by Kim Cormack
Kayn was easy to read. Lexy had given her quite a few witty responses to her inner commentary over the years. Kayn glanced up at Frost, her eyes widened and Frost began to choke on his hotdog.
Lily started smacking Frost’s back. She laughed, “Are you Okay?”
He nodded and said, “Thanks, I must have inhaled that last bite of my hotdog.”
Orin was poised to throw something else at Kayn and Melody smacked his leg. He started to laugh as he sat down beside her and decided to behave.
Markus announced, “We should get some sleep. There’s a long drive ahead of us. He stood up and Jenna, Orin, Arrianna and Lily followed him up the steps and into the second motorhome.
Kayn stood up and said, “Well, I’m going to bed. Goodnight guys. She climbed the steps.
Zach called after her, “Sweet Dreams.” Kayn paused and everyone started to laugh. Kayn grinned as she clutched the doors handle. She shoved it open and let it swing shut behind her.
Melody stood up and said, “I could watch a movie. Who’s with me?”
All of the newbies got up and went inside. Grey and Lexy remained sitting there in front of the fire.
Grey chuckled, “I guess it’s up to us to put this out?”
Lexy stood up, and stretched, knowing that they planned to take off on the newbies she whispered, “I guess we should go and get our bags?”
Grey wandered around to the back of the truck, and hopped inside and said, “Our bags are in the cab of this truck. We’re driving this and we’re leaving before the others.”
Lexy strolled around to the cab and questioned, “Don’t you need the keys?”
He dangled them in the air giving them a few jingling shakes and announced, “I’ve already got them.” He grabbed the shovel out of the black plastic storage bin, and leapt out of the back with catlike agility. Then he walked over to the fire and started to smother it with shovel loads of dirt.
She was thirsty. Lexy thought about going into their usual motorhome and grabbing a few cans of juice out of the fridge but decided against it knowing she’d be taking it from the five newbies. She watched Grey work for a minute before wandering over to him and saying, “I want to stop in town and get some drinks and munchies. I can drive first. How long is the drive?”
He checked the pit for embers and said, “It’s around four hours depending on the traffic.” He grabbed the keys out of his pocket and chucked them at her. She caught them with one hand and strolled back to the truck. It was the middle of the night. There wasn’t going to be any traffic. Lexy smiled as she got into the driver’s seat and waited for Grey to finish up. She made herself comfortable and noticed the two fully sealed cans of orange juice in the trucks cup holders. He had her back as always. She popped open the can and downed the entire thing. She could hear him as he walked around in the back of the truck to put the shovel away. The passenger door opened and Grey slid into the seat as she popped open his can and passed it to him, knowing he’d be thirsty after putting out the fire.
He drank the whole can in one go and said, “I was really hoping to get some sleep tonight. I bet you’re glad you got some last night. Do me a favour, remind me that I didn’t lock that box in the back.”
Sure, she got a lot of sleep. Lexy grinned and replied, “It’s two am in the morning. I might not remember what you said by the time we get there.” She put the keys in the ignition and as the trucks engine began to purr, the music turned on and they drove away, leaving the five newest of the Ankh to fend for themselves.
Lexy turned on the cold air and aimed the vents right at her face. She found it seemed to help to keep her awake whenever they were forced to pull an all-nighter driving. There was this slow sedating love song on the radio. Grey started digging around for some CDs and there was nothing in the truck. “Guess what I forgot?” He dramatically reclined his seat and sighed, “I’m going to have a nap.”
Lexy shoved him and hissed, “Like hell you are. You haven’t even told me what we’re doing. Put your seat up, pull up your panties and try to find something half decent on the radio. I can’t search through the stations while I’m driving.”
Grey chuckled as he put his seat up and started clicking through the stations, leaving it on one playing eighties rock. He looked at her, grinned and teased, “Better?”
“Much!” Lexy answered as she pulled into an all-night drive thru. They ordered some food and continued their journey down the seemingly endless highway into darkness.
