Johnny looked down, eyeing their weapons. “I see you’ve brought the whip, the crossbow, and the guns. By the way Stace, those shots hurt like a bitch. Glad you stopped me though.”
“Sorry,” she said.
“Who’s got the machine gun?” Johnny asked.
“Blake,” Jeremy said.
“Good,” Johnny smiled, “Too bad I didn’t think to bring anything more than a stake down here. Of course, I don’t have the kind of access to weapons that Blake does.”
They rounded a corner into another room. This one wasn’t empty. In the middle of the room in a chair sat a woman, bound and gagged. She was thirty-four years old. Jeremy knew this, because he knew her.
“Becky?” he said.
Her eyes opened wide at the sight of her brother. There was caked blood and bruising on her face from being struck.
“Your sister?” Johnny asked. “Don’t fall for it. It’s a trick, one of their illusions.”
“Do you see her too?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes.”
“I do too,” Staci said.
“Then it’s not a trick.”
Rebecca Daniels shifted in her seat, straining at the ropes. She tried to speak through the duct tape covering her mouth. It came out a muffled, “Onnn!”
Jeremy thought she was trying to say “Rope!” and he moved toward her.
“Don’t worry sis, I’ll get you out.”
Her movements became more agitated and her eyes appeared as if they would pop out of her head. She repeated, “Onnn! Onnn!”
Johnny realized what she was trying to say was “Don’t!” He saw the tripwire a second before Jeremy’s foot would have bumped it, and tackled him to the ground.
“Johnny, what the hell!” Jeremy shouted, almost indignant.
“It’s booby-trapped. Who knows what would have happened to her, or us, if you had tripped this.” Johnny showed him.
“Shit!” Jeremy exclaimed.
“What would have happened,” a new voice announced, “is she would have been blasted with two high powered rifles.” The man uttering those words came out of a recessed tunnel they hadn’t noticed when entering, to their left.
“Here and here,” he signaled two areas which would have crisscrossed and put Rebecca directly into the line of fire from both left and right. There were two holes in the cave wall, the barrels of the guns barely visible. The man/vampire was well dressed in business attire, but no one they had ever seen. “Comes in handy being a ballistics expert, and a marksman. Wasn’t always a vampire.” He grinned, a toothy grin. His eyes were blue, his hair black and slicked back; a handsome man if not a demon.
Staci raised her crossbow to fire. The vampire moved behind Rebecca, putting a knife to her throat.
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Nice that your sister was still in town Jeremy! Surprised they didn’t kill her sooner, like ’86, back when you all pulled that stunt. They should have killed all your families, but I guess you had them running scared. Maybe too much publicity, who knows? Not me. I wasn’t even alive then. But I’m so alive now! I’ll be twenty-nine forever!” He paced back and forth behind Rebecca. “I know you’re all looking at me with hatred. It’s not my fault.” He made an exaggerated shrug, offering them a mea culpa grin. “I’m new here. I just do what the boss tells me too.”
“Leave her alone!” Jeremy shouted, “Your beef’s with us, not her!”
“Ah, ah, ah, no can do kimosabe. You see, boss man wants you to suffer.”
“That’s why he sent out the children first,” Staci whispered to herself.
“Children?” Johnny asked.
“Ah yes,” the vampire said, “Those poor little children. Thought at least one of you would have died at their hands, but I guess it was a bit like throwing a bunch of Chucky dolls at ya, with all your firepower. Where are the rest of your friends?”
“What do you want?” Jeremy said.
“What I want is to kill you, but Lucio wants you to watch her die; then kill you. I’m okay with that.”
“You lay a hand on her, I’ll put a bullet in you, and then stake you,” Jeremy grumbled.
“I’m sure you would, but what about the rest of us?” He placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled. From two depressed tunnels to the right five more vampires stepped out. They wore similar suits, in black instead of gray, looking like a procession of pall bearers. Jeremy aimed his gun at them.
“Shoot one,” the vampire behind Rebecca said, “and she dies instantly.”
