4
When she entered the studio, she almost instantly noticed something was wrong. Andrea didn’t know what it was at first. Then she realized that there were tiny shafts of light coming from the ceiling in the center of the studio.
“Wait here,” she told the man she was with.
She walked underneath the wood panels to look at the holes, and then noticed there were more holes in the floor.
5
Blake heard the door to the studio open, saw her shadow approaching. He got up from his spread out position and stood up, keeping his eyes peeled on the holes in the boards. He heard her say something to someone, then saw a form under the wood. He hesitated, unsure who he might be firing at, until she said, “What in the hell?!” and then Blake blasted through the floor that held him up.
The rapid barrage of bullets quickly ate through the wood, and even as he fell through the floor boards he kept firing on his way down, blasting the creature that called itself Andrea.
Blake heard a feminine scream that didn’t come out of her. It was from the man she’d lured here, still standing at the doorway.
The rope stretched, and yanked hard against his waist, as he fell, stopping several feet above the floor, and pulling taut. He was firing into her face as she looked up, her body jerking spasmodically, limbs flailing haphazardly. He stopped only when he’d spent his ammo.
The Andrea-thing laid on the floor, still twitching, still alive, body riddled with bullet holes, and her face an open ruin, unrecognizable except for the dark brown curly hair, her green eyes gone. Given time, she would heal completely, regenerating. Time was a luxury she no longer had.
Blake pulled the knife from its sheath, cutting the rope
around his waist, jumping the final three feet to the floor. He was
inches from her body now. The man at the doorway wasn’t much more than a teenager, probably only seventeen or eighteen. He had been enticed here with the promise of sex, no doubt. Blake had done him a favor, but the boy looked at him as if he were the monster. He didn’t yet grasp the situation.
“She’s not what she appears,” Blake tried to explain. The boy stared, dumbfounded. “You should leave, now,” he added.
As if to confirm what Blake said, her body sat up and reached for him.
“Holy shit!” the boy screamed. That was enough to send him running out the door.
Blake smiled. “Oh good, you’re up.” Blake bashed what was left of her face in with the butt of the rifle, and jabbed his knee into her stomach to hold her down.
“Didn’t think I’d come back, did you bitch? From what I can see you still have your ears, so assuming you can hear me, I just wanted to tell you that this is Blake, and you didn’t win. How sure do you feel now?”
Blake could tell by her frantic movements that she was incredibly irritated and distressed. Good. He pulled the two Ruger 22s from his side holsters and fired them both into her head. She lay still. Knowing that wouldn’t be the end, he pulled out the stake and thrust it into her heart. Andrea lurched upward, back arched. He stuck it in as far as he could, striking it with the butt of the AK until all he could see coming out of her chest cavity was the bloody rounded end of it.
“I don’t have anything sharp enough to cut your head off with,” Blake lamented, “but if you don’t turn into your creature self and the sunlight doesn’t burn you alive, I’ll still make sure you lose your head, and don’t come back. You won’t walk this one off.”
She twitched feebly, trying to get up. Blake took the grenade, pulled the pin, and forced it into her open jaw, stuffing the live grenade down her throat. “Eat it, bitch!”
Blake ran, the five-second delay giving him just enough time to rush out the door before it blew. The sound of the explosion was triumph. Blake steadied himself as the earth rumbled beneath his feet. If the gunfire hadn’t alerted someone, the explosion sure would. Blake dashed to his car, making his getaway. He was already back in town when he heard the sirens. Twenty minutes later, he was outside Mercy Falls borders.
PART III
END GAME
"Gave all the vampires back to God that day."
-Cold
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT
(2014)
I
DISCOVERY
1
The sun was setting, a blood-orange disc in the sky, when he fell asleep. As he lay in bed the memories began filtering in slowly. He was John Winter, but everyone called him Johnny. He used to run with a gang called The Dragons back in high school. Then he wasn’t with them anymore, because of what happened; the kid Ramsey Tysor, and the pit. They didn’t like that he left the gang one bit. He drifted, rebelling, against the school, and against his abusive stepfather (most likely the reason he joined the gang in the first place). But then there were other friends, good friends- not like him. They were better, nicer, not so hardened by life.
Johnny fell asleep remembering their names, and sitting at lunch together in the cafeteria at school. Sleep was like a death experience for him. They say when you die your whole life flashes before your eyes. For Johnny it happened in his sleep, this night. The last thing he remembered was the woman, the one who’d turned him; made him what he was now- a vampire. No. Not one of them! Not a-
“Vampire!” Johnny screamed, waking himself, bolting upright in his bed. He was seated, with his legs still under the sheets, conscious of having crawled out of the grave recently, everything making sense now. Sweat beaded his body. “Oh Jesus no, please, no!”
He covered his face with his hands, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. It was the middle of the night.
This couldn’t be happening. He had to get to his friends. He had to tell them what had happened. They’d know what to do.
Kill you, he thought. They’ll have to kill you. No, not if he found her first, killed her before he fed. They’re going down there tonight. They’ll find her. I have to be there with them.
