Blood Heavy (Blood Heavy Series)

by S. L. J. Shortt

  “No,” he said. “Grab as much stuff as you can.”

  “What, why?” Sarah asked.

  “We’re gonna need them,” he warned.

  They took his word for it and began loading the car with everything they could carry. In fact, by the end of it only a few pistols, some spare rounds and Doug’s prized double rifle were left on the wall.

  They had enough weaponry to fight a war and that was maybe exactly what they’d have to do.

  Joe got back ten minutes after Goose and the others did. He was pretty shocked to see all the firepower that was laid out in his house.

  “Goose, what the hell is this?” he asked, as he laid down the Boss’s starter motor on the kitchen table. Sophinia was in the back, speaking on her cell phone, ignoring everybody else.

  “I realized something before,” Goose said, looking very worried. “We’ve all been wondering what Jerry’s next move is gonna be, but what about Black Forests’?”

  “Oh no,” Rachel breathed and clenched her eyes shut. She’d read his mind and seen exactly what he was thinking.

  “They hit this place as soon as they realized somebody important could be here. They didn’t even know who they were grabbing, but they did it anyway. Now they know about Jerry, which means they’ve probably found out which school he goes to,” Goose explained.

  As this new information washed over them, they all realized exactly what he was getting at and it was a frightening thought.

  “They’re gonna hit the school.”

  “Jesus,” Sarah gasped in horror.

  “Even if he’s not there, they’ll attack and grab anybody who knows him. Then they can use them as hostages to draw him out,” stated Goose. “And you know as well as I do that Jerry will come out of hiding to try and save them.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Sophinia said, rejoining the group and tucking her cell away. “We know where Black Forest are.”

  “What, how?!”

  “I sent Larz back to the factory where they were being held. He found red dirt,” she said proudly.

  Everyone seemed to miss a beat.

  “Riveting,” Goose blurted, with sarcasm and apprehension. “How does the red dirt help?”

  “Because it’s not red dirt. It’s a discharge powder that is leftover from recycling certain products.”

  “Son of bitch! There’s a recycling plant like thirty minutes from here!” Joe said, his voice shaking. Black Forest were so close!

  “Exactly. We’re going to gather our forces and destroy them before they have a chance to move against Daniel or the school,” she declared.

  “How soon?”

  “I’ve sent the word out, but it’ll take a while before we have a large enough force. They’re on their way now. We should be ready to attack by nightfall tomorrow.”

  “What happens if they attack the school before you can get to them?” Steve asked.

  “They can’t attack during the day,” she said quickly.

  “I know, but tomorrow just happens to be the night when most of the student body will be at the school after dark,” he said.

  Sophinia looked slightly confused about that.

  “Prom night,” Rachel spelled out for her.

  Sophinia sighed. She didn’t seem to want to contemplate what would happen if Black Forest reached the school before they could strike, so Joe stepped forward and did the honors.

  “We’re gonna cover all our bases,” he said, shifting into military mode. “If Black Forest split their forces, or send a small strike team, we’ll be there to stop them. That powder crap that was at the factory, well, Jerry must have seen that too and so he may have figured out where it came from as well. If not, he’ll probably be expecting them to hit the school as well. Either way, we find Black Forest or we find Jerry.”

  Everyone in the room seemed to nod and accept Joe’s conclusion.

  “Goose, you, me, Sarah, Steve and Parker will be at the school to watch out for Black Forest. If they show up, we pull the fire alarm and get the kids out of there. Then we hold them off until Sophinia can arrive. If not, you guys will get to enjoy your party because Black Forest will be dead.”

  “Claire is going to be sticking with you,” Sophinia commanded.

  Claire looked surprised at her order. “Soph, you need me on this.”

  “I made a promise to Daniel that I would do my best to protect the people he cares about. I plan to honor that promise. You’ll stay with them and protect them.”

  Claire sighed, but seemed to accept her decision. Everyone else had already agreed to the plan.

  “Looks like we’re going to the Prom after all,” Goose said unenthusiastically.

  CHAPTER 21 – PROM NIGHT

  St. Cloud - Minnesota

  Vivid flashes of Cassandra, her eyes burning red, plagued his dreams, enough to snap him out of his sleep. He quickly looked around and remembered where he was: Sitting in the stolen cruiser that he’d parked off-road behind a large wall of trees and bushes next to a lake. It was damn humid inside the stuffy car and roasting outside. The bugs certainly seemed to be enjoying it because they were buzzing away like crazy. The rain from earlier had completely dried up.

  It was stupid of him to have let himself fall asleep like that, but then he was still suffering the effects of having his throat ripped open. He remembered what Goose had said to him over the radio about someone healing him, and now that he could check his wound out in the rear-view mirror, he couldn’t deny that it was odd.

