Relic: Blade (A Kane Arkwright Supernatural Thriller)

by Ben Zackheim

  “Well?” I said, trying to put him on the spot.

  “You don't know,” Fox said, flatly. There would be no talking to him now. He had on his Vamp attitude. The one that always seemed to step in when mere mortals feel defenseless in their presence. They smell doubt like they smell blood. It feeds some part of them that I hope I never understand.

  “No. I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” I tried the honest approach. He didn’t bite. It was my lame attempt at grabbing some power back in the moment. But I was powerless.

  He knew something about my past. Something I needed to know, too.

  Chapter 25

  Fox slinked back into the yacht.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Rebel whispered.

  “I think he knows why I have a Solo power.”

  “Ah, that.”

  Rebel didn’t know why I had to tear myself up over the origin of my portal. She thought it was a waste of time to look for answers.

  “I’ll work on him for you,” she said.

  “I’m sure you will.”

  “Is that all you think about?”

  I smiled. She smiled back. But then Skyler dropped into my head like a turd.

  “What?” she asked. I guess it looked like a turd had dropped into my head.

  “Skyler. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would he turn on us?”

  “I don’t think he has. So there.”

  “I found this.” I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out the Wad.

  “Where?” Her eyes were wide. She grabbed the coin and inspected it.

  “The Lin in my car dropped it.”

  “Skyler only gives them to new members of his team.” She thought for a second, chugging her whiskey like a pro. “Maybe the Lin grabbed it off someone.”

  “Maybe.” I noticed she put the coin on the table beside her. Nice move, Rebel, I thought.

  “Still,” she said. “I’ve always wondered if he’d turn.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. He’s like five hundred years old. You know how many sides he’s been on? Only a matter of time before he slips into another role somewhere else.”

  “Asshole,” I grumbled.

  “Oh, sure, you’re above all that.”

  “You think I’d turn on you?”

  “If you thought I would turn on you first, sure. And I know you have your eye on that kind of thing. Don’t deny it.”

  I didn’t. That was the main reason we made such a good team. We never lied to each other. We may have secrets but once it was all out then it was all out.

  “I knew it,” she said.

  “Can you blame me?” I asked.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asked, slapping down her drink on the armrest.

  “You have anger issues.” I said with a shrug.

  “Fuck you.”

  “See?”

  “You think I’d ever get angry enough to turn on you?”

  “Probably not,” I said.

  “You are an asshole,” she said and stormed off. After she took the bottle of whiskey.

  And the Wad. I could have called her on it and asked her to give it back. But she probably would have ignored me.

  We had three days at sea to tolerate each other and, frankly, by the time we spotted a slim green line on the blue horizon I was more annoyed by Rebel than the Vampire. He’d taken his newfound psychological advantage over me and gone to sleep for the entire trip. Running out the clock like Vampires love to do. I heard him wake up and feed on one of his creepy little flesh sacks.

  Rebel, on the other hand, was not a seafaring woman. Her way of taking it out on the world couldn’t be something normal like puking all over the place and bitching about it. No, she held it all back and fumed, sweating on the coldest nights and growling when I dared get anywhere in her field of view. I managed to get her to smile once when I chucked whiskey from the gut all over one of the hot tubs. That’s just her kind of humor I guess.

  I think when the trip started I was hoping for some time to relax. Ridiculous idea, with everything else going on. But I wanted to catch some sun, check my weapons, read some books, maybe look for whales or sharks. But I found myself mostly looking out at the ocean and waiting for trouble.

  I knew something was going to happen. I wanted to be ready for it when it did. I didn’t know if the trouble would come from Fox, from the ocean, from the sky. But wherever we were looking I was pretty damn sure it would come from the other direction. That’s the creepy feeling our adversaries were giving me.

  They wanted the sword and they would go for it when we least expected.

  Chapter 26

  As the sun went down and the islands got bigger on the horizon, Fox emerged. He wore the same black on black on black under black outfit.

