Blood Harvest

by Michael Weinberger

  Kunnert’s agent, former Sergeant Nick Morris, entered and moved through the dimly lit, smoke filled club, completely ignoring the young buxom women sauntering around him. He removed a roll of one dollar bills and stuffed three or four of them into a g-string whenever he was propositioned by one of the girls who worked the club. After giving out a few bucks it was easy to shoo them away; they moved on to find other men who might be larger fish.

  Initially, the agent had no luck pinpointing the target after his first search of the club. He started to check the VIP room when a huge bouncer blocked his path. Putting the singles away he reached into another pocket and pulled out a few one hundred dollar bills and requested a chair in the VIP room. The now friendly bouncer politely escorted Kunnert into the reserved area and he immediately located the doctor.

  The target, Doctor Phineas Theodore Whelan, was sitting at his table with two practically naked women grinding their bodies over his in a manner that would probably get them arrested if the doctor turned out to be a vice cop. The agent sat at his table and the bouncer asked what type of girl or girls he would like to have sent over. He requested instead to watch a few of the girls first before selecting anyone in particular. The bouncer nodded, said he would send a waitress over and returned to his spot by the door.

  No one in the club had noticed that the good doctor had been placing hockey puck sized discs throughout the club as he entered the establishment. By the time he reached his table he had spread nearly half a dozen discs from the front to the rear of the club. The music began to fade and the two girls slid off whatever part of the doctor’s body they had attached themselves to and collected their money. The doctor shifted in his seat while handing the girls their bills and the first girl disappeared into the club, but the second must have sensed the doctor had deeper pockets to delve into; she sat back down on his lap without putting her top back on.

  The doctor slipped one hand into a front pants pocket and fumbled around for something. The girl’s faced contorted in a concerned countenance as she probably thought he was trying to “adjust” himself until the doctor removed his hand and revealed a dark round object which he dropped to the floor.

  “Oh, what’s that?” the confused dancer asked as she watched the object roll slowly away from where they were sitting.

  Agent Morris had felt more than heard the disc land on the floor and he tried to get a glimpse of whatever it was before he returned his attention to the doctor who had donned a strange looking pair of sunglasses resembling laboratory goggles. In the hand previously holding the round object was what looked like a keyless entry remote for a car. The doctor’s thumb was resting on one of the buttons.

  “Those glasses are pretty weird; kinda neat too, but weird.” The dancer was commenting as the doctor cupped his free hand under one of her breasts.

  It was then that something bumped against Sergeant Morris’ foot. He looked down to see the round object the doctor dropped sitting on the floor next to his feet. Agent Morris’ eyes went wide with shock as he realized what he was looking at. Before he could react the doctor pressed the button on the keypad igniting all of the discs in the club simultaneously. Each disc exploded in a cacophony of sound and light that reverberated through the club and could be heard outside on the street.

  The explosions from the doctor’s modified flash-bang grenades were similar to the more traditional type. Typically, the large explosion from such a grenade would produce an immense amount of sound and light without force or projectiles, considered a humane weapon that attempted to disorientate and subdue. The doctor had modified the light to explode in a predictable, rapid flash pattern similar to what he had programmed his “camera” to emit. Bodies fell from stages, poles, barstools and wherever they stood. Others slumped limply in lounge chairs or fell across the small tables behind which they had been seated.

  The flashes ended almost as soon as they’d begun and the doctor found himself on the floor screaming in agony. In his zeal to ignite his latest creation he had forgotten to place the earplugs in his ears. The tumultuous sound rendered him in abject misery even though the glasses had protected him from the lights.

  Dr. Whelan never considered himself to be physically graceful or coordinated, but the stagger he exhibited with his first step made him realize just how much his equilibrium had been sent asunder. Dizzy and slightly nauseous post flash bang grenade, he braced himself on a hand railing and waited for the room to stop spinning. After a few moments the pain and vertigo had subsided, although it would be some time before his hearing would return completely. He stood to survey the scene. Men and women were strewn about the club and, as far as he could see, no one had been unaffected. He removed the glasses and placed them in his fanny pack then removed the mobile anesthetic device he had created from a modified camera with a more powerful than normal flash.