  The gash wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d expected it to be and the fact that he had woken up and had enough strength to bust out of the hospital was extremely unusual. He should have barely been able to move and yet here he was, ready to kill some vampires.

  He would need to ditch the car first though. He popped open the glove box and started sifting around, seeing what he could find. There were a bunch of papers and vehicle documents and a pack of cigarettes, but that was it.

  His eyes couldn’t seem to look past the smokes. Cass’s feedback had affected him again and now he was really craving one of the murderous little death sticks. This time it was way stronger and since cancer really wasn’t a problem for him, he decided ‘what the hell’ and lit one up.

  As soon as the smoke drifted down his throat he started coughing like crazy. It was disgusting. Like being scratched by hot needles, and yet, for some reason, he wanted another drag. He made a silent promise to punch Cass for turning him into a smoker.

  Before pushing the car into the lake, he yanked the starter motor out of the engine. His gut told him that his family would be doing their best to stop him from going after Selena and that meant taking away his ability to fight her. Goose would have told them his plans about the car and the gun. He just hoped that he could rig a police cruiser’s starter motor to work with a classic muscle car.

  From there, he trekked through the open country, staying in the light at all times. By the time he reached the open field where they had done most of their target practice and weapons training, the sky above was starting to grow dark. The weather wasn’t going to be helpful for much longer.

  Joe’s House

  At the same time, Joe and the others were watching the news at his house. The weather reports were showing that due to a sudden drop in pressure, heavy storm clouds were building. Rain, thunder, lightning, the works, were on their way and because there was very little wind they wouldn’t abate until morning.

  The crappy weather seemed to mimic their moods. There had still been no sign of Jerry anywhere and it had caused all of them to get very little sleep.

  “What’s the weather going to do to your plans?” Goose asked Claire.

  “Accelerate them. What time are they saying the storm will arrive?”

  “About six,” he said.

  “Prom starts at seven,” Sarah reminded.

  “You should get there early and set up some defenses. Matt will be there to give you access to the school. I believe Roa
ch has volunteered to help as well,” Sophinia said.

  “Well, I’m still hoping we won’t need to do anything,” Joe mumbled.

  “We’re all hoping for that,” she smiled. “But we have to be realistic. The recycling plant is very big. It’ll take us a while to search it and some of them might slip past us.”

  “And you’ll want to be there if Jerry shows up,” Claire added.

  Joe nodded quietly. He couldn’t argue with that.

  As much as he didn’t like it, Joe allowed Sophinia’s troops to gather at the house as they arrived at random, usually in cars with blacked out windows.

  The place was becoming crowed very quickly and soon the humans in the room were looking like the odd ones out. As the day carried on, they soon had twenty five vampires that were loyal to the pureblood, including several of the strippers from The Nearly Departed (fully clothed) and Louis the bartender there.

  “You guys should probably go get ready,” Joe suggested to Steve, Sarah and Goose.

  “Ready?”

  “Well, yeah. We can’t exactly show up to your Prom in full tac gear with machine guns,” he shrugged.

  “Oh, right,” Goose nodded. “So, we might have to fight a bunch of vampires in formal wear...awesome.”

  “I don’t do dresses,” Claire warned.

  “You’re gonna have to, sweetheart,” Goose smiled. “You’re my date.”

  “Goose, even if I wasn’t a vampire I’d still be like nine years older than you.”

  “We’ll just say that you’re an escort,” he shrugged. “It’ll make me look cool.”

  She didn’t look happy about that.

  “Cool, because you had to get an escort for Prom?” Sarah asked looking at him with raised eyebrows.

  “Cool because I got a hot escort for Prom,” he grinned.

  After that they began to gear up and get ready. They stuffed as much munitions as they could into the large green bags they had brought them in and took them to Joe’s truck. Above, the storm clouds were already starting to form. In a few more hours the vampires would be able to move around outside without fearing the sun.

  They’d need to get to the school before kids started arriving; it wouldn’t look too good for them to get there looking like Rambo’s deranged cousins.

  Joe’s Garage

  They weren’t the only ones getting ready though. Jerry had just picked the lock on the door of Joe’s body shop. He rushed inside and pulled the plastic casing off the alarm that he’d triggered. He crossed over a few wires, shutting it off before it could sound and then popped the lights on.

  In the center of the workshop the Boss sat like a sleeping dragon. Even after everything that had happened he still couldn’t help but smile when he saw the car. He popped the hood and immediately saw that his suspicions were correct. Joe had disabled the vehicle by yanking the starter motor out. Lucky he’d brought a spare.

  It would probably take a while to make it compatible with the Boss and he wouldn’t have protection from the sun for much longer. He had to work fast.