Rebecca squirmed and pleaded as best she could.
“You two, leave!” the vampire signaled to Johnny and Staci, “Down the same tunnel I came out of. The boss has other plans for you two.”
“No, “Staci said defiantly.
He pressed the knife into Rebecca’s throat, not cutting deep,
but enough to draw blood. Rebecca screeched behind the tape
covering her mouth.
“Need I remind you little girl, your friend’s sister’s life is in my hand!”
Staci cringed, but didn’t budge, looking toward Jeremy instead. “Jeremy, what do you want us to do?”
The vampire laughed, “How noble! Yes Jeremy, tell us, what would you like them to do? Leave now, and possibly live, or watch your little sister butchered right in front of you AND your friends?”
“Go,” Jeremy said.
“He’s going to kill both of you!” Johnny said, “That’s no choice. We’re not going to leave you here to die!”
“You have no choice!” Jeremy said. “Move on, watch your back. Weapons up, and be prepared for anything, like Blake always said. We don’t all have to die!”
“Bravo!” the vampire said. “I’d clap but I’m holding a knife to your sister’s throat.”
The other vampires circled Jeremy. “Go, damn it! GO!!” Jeremy screamed.
Johnny lowered his eyes, then his head, and nodded. “Let’s go,” Johnny said, resigned, placing his hand on Staci’s back. Staci ran to Jeremy, hugging him, and planting a kiss on his cheek.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I love you Jeremy. I always have.”
Jeremy nodded, half-smiling, eyes welling up. “I know.”
She backed away, looking at him, anger and determination on her face as she whispered, “It’s not over.” That was her way of telling him not to give up. She knew the vampires could most likely hear, but didn’t care.
His friends disappeared into the tunnel, and he was alone with vampires, and his dying sister.
5
Myron shook off the blow fairly quickly, rising from the floor with his sword raised. Perhaps they had weakened the vampire more
than they had originally thought. The creature was staring at them,
panting. As if reading Myron’s thought, Blake looked over at him and said, “Oh, I forgot to mention this to Eve, but your sword’s been dipped in silver.”
A huge grin spread over Myron’s face. Tony grabbed a handful of vials of holy water and tossed them at the beast, “C’mon fucker!” They hissed and burst, smoldering on its skin. The vampire shrieked in pain and anger.
Even without the heavy artillery, Eve knew they had the upper hand. She and Blake would be the only ones who could even get close to matching its speed, and it appeared to be backing off. She looked over at Blake questioningly. They rushed it, slamming its body into the rock wall, both of them holding fast to an arm.
“Myron!” Blake shouted. Myron thrust the sword through the vampires gut. The creature wailed.
“The head!” Eve cried, “Cut off its head!”
It was going into spasms now. Myron swung the sword, as Blake and Eve ducked, severing its head. The body collapsed between them.
Blake smiled, “Good work.”
“Now let’s get out of here,” Tony said. They took one glance at the children’s bodies and needed no further encouragement. They picked up their weapons and entered the tunnel into which Staci and Jeremy had fled.
&nbs
p; 6
“I can’t believe we left him Johnny,” Staci said, “We left him to die.”
They moved through another system of tunnels, splitting off into multiple pathways. They picked randomly where to go.
Johnny shook his head. “I don’t think so. At least, I hope not. Jeremy will find a way. He still has his weapons.”
“What about his sister?”
“I don’t know. I’m dealing with my vampirism, and trying not
to drink human blood.”
“I’m sorry,” Staci said. “This was a mistake coming down here. We can’t expect to get lucky again.”
“Yeah,” Johnny said, “Getting lucky was what got me into trouble in the first place.”
“I’m sorry,” Staci repeated.
Johnny turned and looked at her seriously.
“What?” she asked.
“You actually mean that, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course. Why would you ask that?”
“Well, I always thought you kinda… hated me.”
“What? Johnny, no! I never, ever hated you. We may have had some disagreements, or not have seen eye to eye a lot, but you were always my friend.”