  “You look ready for the beach,” I said.

  “I’ll take care of business at the bank and then come for you,” he said.

  “What are you doing there?” I asked.

  “That’s one of the things I can’t tell you,” he said, adjusting his cuffs.

  “I’m really glad we trust each other,” I said.

  “I need the sword,” he said, plainly.

  “Bite me,” I said. He gave me a look. “No, not literally you animal.”

  “There is zero chance we let you take the sword, Vamp-pa,” Rebel said.

  I threw on my jacket and loaded up my Glocks. “We’re going with you.”

  “They won’t allow humans in a Vampire bank.”

  “There’s a first time for everything,” Rebel said, shrugging. “We’ll be trailblazers! I’ve always wanted to blaze a trail.”

  “We’re going to a Vampire bank?” I asked. My ears perked up because we could do a lot of long-term damage if I knew where Vamps were depositing their loot.

  “We’re not doing anything. I am going alone,” Fox said.

  “Then the deal’s off,” I shot back.

  “What deal? There’s no deal here. You either follow my plan or you lose the sword and probably die.”

  “Who’s going to kill me?” I said, standing up to face him. “You?”

  “I hope not. But if you keep this up, yes, maybe me.”

  Rebel stepped between us. “Why don’t we go as your slaves?”

  Fox broke his glare at me, focused on Rebel and said, “What do you mean, slaves? Vampires don’t keep slaves.”

  “You know what I mean,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Sex slaves, whatever. We do your bidding. We’re yours and you won’t let us out of your sight because we, I don’t know…” She looked at me for ideas.

  “I have nothing to do with this,” I said. This was her dark fantasy, not mine.

  “Thanks Kane. That’s really helpful. Maybe I could just let the two of you kill each other and walk away with everything. I like this boat.”

  “Maybe she has a point,” Fox said. “I could claim you as under my protection.”

  “Which means sex slave in Vampire?” I asked.

  “You could say that,” he answered.

  “It’s settled then!” Rebel hollered, slapping our backs. “You’re our sugar daddy with a whip! I like this plan!” She strutted off, smiling.

  Fox and I just walked away from each other.

  When we finally arrived at Kauai, we pulled into the dock — an isolated, old thing that stuck out in the water like it wanted to get away from the island and put an end to its misery. Rebel kissed the sand. She was making an ass of herself, but I totally understood.

  The Kauai beach was empty of people. I’d expected to pull up to a teeming seaside with tourists everywhere but this beach was small and private.

  Fox bypassed the dock and leapt straight from the yacht to land. A thirty yard jump. It took our breath away. That was the one reason I’d considered a Vampire’s life for myself. I’ve always wanted to fly. No, they can’t fly, per se, but they can jump far enough to make that a trivial fact. I heard that it took a lot out o
f them when they did it. Which meant Fox pulled his leaping move to impress Rebel. I decided I was going to keep a close eye on the two of them. I wasn’t jealous. I just wanted to make sure Rebel didn’t do anything stupid after one too many drinks. Plus, he couldn’t be trusted with my best friend. Plus I was jealous.

  “Nice beach,” Rebel said.

  “Follow me,” Fox cut in. His tone was sharp. “Literally. Once we step out of the tide’s end you will walk in my footsteps. Don’t stray an inch.”

  “You have the beach rigged?” I asked.

  “I’m not the one who did it. But, yes. Something like that.”

  Rebel shrugged and walked ahead leaping from footprint to footprint. She started to make it a dance, leaping sideways and holding her arms out like a ballerina. She lost her footing a bit and her toe must have slipped outside a footprint because the sand started to shift around her.

  It was as if the beach was being emptied like a large hourglass. I had no idea where the sand was sliding but within seconds we were all standing on the tops of steel beams. Fifty feet down was a massive metal bowl made of concave plates. The rivets glowed in the moonlight like tiny spotlights. But they didn’t shine as bright as the spikes that pointed up at us, beckoning to drink our guts.

