don’t know, maybe ten, ten o five...why?”

  “We got jumped at about nine thirty,” Jerry suddenly went pale and looked at Goose. “They don’t know us, but they know Cassandra!”

  “If they got there before Sophinia’s people -”

  “They would have smelt her at the scene!” Jerry finished.

  “Wait, what are you guys talking about?” Roach asked, looking very puzzled.

  “If they got to the place where we were attacked, they would have been able to smell that me, Goose and Steve were there, but they don’t know who we are so it wouldn’t help them, but they were following Cassandra to begin with so they obviously know her scent and who she is. They know she was there so they might think that she knows who I am! They’re gonna go for Cass!”

  “Dudes, calm down. Cass can handle herself, probably better than any other fang,” Roach said quickly.

  “Yeah and they probably know that!” Jerry said, starting to panic. “They’ll send a freakin’ posse after her! We gotta warn her - you got Claire’s cell?”

  “No, she
lives at Sophinia’s, I usually just call there,” he said.

  “Okay, then call Sophinia!”

  “Alright, chill dude,” Roach said, walking back outside and dialing his phone.

  “He’s right man, calm down,” Goose said.

  “I can’t calm down! They’re going to kill her!”

  “Jerry, this is the chick that chewed on your throat remember?”

  “She also saved our lives!”

  “I thought you hated her?”

  “That was that feedback thingy! If I’d known the score at the time I would have offered up my blood on a platter if it meant saving you guys! We’ve got to help her!” Jerry all but shouted. “Alright, alright,” Goose said, trying to calm him down.

  “No luck, she ain’t picking up,” Roach said.

  Sophinia was obviously busy with the possible location of Black Forest.

  “Shit!” Jerry huffed. “Okay, wait...what was the name of that bar they were talking about?”

  “No! No way, Jerry, we’re supposed to stay here!” Goose said, looking worried.

  “I’d be dead if it weren’t for her, Goose! I gotta try!”

  “You almost died because of her, Jerry! We can’t just run off and -”

  “Warn her and the other strippers?” Jerry interrupted.

  The reminder that there were strippers at the bar seemed to make Goose only slightly more amenable to the plan, and it took a few more minutes of cajoling from Jerry for him to agree to the desperate initiative.

  “The bar’s called The Nearly Departed, it’s off Lincoln Avenue. Come on, if we’re doing this, we have to hurry!” Goose said.

  Jerry felt relief wash over him that Goose had finally agreed.

  “Whoa, guys, easy!” Roach said, trying to stop them.

  “Roach, we don’t have time for this. Do whatever you have to, just get in touch with Sophinia and warn her that Black Forest are targeting Cass! We’re going to drive over there and warn her in person,” Jerry ordered, as he checked to make sure a silver round was chambered in his Colt.

  “There are strippers out there and they need our help!” Goose nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, no problem...just...be careful. The Nearly Departed can get a bit rough,” he warned, before leaving.

  They probably should have woken up Joe and told him what they were planning on doing, but then he wouldn’t have let them go, so they left him to his sleep. Goose and Jerry hastily followed Roach out of the front door and rushed over to Goose’s car. They jumped in and hit the road, going as fast as they could towards the supernatural bar.

  CHAPTER 11 – THE NEARLY DEPARTED

  St. Cloud - Minnesota

  They took Goose’s car and sped across the city, not even worrying about cops since most of them worked for Sophinia. Jerry had taken to biting his nails for most of the journey, which Goose didn’t fail to notice.

  “This is stupid...you want to walk into a bar full of vampires - with your blood,” he said sighing.

  “I got that stuff Parker made for me, they won’t know about my blood,” Jerry reminded him.

  “Doesn’t mean this is a good idea.”

  “You want to just let Black Forest kill her, or torture her for information?”

  “Of course not!”

  “Well then!”

  “As long as this is just about saving her...” he added.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh, come on Jerry. I saw the way you were looking at her; you were practically drooling! I mean, I don’t blame you. I didn’t think chicks could get that sexy, but seriously, if this is just about you getting a chance to see that undead hottie again -”

  “Are you kiddin’ me?!” Jerry yelled. “That’s what you think this is about? Me getting my rocks off, watching her strip? She’s in danger, Goose, and we owe her!”