Chapter 16
Lampir Spittle
They’d just finished a lovely rendition of, “Don’t stop believing,” by belting the tune at the top of their lungs while barreling down the highway with the windows rolled down, when Grey randomly checked his text messages and announced, “We’re supposed to pull off the highway at the next turn off to Smithsville. Once we’re there we need to find 3420 Dunbar St.”
“And why would that be? You do realize you’ve been dodging my questions about this job all night?” Lexy sparred as she pulled off of the highway and travelled down the one lane into the town. She took note of the sign as the passed by it. The sign read the population was 3100.
Grey grinned as he answered, “I don’t have any details. The first text message contained the address and the second text says it’s a Correction.”
“This morning…Really? I’m exhausted,” Lexy complained.
He scolded, “What are you complaining about? You’ve only been up for twenty-four hours. I’ve been up for forty-eight.”
A part of her wanted to turn around and snottily huff back, Well, I’ll have you know I was up all night having hot unexpected sex with Orin. Instead of rocking the boat and saying something that was sure to take both of their minds off of the task at hand, she opted for, “You didn’t have to stay awake all night. Don’t feed me that line. I’m not a fish. Zach could have figured out how to give a girl a bath all by himself.”
“I was trying to be helpful,” Grey replied and then he started to laugh. “I can’t even say that with a straight face.”
They pulled up on the opposite side of the road from a small forest green rancher style house with pink and white rose bushes on either side of the door. The whole yard was fully fenced but the fence was run down looking and only about three feet high.
His phone vibrated, Grey grabbed his cell, looked at it and announced, “There’s another message. Alright love, guess who we have to murder this morning?”
His wording made it intriguing…but she was too exhausted to pretend to be spry and play his games. Lexy yawned as she gave her reply, “Is it…a demon?”
Grey scowled at her and complained, “Stop yawning you know what will happen…And no, it’s not a demon. Guess again.” He yawned and stretched in response to Lexy’s yawning and pointed at her menacingly as she yawned again.
This could go on for hours. Lexy yawned again in response to his yawn, pointed laughably back at him and queried, “Is it a Lycanthropos issue?”
He yawned and asserted, “First things first. Look away or we won’t stop yawning.”
They’d been in close confines for forty years. They had set routines for all inconveniently timed bodily functions. If they yawned more than twice in a row they both had to look away.
She recalled the incident and smiled. Many years ago they’d kept yawning until they were tired and they pulled over on the side of the road and took a nap. While they were asleep a thief stole all four of the tires off of the truck. They were probably never going to live that down.
Lexy stared out the window and wondered why the entire street had not one hint of life. Then she looked at the flashing digital clock on the dash and remembered that it wasn’t even that time zone anymore. That clock was never right. How early was it? Grey yawned again and even though she wasn’t even looking at him she yawned again. Damn it.
Grey’s cell phone vibrated and he stated, “Change of plans. I guess Frost will be joining us. We’re supposed to wait in the vehicle.”
There was a long comical pause as they looked away from each other long enough for both of their yawning spirts to pass.
Grey kept looking the other way as he questioned, “Why would you guess that? You know a Lycanthropos would never choose to live in the suburbs.”
True, this was true. “Is there a serial murderer in that house?” She guessed as she pulled down the mirror on the visor and looked at her reflection. Lexy usually didn’t care much about her appearance but damn, she looked rough this morning. Lexy felt around on the floor for her purse, after rifling around blindly for a few seconds in the contents she retrieved a small black container of lipstick with gold rim and smiled. Lexy put on a fresh coat of crimson red lipstick while she awaited Grey’s response.
He replied, “Sort of?”
She glanced at him knit her brow and guessed, “So, not mortal then…Which species?”
Grey reclined his seat and replied, “It’s a Lampir Correction.”
It had been a long time since they’d been ordered to interfere with anything Lampir related. They usually dealt with their issues privately. Most of the time it was either a Demon or a Mortal scheduled for Correction. Grey grabbed a cold French fry off of the floor and popped it into his mouth.
She grimaced and commented, “Gross, Grey.”