  Fox said nothing. He glanced over his shoulder with an expression of annoyance and told-you-so-ness. Rebel and I stood absolutely still.

  “No more dancing,” I said.

  “Agreed,” she whispered, eyes wide, arms outstretched for balance.

  We took every step as if our lives depended on it because, well…

  We made it across without any more incidents. When I was safe on solid ground I watched as the sand filled back up in the massive beach bowl. The nasty looking spikes looked like monsters, disappointed that their meal had escaped.

  “Where the hell are you taking us?” I asked.

  “Like I said. To the bank.”

  “Are those spikes in the Terms of Service agreement?” Rebel asked.

  She was being sarcastic, but Fox answered, “No, but they’re part of the Privacy Terms.”

  We hiked up the grassy hill to the tropical forest ahead of us. The tree cover was intense. The moonlight was blocked by the thick, lush leaves. Slices of blue light faintly drew a path forward. Fox followed it. I decided it was probably best if I followed it too. Exactly. Down to the footstep.

  “Whatever you do…” Fox started to say as screeches rose from the darkness around us.

  I pulled out my Glock.

  “WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T PULL A WEAPON DAMMIT!” Fox finished.

  “Now you tell us!” I yelled back. Not as loudly. What could I do? When I walk into a dark area after just escaping death by spike, and following a Vampire, well, pulling out the Glocks is kind of automatic.

  Suddenly, the slashes of moonlight were interrupted by movement above. I couldn’t make out what they were but I could feel their rage.

  And I could feel them coming for us.

  Rebel pulled out her gun, too. “What the hell is that noise?”

  “Bats,” Fox said, looking around. He frowned at me, his face lit by a fluttering dash of blue glow. “Vampire bats.”

  Chapter 27

  When the actual Vampires showed up, vampire bats got much more dangerous. The Vampires took to them like a shepherd takes to dogs. They made them into pets. They didn’t domesticate them. Not in the traditional sense at least. They made the beasts savage, bloodthirsty and stronger. A Vampire bat used to just be a bat. Now they had the nickname Bat Hounds for their sharp teeth and claws. Of course, they had no appetite for Vampires. Humans were the only thing they cared about.

  “Wear this, Quickly,” Fox said. He tore off his button-up, white shirt and threw it at Rebel. He handed me his long jacket. He pulled at the waist of his pants and tore them off in one tug. He ripped them in half and threw them at us.

  So yeah, he threw us his clothes until he was naked.

  The sound of the bats’ horrible high-pitched shriek were now mixed with flapping wing sounds.

  They were over us, circling down.

  Fox draped his pant legs around our waists and tucked them into our pants.

  Then he bit into his wrist’s artery and shot the gushing blood at us, dousing us in a sheet of red.

  I flinched and accidentally sucked a little down the gullet. I hacked it up and almost hurled but Fox covered both our mouths. He covered mine with the hand that was streaming blood, of course.

  The bats zipped over us in circles. As our bodies were covered in Vampire scent, the bat circles lost their pattern and became confused, random. They were trying to pick up on our scent. Fox’s clothes and blood were hiding it from them. I realized that Rebel was being awfully quiet through all of this.

  She was too busy ogling Fox’s naked body to protest the blood steaming down her face.

  As the bats gave up and flew back into the darkness, she whispered, “Is that real?” I’m not sure who she was asking but I wasn’t going to answer for her.

  “Come,” Fox said, reaching out his hand to follow him.

  “I did,” Rebel muttered.

  He marched up the path, wrapping his wrist in a makeshift bandage with a sock.

  We wove our way through a slim path. We were wrapped in complete darkness. I knew we were going up, but only because of the ache in my legs and lungs. My brain had to readjust at times to put one foot in front of the other. I guess you could call it discombobulating, but it was more like I’d been fed several hashish brownies. Probably the vampire blood I’d drunk.