His stomach rumbled, intestines cramping. Pain shot through him. He was already hungry. It was a hunger like nothing he’d ever felt before, and knew of only one way to satisfy it.
“God help me,” Johnny pleaded.
2
“Are we ready?” Eve said, lugging out the weapons chest.
“As ready as we’re going to be,” Tony said.
“I’ve got the rental down in the parking lot; Buick; plenty of trunk space,” Jeremy said.
“Okay,” Eve responded. “We’ve got an hour until dawn. Put as much stuff as you can into your backpacks. Leave the heavy artillery for last. We’ll have to sneak those out the back way, preferably the stairs.”
“I’m going to take the machine gun, instead of the machete,” Tony said, uncertainly, “Since Johnny’s not with us, we’ll need the firepower.”
There was silence for a moment. “Fine,” Eve said. “Let’s get packing.”
They began shoving handfuls of vials, stakes, and spare ammo into their packs. Eve had no need to pack anything. She was a weapon. And she would be carrying them all into the pit.
3
Myron and Jeremy discovered new ways to use their powers in the last two days. While Jeremy could pick up thoughts, Myron could intuit feelings, and they found another way to use this to their advantage. They knew of the link Eve had with the vampires, and that they could potentially predict that they would be going down into the pit. They couldn’t afford for this to happen.
While the vampires couldn’t read thoughts, they could pick up on the emotions of their kind. They weren’t empaths like Myron. They had little, if any empathy. But they felt, sensed things. They could sense Eve’s plans if they picked up on her state of mind. That was why the woman vampire had been to their hotel. But if Myron sensed her feelings beforehand, then Jeremy could override them by picking up her thoughts and insinuating something else into her head, essentially altering her state of mind. They communicated to Eve in a roundabout way what they were
going to do, and she caught on quickly. So even as they planned, they kept her emotions in check, making sure she wasn’t particularly amped, nervous, angry, or excited. As if she was planning breakfast, not war.
They would know for sure if it worked once they went down there. They would either be waiting for them, or the vamps would be sound asleep, in the pre-dawn minutes when they descended. It was a gamble, but one worth taking.
4
Blake felt stronger after the blood, and the hunger was gone. He knew it was only pig’s blood, but he still felt disgusted at himself for drinking it, and with the taste of it. Now he knew firsthand what Eve must have gone through. He was sure she was used to the taste of it by now, but the hunger- he didn’t know how anyone could get used to that. Blake could only begin to imagine what it must have been like for her, and if he didn’t find the one who had turned him soon, he would find out.
By the time Blake was ready to let his friends see him again, they were already gone.
II
DESCENT
1
They stood in a circle around the edges of the pit. Standing on the lip of that chasm was more terrifying than anything they’d ever faced before.
The sky was a purple bruise on the horizon. Slices of red cut through it like wounds.
Tony looked at his watch. “Ten minutes. Now?”
Eve nodded, “Now.”
Backpacks full on their backs, primary weapons at the ready; they linked their free hands, gathered into a tight circle at the edge, took a deep breath, and leapt off.
Staci clenched her mouth shut to keep from screaming.
“I’ve got you,” Eve whispered, “I’ve got you.”
And she did. She not only had one of Staci’s hands in hers, but they realized that they were not falling steadily, not plummeting down as they had envisioned, but sort of soaring down slowly, rather like skydiving.
Myron was shivering. Jeremy had one of his hands, and he clenched it tighter, assuring Myron that not only was he also scared, but that they would be okay.
Only the first few feet of rock wall along the edge of the open pit were visible. Past that the black nothingness crept up quickly and swallowed them. They weren’t sure if they’d even know when they hit ground, up until they were right on top of it. Ultimately, it was a change in the air, what was left of it, that let them know they were close to the bottom, as of space closing in ahead of them. Even with this semi-awareness their legs still tangled underneath them when their feet touched ground.
They rose, dusting themselves off. Flashlights were turned on.
Eve, who didn’t carry a weapon, pulled out a lantern, which for some
reason used lamp oil and she had to light. Good old Blake, Eve thought. Despite modern advances he was still a sucker for the old ways.
Leading the way, Eve said, “All right, let’s go.”
2
No one jumped out at them. Nothing attacked them. In fact, it was deathly silent, but for the crunching of their feet on the pebbles made by the cavern rocks. There was no light in these parts of the cave they navigated. Only the light of Eve’s lantern and the flashlights they each carried in their free hands guided them through the narrow passages. It was too dark, and too quiet for comfort.
“I’m sure they’ve all gone to sleep now,” Eve whispered.
“Let’s hope so,” Jeremy said.
There were several turns in the tunnels, before they realized there was another light besides theirs up ahead. They arrived at a room, lit on two sides by torches. There were three coffins in the center, about a dozen feet apart from each other.
Eve said, “There are only three of them here. If we kill these, we risk waking up the others; all the others.”