Johnny formed a stupid little shy half grin that was so uncharacteristic of him that it made Staci giggle. “Okay,” he said.
“Okay?” she pushed, holding him there with her eyes.
“Okay,” he nodded, grinning wide.
“Good.” She gave him a brief hug and then said, “Now let’s get out of here into some open space. I feel like we’re sitting ducks when we stand still in these tunnels.”
7
“Drop your gun!” the vampire in the business suit said.
“No,” Jeremy Daniels replied.
The vampire pressed the knife deeper into his sister’s throat.
She screeched.
“You’re going to kill her anyway, right,” Jeremy said, “and then kill me? So the way I see it, this is the only thing keeping you from doing that. You let her go.”
The vampire laughed. “You can’t kill me with that, and you’re surrounded.”
“Nope, but when you feel the silver bullet in your head,
poisoning your system, you’ll want me to kill you,” Jeremy lied.
“Silver?”
“Yes.”
The vampire stared at him to see if he was bluffing. Jeremy was forced to look away in case the suit was trying to mesmerize him.
Rebecca squirmed, mumbling through the duct tape.
“I think the princess is trying to say something. Might as well remove her tape. It’ll be nice to hear her screams.”
He ripped the tape off violently.
She screamed, “Do it Jeremy! Shoot him! Don’t let them get away with this! You can still survive!”
Jeremy cried, “I love you sis.”
“I love you big brother.”
“Time’s a wasting!” the vampire shouted.
“So let me get this straight. If I try to shoot you, you’ll kill her right away. If I drop the gun you’ll kill her slowly, and then kill me?”
“That’s right,” the vampire grinned. Then his eyes opened wide when he realized his big mistake.
Rebecca nodded. “Do it,” she mouthed.
“I love you Beckypie.”
She almost cried at the use of her childhood nickname. This was either going to work or it wasn’t, but considering his options this was the only rational choice, as much as it pained him to take the chance. He knew what the outcome might be.
“I love you Je-”
She wasn’t able to get the rest out, before Jeremy moved the gun down from where it was pointed at the vampire’s head, as if to relinquish it, and quickly brought it back up and re-aimed.
He shot a round at the vampire’s knife hand. The vampire screamed as the bullet passed through his hand and dropped the knife. The bullet tore a path through Rebecca’s throat on its way there, blood spattering like a hit from a paintball gun. She made a sound like, “Gakk!”
Rebecca died almost instantly. Jeremy didn’t wait to fire the
next shot, striking the vampire in the forehead, bringing him down. The vampires surrounding him moved in quickly, and he fired at each of them, blind rage blurring his vision. He took three of them in the forehead, before the remaining two pounced on him. Jeremy ducked, flipping them over his own body, using their weight against them. He shot those two while they were on the ground, backing away only when his gun clicked empty. They’d be getting up any second, and he didn’t have time to reload.
He grabbed for his other weapon, the one at his side, quickly unfurling the length of the whip as he continued to move backward. As he’d expected, they were already getting up, the five of them forming a semi-circle around him. The last vampire, the one who had been holding Rebecca hostage, was still on the ground, just getting up. Jeremy’s sister had fallen on him with the chair, when Jeremy shot them, and he had to push them aside.
Jeremy spun the whip in the air in a circle, the whoosh of it giving him strength, and the vampires looked wary of it. They tried to back up, and that was when he swung. The three silver hooks at the end caught in the side of one of the vampire’s faces, piercing through its cheek, and protruding out from the inside of its mouth as it screamed. It continued to travel, ripping off the side of the creature’s face. It sailed over to the next vamp, gouging a long deep trench across his forehead, finally scratching and dinging off the next two vamps. Not giving them time to recover, Jeremy swung the whip the other way, piercing the last unharmed vampire in the side of its neck. Jeremy, acting on pure rage and adrenaline, yanked the whip back, the hooks ripping through the vampire’s throat, tearing out its Adam’s apple, and leaving a ragged gushing hole. The vampire dropped to its knees, choking on its own blood, and holding on to its ravaged open throat.