He grinned and teased, “It’s not my fault you’re sitting here watching me eat cold French fries off of the trucks floor instead of in there, kicking Lampir ass. It’s Frost’s fault. Text them and find out how long they’re going to be. This truck looks a little obvious parked here.”
Lexy sighed and stared at her phone. She loved him but right now she wanted to drive his head through the dash, he was getting on her nerves due to her lack of sleep. Lexy found herself staring out the window entranced by the perfect lawns and gardens that everyone had on this block. This was the picture perfect little suburb, not far from a big city that everyone from a large city strived to live in. Why did they need three immortals to kill one Lampir?
Lexy glanced at him and probed, “Why do you think the Lampir community hasn’t dealt with him in house?” The Lampir population hadn’t had any issues with anyone in a good fifteen years.
They heard the familiar hum of the motorhomes engine in the distance. There they were. It stopped in the middle of the street about a block behind them. Frost jumped out and started to walk towards them as the others drove away.
Frost hopped into the back seat and announced, “They’re waiting a couple of blocks from here. We’re supposed to text them when we’re finished. I guess there are multiple jobs in this town. Man, do they ever have some shit going on here.”
“Of course there are multiple jobs,” Grey sighed. “I should have gotten some sleep. I know better.”
Famous last words. She watched Frost as he stared at the tiny house. There was way more going on here then they’d been a privy too. Lexy questioned, “I thought Lucian had his population under control? It’s been a long time since one of them went rogue.”
Frost answered, “The Lampir have been holding down jobs and living quite successfully within the confines of the code of conduct for a long time. This is just one egomaniac of a man and a bunch of brand new Lampir that probably don’t even know code of supernatural conduct exists.”
Grey confirmed, “So, we’re not being sent in to kill just one person?”
Frost smiled as he replied, “Nobody told you guys anything about this job did they?”
“When do they ever?” Grey answered as he tried to drink from his empty can of juice.
Frost began to explain the details, “Lampir are only allowed to feed from mortals if it’s voluntary.”
“You know that rule has never been followed? They always use compulsion to gain mortal consent.” Grey sparred.
“Many of us feed off of energy the same way the Lampir feed off of blood, and it’s overlooked as long as there’s no death toll. The odd accidental murder slips by, but fifty or sixty in a month in a town this size, does not. This is a cold hard extermination,” Frost replied as he opened the door and stepped back out onto the street. He leaned into the truck and said, “Chuck me the keys to the box.”
Grey winced as he answered, “I left it open.”
He still hadn’t told them the details of the job but they knew it was a Correction and after hearing the words cold hard extermination she understood all she needed to know. Lexy got out of the truck and Frost passed her three wooden daggers and she tucked them in discreet places.
He took a small velvet pouch out of the storage box, leapt down out of the back and directed his next order at Grey, “We’ll catch anyone that tries to get out. Grey, you go and hang out at the back door. I’ll stay at the front. Kill everyone, even the ones that haven’t fully turned, this is a hive situation and we’re supposed to deal with this aggressively.”
She was intrigued…How many could there possibly be in this one little house?
Grey got out of the car, closed the door as quietly as he could, took a couple of wooden daggers from Frost, and asserted, “I’ve got it.”
Frost looked at them and stated, “No witnesses.”
That was the polite way of saying, be as quiet as possible while you murder a house full of people or we’ll have to kill an innocent bystander. Lexy leaned into the truck, grabbed a bobby-pin out of her purse and calmly strolled up to the front door. There was a tiny window at the top of the front door and it appeared to be covered with tinfoil from the inside. This place must only have one bedroom. All of the blinds would be drawn to shield the houses inhabitants from sunlight so it would be pointless to sneak around and peek through windows. Lexy stuck the bobby-pin into the lock and maneuvered it around for a second, unlocking it and then she tried the door, it was still locked. Use logic Lexy. They’d have ten locks down either door, getting into the house the stealth way would take too long. The windows would lead to the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom and the bathroom. If the place was full of Lampir, entering through the bathroom would be her best bet. She strolled around the exterior of the house. The bathroom window was definitely too small to fit through. If she broke a window to the other rooms, she’d wake them up long before she made it inside. She didn’t see a version of this Correction that wouldn’t come with mortal casualties. Brains before brawn. What should she do? She could try to slip one of the windows out of its frame. No, that wouldn’t work, they’d start screaming and scatter as they burned and the neighbors would be outside in two seconds flat. She saw no other choice. Lexy strolled up to the front door, looked into the mail box, snagged a letter out of it and rapped her knuckle lightly on the door.