“Good point,” Tony said. “Been there, done that.”
“What do you suggest?” Myron asked.
“Save the ammo for the big guys. If we cut off the head the rest will fall,” Eve replied.
“Good advice,” someone said from behind them. They turned, aiming their weapons at the new arrival. The man in the trench coat said nothing, simply looked at them. He was incredibly familiar, but it still took a minute to recognize him. It was Eve that called it first.
“Blake?”
He smiled. “Yes, it’s me.” It was Blake, except not the Blake that they knew. This Blake didn’t look like an old man, or even the middle aged man they once knew. He had the smooth skin and
unwrinkled countenance of a man in his late twenties or early thirties.
He also had not a spot of gray hair on him.
Eve ran to hug him crushingly.
“Blake, how…?” they began.
He nodded somberly, “Turns out the fountain of youth really isn’t water. It’s blood.”
“No,” Staci said, shaking her head, “Not you too.”
“I’ll be all right,” Blake answered her. “At least now you have another ally, someone else with their strength and abilities.”
“So the hospital…” Jeremy said.
“They came for me, the vampires. They killed all the hospital staff, patients, but instead of killing me they turned me. I suppose they found it a more fitting punishment.”
“That’s terrible,” Staci said.
“So you started the fire?” Myron surmised.
“Yes. Had to make sure they paid for what they’d done. Most did not escape, but the one who turned me…”
“The one who turned you must still be alive,” Eve finished. “Oh Blake, I’m so sorry.” Startled, she asked, “Wait, you haven’t fed yet, have you?”
“Not on humans,” Blake said. “Not yet. But I haven’t the strength you have my dear. I will. That’s why I had to come down here to help you, all of you. Even if I can’t be human again, Eve, if you can be again, then it’s worth it. If this is how I’m meant to go out, so be it. At least I will die a noble death, not cowering or giving in to what I’ve become, but embracing it, ultimately making it their undoing.”
Tony elbowed Jeremy, and whispered, “He always did have a way with speeches.”
Jeremy thought that sounded a bit like something Johnny would say.
“I heard that,” Blake commented. “Keep in mind my hearing is incredibly acute now.” He winked at Tony, and as if reading Jeremy’s thought as well, he looked around and said, “Where’s Johnny?”
They explained. “We believe something terrible’s happened to him,” Staci added.
Blake nodded, “Either dead or one of them.” He wasn’t intentionally indelicate, but his usual blunt and to the point. In this case, it helped them to move on, and do what they came here to do.
3
“Let’s open these coffins quietly. No killing unless necessary. We need to see if we’re dealing with lower or upper level vampires,” Blake said.
They set down their other weapons and grabbed their stakes. They stood, two to a coffin. Blake did a silent countdown with his fingers. They all went on three, cracking open each coffin. Other than the white cushy lining, they were entirely empty.
“Well, that was a bit anti-climactic,” Myron said.
Staci smiled.
“Okay,” Blake said. “Let’s move on.”
With Eve, Jeremy had ceased to be the de-facto leader. She had taken charge, which he was glad for. He had never wanted to be the leader. But when Blake arrived, he automatically took control of the situation; looking younger now than all of them, except Eve. Despite this he conveyed a presence that commanded respect, and spoke with authority.
They were glad to have him here, by their side, in what they hoped would be their final fight.
4
The next sets of caverns were empty but for the torches that lit their way. They shut off the flashlights, and doused Eve’s lantern.
“You know for people that have an aversion to fire, they sure have this place lit up like a Roman candle,” Eve said.
“No more aversion to fire than the average human,” Blake said. “I imagi
ne it’s hard to get electricity down here.” He said it so seriously they weren’t sure he was joking until he cracked a smile.
“Blake made a funny,” Staci said.
“Why yes, yes I did.” He paused. “You know, when I went to the hotel and found you all gone I started to worry. Then I knew you must be down here at last. I knew I had to be here.”
“We’re all thankful you’re here Blake,” Jeremy said, “I don’t think we could do this without you.”
“Hey,” Eve said, “Other fearless vampire- slash- vampire hunter standing right here.”
Jeremy grinned. “Sorry.”
“No prob cutie,” she winked.
Staci only felt a slight twinge of jealousy, before she too smiled.
“I think you should have this,” Tony said, handing Blake the machine gun, “You’re much better with this stuff.”
“Are you certain?” Blake asked.
“Yes. We’ve got guns, and I’ve got this.” He showed Blake the machete.
“All right then.”
5
The tunnels were too much like a maze. Johnny hadn’t found anyone or anything. He didn’t know if his friends were down here yet, but he had to find them before he ran into a mob of vampires. He was sure they were asleep now. Or they would have come for him. So he really didn’t expect who he bumped into coming around the corner.
They crashed into each other with an audible oomph, and had to back away from each other to take in who they were.
“Johnny?”
“Max?”
“Fucker!” Max shrieked, “I’m gonna kill you!”
The Pit in the Woods: A Mercy Falls Mythos Page 55