  Newton High School

  At the high school Joe and Goose arrived with their supplies. Parker and Roach were already there waiting for them. Steve and Sarah had returned home to get ready for the Prom. As they’d said before, they at least had to look the part. Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones there. At least two dozen people were working on last minute preparations for the party.

  The whole thing seemed to have a ‘bubbles’ theme to it. Inside, hundreds of balloons were being held in a net on the roof of the main hall, while others were attached to little lines of satin that hug from the ceiling. Black, purple and aqua were the main colors of the thing. They had even set up a make-shift fountain in the center that would no doubt be filled with water and washing up liquid to add to the effect.

  A large DJ booth was set up at the back along with dozens of clothed tables with fake flowers on top. A huge area had been cleared for a dance floor and a little stage was set up for the crowed prom king and queen to stand on and accept their awards.

  All in all, the place actually looked pretty damn nice. Not nearly the bore fest that Goose had been expecting. Of course, now all he could imagine was the whole place covered in blood and bodies. If Black Forest showed up, they would turn that party into a massacre. They couldn’t let that happen.

  “Stash the weapons in my office,” Parker said quietly, as they walked through the school.

  Luckily it looked to everyone else like they were just there to help with the party arrangements. No one batted an eyelid. They moved away from the main area and down the empty hallways.

  “I’m thinking that me and you should take watch at OP’s on the upper levels,” Joe said to Parker in his old military lingo. “Goose, Claire and the others can use the main hall as an observational post to keep an eye on the party goers. If we spot them moving towards the school, we pull the fire alarm and evacuate the kids. We’ll stay behind at in quiet part of the school to make sure they don’t go after the people that are getting out.”

  “So, we’re the bait?” Roach sighed. “That’s comforting.”

  “Well, technically we’re all walking steak sandwiches to those bastards,” Joe shrugged. “The only difference is that they are hungry for rare meat this time.”

  “You think Jerry will show?” Roach asked.

  “You really think he’d leave us to fight his battles, no. He’s working some kind of plan,” Goose snorted.

  “Even if we survive this, I’m still gonna kill that boy!” Joe grumbled.

  They reached Parker’s office and stashed the big heavy bags under his desk. Joe reached into one of them and pulled out a bunch of walkie talkies and started handing them out.

  “So we can keep in touch,” he said. “Now remember, I know this is Prom, but we’re not here to party. Keep your eyes open at all times and if you spot something, anything, don’t keep it to yourself.”

  They all nodded in agreement

  Joe’s Garage

  Goose’s words proved correct; Jerry was working on his own plans. With the Boss restored to driving condition he now needed the extra kick. He had managed to rig the cop car’s starter motor to work for the muscle car and had driven it for the first time.

  Her engine growled like a steel beast as he switched on the ignition. It was as if the vehicle itself was happy to be back on the road and Jerry was overjoyed to be in the driver’s seat. He had taken the long way around through the back roads in order to test her acceleration. He had made sure to pick an appropriate song to play while he gunned the peddle. It ended up being Audioslave – Gasoline. He got her all the way to one eighty before throttling back. She was just getting warmed up.

  He arrived at Goose’s place and backed the Boss up to the main door of the weapons shed. Unfortunately, there were way too many locks on that door for him to pick so he’d have to improvise. He tied a heavy steel chain to the chassis and connected the other side to the door. The Boss was easily powerful enough to rip the door right off its hinges, which it did.

  “Son of a bitch!” Jerry growled when he saw how empty the place was. They had taken just about everything, including the minigun.

  The one thing they hadn’t taken would probably earn him a death sentence from Doug. He felt pretty damn guilty about it, but he had to take it. If he survived he’d do his utmost to make it up to Goose’s father, but the truth was, he felt he’d probably wind up as a corpse before Doug even found out, so with no further reservations, he grabbed the prized double rifle off the wall and collected all the .700 Nitro Express rounds he could find.

  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the extent of his breaking and entering. He also stole the few remaining hand guns, ammunition and a nasty looking Kukri machete that was hanging on the wall. He then busted into Goose’s house and lifted as many silver objects as he could find before returning to Joe’s body shop.

  Breaking and entering, destruction of property, theft, resisting arre
st, assaulting a police officer, carrying illegal firearms and underage drinking...his list of felonies was getting long, and yet none of it really mattered, not when measured against protecting his family.

  He began melting down the silver items, but he wasn’t turning them into bullets. They wouldn’t affect Selena, so there was no point, but he did have something special in mind for her. As soon as the silver had been reduced into liquid form, he coated the kukri machete in it, making it a lethal sword to normal vampires. But even that wasn’t enough. After cooling and sharpening the blade, he drilled the inside of the plastic handle out until it was hollow. From there, he rigged up a small conductor/capacitor that attached itself to the metal blade inside. He then attached a five thousand volt battery to the bottom.