Grey dove around the side of the house and Frost stepped back into the bushes as she knocked for a second time. The door opened to reveal a pale heavy set elderly woman in a fabulous zebra print moo-moo. Interesting. Lexy smiled politely and said, “Hello, I just moved in about a block over. I think I’ve been delivered your mail. It’s crazy, I know, I don’t even live on the same block.”
The sluggishly tired looking lady gave her a strange look as she questioned, “You do know it’s five am in the morning?”
“Is it really that early? I apologize, sometimes I forget everyone isn’t an early riser like I am.” Lexy innocently replied as she shot her another well-acted smile. Lexy noticed the tell-tale puncture marks on the lady’s neck. There was an open bathroom door right behind her. She gave her another disarming smile and whispered, “I know it’s a strange thing to ask but I think I ate something bad last night. I don’t think I’ll make it home without having an accident. Would it be terrible of me to ask if I could come in and use your bathroom quickly? I’ll be super-fast. I swear, you won’t even know I was here.”
The lady in wild zebra print hesitated for a second, before she whispered, “Alright, but please be as quiet as you can be. Trust me, you do not want to wake up the rest of the household.”
Lexy grinned. My, my, what a strange way to word tha
t last sentence? The presumed owner of the house stepped out of the way and Lexy maneuvered around her and into the house with little more than the sound of quiet knocking. She was almost impressed with herself. The second the lady in zebra print closed the front door, Lexy grabbed her in a sleeper hold. She held her there as she violently struggled for air until her body became limp and her knees buckled, then she gently placed her on the floor without making a sound. Lexy took note of the two closed doors on either side of her. Man, she was absolutely exhausted. The décor of this house was definitely not disarming. As a matter of fact, it was creepy as hell. There were tiny porcelain figurines of children with cherub faces in lederhosen in various poses and they were on shelves that lined the entrance. It was weird and she’d seen some seriously crazy shit. Lexy had no coin to toss so she went with her intuition by choosing the door on her right. She carefully turned the knob, without making the faintest noise and stepped into the room. There were easily thirty people asleep on the floor and lounged across a plastic protected couch. On the bright side, the old lady’s sofa wasn’t going to be destroyed by blood this morning. Not that it would matter once they burned the house down to cover up the evidence. Lexy stood in the doorway surveying the occupants of the room, their auras were faint. She was relieved that they hadn’t asked her to sort them out; it would be too difficult to tell the full Lampir from the still partially mortal ones. She’d know who was what after she killed them all, because the fully turned Lampir would turn to dust and the partially turned bodies would require disposal. Snuffing them all out while they slept, seemed cold, but it would save any noisy neighbors from adding themselves to the death toll on this day. Lexy knew stabbing them in the heart first also would not be an option. She’d have to snap their necks, rendering them silent. This would buy her the time to stake them all without the screaming and drama. She’d only have a matter of minutes until they were all healed to complete the job.
So, one by one Lexy snapped their necks, without waking a soul and then she proceeded to methodically stake every last one of them. Some solidified and turned to ash, but in the end, only three of them were left as mortal shells. Lexy was not upset about the loss of mortal life for she knew she’d managed to save three mortal souls on this day. If they were more mortal than Lampir they’d probably already been sent back through the hall of souls to be reborn. Lexy stood in front of the twenty-seven piles of ash and three soulless corpses and smiled as she thought, Maybe, she’d actually have time for a quick nap before the next job?