  “Alright, alright...I guess getting killed trying to save strippers ain’t the worst way to go,” he shrugged.

  The truth was that Goose wasn’t as wrong as Jerry had made out. He was looking forward to seeing Cassandra again, but he was also worried about her safety. It was two birds, one stone.

  They parked as soon as they hit Lincoln Avenue, and started to walk. They had no idea what this place looked like, so they scanned every building they passed with their eyes. The streets were almost deserted at this point in the day. There were only a few people who had been working late and were now making their way home.

  They continued walking down the street for another few minutes, eventually passing an alleyway. There was nothing special about the alley, except for the fact that there was a huge metal door at the end with a man outside it. He was dressed all in black and looked a little like Harvey Keitel.

  It was the bouncer that Claire had mentioned.

  “This is it,” Jerry said quietly and the two walked towards him.

  As they got closer they noticed the paleness of his skin. He was a vampire.

  “This is a private club gentleman, invitation only,” the bouncer said immediately.

  “We’re here to deliver a message to Cassandra. Sophinia sent us,” Jerry lied. It was convincing enough.

  The bouncer looked them up and down for a second before unlocking the door. The mention of Sophinia’s name was all the proof he needed and I.D. wasn’t exactly an issue because age wasn’t an issue. Cassandra looked about twenty years old but in actual fact she was over four hundred, so checking people’s ages was a bit redundant.

  They walked through the door nervously and found themselves inside a narrow corridor. There was a second door at the end, this one made of wood. As they approached they could hear music coming from the other side.

  “ AC/DC - Whole Lotta Rosie. Well, can’t say the undead don’t have good taste...in music,” Jerry said.

  Goose just nodded, looking worried.

  They pushed open the wooden door and were immediately blasted with lights and noise. Their frightened faces turned to utter delight.

  “Now...aren’t you glad we came here?” Jerry grinned.

  Goose was too amazed to answer. The place was a teenage boy’s wet dream.

  It was a bar, casino and strip club all rolled into one. It was huge, about the size of the PE hall at their school. In the center was a stage with steel poles reaching up to the ceiling. To the right were card and Roulette tables, along with a line of pool tables next to them. On the left was a long bar stocked with everything, including three huge metal vats that had labels on them saying: Pig – Cow – Deer

  Blood vats.

  A small but stocky looking black bartender stood behind it pouring a line of shots for a group of people. He finished pouring and one of the group clicked her fingers. Suddenly all the shots ignited, flaming merrily. Collectively, the group blew out the fire and downed the shots before cheering. Jerry and Goose just stared with their mouths hanging open.

  Over on the other side, several pale men and women were gathered around one of the Roulette tables, placing bets. Behind them, and next to the pool tables were roughly a dozen leather booths. Each had at least three of four people sitting in them, whilst sexy girls in skimpy outfits took drinks orders from customers.

  Jerry’s face scrunched up weirdly as he noticed one of the booths. It had two very alluring, yet also very frightening ladies sitting inside it. One of them had a small green snake sliding its way across her body, while the other was smoking a big Cuban cigar. They both had charcoal black hair and wore lots of eye liner, but weren’t dressed as Goths. The one smoking the cigar was wearing a white shirt, black tie and a skirt, while the one draped in snake was locked up in a dark blue corset.

  They were both staring straight at Jerry, which was making him feel rather unnerved.

  Other than those two, the rest of the inhabitants of the booths were pale men. All in all there were about fifty or sixty individuals inside the bar and none of them were taking any notice of Jerry and Goose.

  “This place is better than the Du
sk till Dawn bar! We have got to become full time members!” Said Goose, awed.

  “Definitely,” Jerry concurred.

  The two of them headed over to the bar, seating themselves on the high steel and leather stools there. A moment passed before the bartender walked over to them.

  “Who are you?” he asked in a flat tone.

  “I’m Jerry, this is Goose, we work with Sophinia,” Jerry said. Technically it wasn’t a lie.