The one with the hole in the side of its face made an angry rush toward him, but the wound and the silver slowed him to a stumble. Jeremy cracked the whip and the hooks drew a vertical slash down its face, the barbs perching in the thing’s shirt. He yanked the whip away, ripping through his shirt and tie, exposing the vampire’s
hairy chest. It fell back, silver coursing through its veins.
The three left standing ran at Jeremy and he pulled out the cross. They stopped in their tracks. He caught a glimpse of the other vampire getting up behind him- the one in the gray suit, the hostage taker and his sister’s killer- the one he’d kill last; and he turned. Business suit grinned and the bullet hole in his forehead left a single bloody trail dripping down the center of its nose, settling on his upper lip.
“Too bad for you the bullets weren’t silver, or I’d still be lying on the ground. Nice work with the boys there, but we will kill you.”
Jeremy watched his back, watching for any movement from the others. “I wouldn’t count on that,” Jeremy said. The one with the furrow in his forehead started to swoon.
“How does it feel to have killed your own sister?” business suit mocked him.
“I didn’t kill anyone. I saved her from you.”
“Funny definition of saved you have there, as she’s lying on the floor dead, and I’m still here.”
“SHUT UP!!” Jeremy screamed, swinging around, whip sailing through the air once more, slicing through the throats of the other three vampires. They dropped to their knees. Still holding his cross in hand, he whipped them with his other hand, again and again, tearing apart the flesh on their faces, until they fell forward onto them. Now there was only one to deal with, the boss.
“You’re such a bad sport Jeremy. By the way, crosses don’t work on me. I’ve been faithless since the day I was born.”
The vampire was just close enough for the last two feet of his whip.
“Good to know,” he said, “’Cause where you’re going faith won’t do you any good.”
Jeremy launched the whip, and it wrapped around the vampire’s leg, the ends of it sinking in as would a set of grap
pling hooks, and he tugged hard, bringing him to his knees as he did the others. He had him right where he wanted, where Rebecca had been. The vampire saw his intent and screamed. Jeremy stepped over the writhing bodies of the fallen, and then purposefully strode toward him, tripping the wire that had been meant for his sister.
The high powered rifles in the walls fired on both sides, and the vampire’s head exploded into bloody chunks of skull, brain, and eyeballs. Jeremy pulled out his stake and systematically went through the remaining bodies, piercing the hearts of the poisoned vampires left on the ground.
He walked over to his dead sister, kneeling beside her and untying her from the chair, and he held her in his arms. “’Becca, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” he wept, “I tried to save you.”
His grief was so intense he barely registered the voice behind him.
“Jeremy?” It was Eve.
He slowly turned, to see her standing there, looking down at him. Blake was directly behind her, with Tony and Myron coming up on the rear.
“What happened here?” Blake asked.
Tony stepped around him and saw the body Jeremy was holding. Jeremy looked up at him, his eyes red and wet with tears, holding her up as if she were a peace offering.
“She was my sister, Tony. She was my sister.”
They walked toward him, and Jeremy’s eyes opened wide with alarm. “Careful! There’s a tripwire!” They stopped.
“I don’t know if they’ll fire again, but it sets off two rifles in the wall.”
They searched and found it, carefully stepping over it. They knelt beside Jeremy, and placed their arms around him.
“Jeremy,” Blake asked, “Where’s Staci?”
Jeremy shook his head, and cried harder. “I don’t know. She went that way,” he pointed, “Down that tunnel, with Johnny.”
“Johnny?” Tony said. “You found Johnny?”
Eve held Jeremy’s hand. It was clear he didn’t want to talk right now. He stayed silent for a moment, and then looked at them.
“How did you find me?”
“We heard the gunfire,” Blake said. “We followed the sound
of it.”
Jeremy nodded, and slowly rose to his feet. He lay his sister down gently. They stood up with him.
The Pit in the Woods: A Mercy Falls Mythos Page 57