  “How the hell are we going to get in now?” I asked. “We look like Vampire dessert and you’re…”

  “Amazing,” Rebel cut in.

  “It’s a Vampire bank, Kane,” Fox answered. “They see all kinds of things in there.”

  “If this is a trap you’re going to find your naked ass in a pinch.”

  We all let that one go. It was a poor choice of words.

  “It’s no trap,” he said. “We’re almost there.”

  And just then a light appeared ahead of us. It was a flame. A torch. It flickered through the dark forest like a beacon, beckoning for us to follow it. It gave me comfort to see something that looked real, familiar. But it scared the crap out of me that I had no idea what the hell was going on.

  “There it is. The entrance,” Fox whispered. “Now listen to me. Do not speak. Do you understand?”

  “That’ll be tough for Kane, but sure, yeah, no problem,” Rebel said. I could hear the smile in her voice.

  “It’s important that you appear scared, even if you aren’t. The fear will draw their attention. It will make them lazy. These are not our friends. They’re not our enemies, but they could be if they come to their senses enough to make trouble. It’s up to you to be meek and human and make them forget their duties.”

  We passed the torch and several more lit up on their own. I noticed that the flickering light was illuminating some green ahead of us.

  It was a wall.

  And the wall had a cave.

  And the cave had a door. A wooden door. Two Vampires stood on either side. The expression on their faces didn’t change. Even as Fox walked up to them buck naked.

  He said something softly to them and they stood aside. The hunger in their eyes was clear as Rebel and I passed. They especially liked the cut of Rebel’s cloth. Their eyes drifted over me and settled on her as she passed.

  I almost said something. I pretended to be afraid instead. Just like Fox said.

  “Don’t hurt us,” I said meekly with a slight sob. Both Fox and Rebel glared at me over their shoulders. I never said I was a fucking actor.

  The doors in the cave opened.

  But the irritation passed and curiosity took over.

  What did a Vampire bank look like?

  Chapter 28

  The ceiling of the “bank” was just over six feet tall. It was like walking into a crappy apartment. I ducked down so I wouldn’t
hit my head.

  “This is the story. I found you on the beach,” Fox muttered over his shoulder as he slowly walked into the cave. “I killed another member of your party which is why we’re covered in blood. I’ve claimed you, which means they don’t think you’ll make it through tonight. If they suspect anything they’ll kill you in a second. Don’t give them a reason.”

  “What are you two looking at me for?” I asked. Fox didn’t say anything.

  The long room was lit by glowing stones in the wall. I’d never seen them before but I wanted one. The light flickered inside as if the rock itself held power. I got so distracted by the light’s beauty that I bumped into our naked guide. He’d stopped in his tracks and held his arm out to stop me.

  I looked down. We were on a cliff.

  Below us, about two hundred feet down, was a circular room filled with rows of tables, covered in objects. Hundred of torches lit the space. My eye immediately went to a huge box of glistening things that sat on the end of each row. The Vampire “bankers” looked like bugs far below us, passing shiny raindrops down the table to the end. They were assessing treasures and cataloging them.

  This was a mother lode for a Vampire treasure hunter like me. I hoped the blood on our faces would prevent anyone from recognizing us.

  We passed a few dozen Vampires as we walked down some wide steps that were carved into the stone. Fox was right. No one cared. The Vamps didn’t give us a second look.

  We got to the bottom of the stairs and walked down one of the long spaces between tables. I tried to keep my eyes forward but the shiny objects all around me were too much to resist. I was in awe of the gems and baubles being passed around. They clicked and clacked against each other which filled the cave with the soft din of colliding treasure.

  The Vampires at the sorting tables didn’t pay attention to us at all. But I paid attention to them. Some of them were small, thin creatures, pale and weak. But some of the others were viking-sized. In fact, I’d bet they were vikings once upon a time. Large and blond and long-haired, with a way of passing the treasure down the line like they were bored and would rather be fighting. I was ready to ask Fox who they were and why they were doing such a shit job.