  Switching a knob on the top left side of the device it once again became an actual camera. The doctor moved through the throng of inanimate bodies on the floor and in chairs, taking snapshots as he meandered. That is, until he found Kunnert’s agent lying on his back in a wide-eyed stare at the ceiling.

  “Can you see me? I know you can.” The doctor mocked him as he spoke, “How long do you think it will be like this? Will it last for a few minutes, a few hours, a few days? Well, I’ll tell you a little secret. So far, there is no limit to how long a person can stay in this state. If I were to make a prediction, I would guess you could very well spend the rest of you life trapped in that body of yours with your mind perfectly clear and cognizant.” The doctor turned to walk away, but after only a few steps he stopped and walked back to the agent on the floor.

  “Wouldn’t be sporting of me to leave one of the team like this; I’ll let Kunnert know you are down, but when you come out of it, please let him know I don’t like having a chaperone.”

  Chapter 20

  Outside on the street the explosion of sound and flashing of light had not gone unnoticed. The people who were standing in the doorway of the Glitter Gulch, and could see the lights generated by the grenades, collapsed like marionettes whose strings had just been cut. Others ran from the sound of the explosion as it rocked the entire three block area. Kunnert was in the process of swallowing a mouthful of water from a squeeze bottle when the flash bangs detonated. He nearly choked on the liquid as his body contorted from the explosive sounds.

  He immediately started giving orders as his security officers transformed themselves into the elite soldiers they actually were. Drawing automatic weapons from specially made concealed holsters within their uniforms they rushed to the club’s entrance but did not enter the facility. Armed Las Vegas security guards lumbered into action and drew their weapons on Kunnert’s men who returned the greeting with raised weapons of their own. A free-for-all gunfight was about to ensue as Kunnert hollered for his men to lower their weapons. Reluctant, but ultimately loyal to their commanding officer, Kunnert’s men lowered their weapons as Kunnert spoke with the Las Vegas security guards.

  Tourists ran in every direction still having no idea what had happened or where. Someone screamed “Terrorist attack!” and the whole scene deteriorated into a full-fledged panic. The general tourist population went into chaos as word of the explosions spread through the crowd.

  Las Vegas Metro Police would soon be arriving; Kunnert however, had dealt with this contingency earlier. Previous work in the military and on a federal level in law enforcement had taught him how to accurately forge the necessary documents and identification he needed to give him instant credibility with the locals, something he should have done in advance in Los Angeles. Had he warmed up the LAPD to his presence, The Inferno incident would have had his team working with the police instead of containing them.

  The Las Vegas Metro officers who arrived on the scene would have orders from their superiors instructing them to assist a federal terrorist task force already in place. As they arrived, Kunnert set the local police officers to the task of controlling t
he crowd knowing they would have their hands full and wouldn’t accidentally be witness to anything incriminating his team or Pharmanetics.

  Once Kunnert finished speaking with local law enforcement he made a beeline for the Glitter Gulch. Stepping over the bodies lying in disarray, Kunnert quickly moved through the front doors and found Dr. Whelan inside taking pictures with elation.

  Kunnert moved up next to the doctor, “I take it from your demeanor the test was a complete success?” The doctor’s smile was so wide Kunnert thought it might cause the man’s lips to split.

  “I checked every room and no one eluded the effect. We have a completely successful test!” The doctor pumped one fist at his side in triumph as he finished his statement, then looked to Kunnert as he remembered the agent on the floor. “Oh, your guy is over there.” The doctor pointed absently in the direction of Kunnert’s downed man as he resumed taking photographs.

  Kunnert nodded and walked over to where his man was lying on the strip club floor. “Can you wake him up here?”

  “You know he’s actually awake at the moment, right?”

  “That’s not what I’m asking Doctor.”

  “Sorry. Yes I could get the proper equipment easily enough, but it might be a better idea if we took him back to my lab in Los Angeles.”

  “Why?’

  “Just in case anything unusual happens when we bring him out of it.”

  “Understood.” Kunnert lifted his radio from his pocket and pressed the send button. “Evac for one.” He didn’t waste another moment on his man as his mind was already thinking ahead.

  “So we are a go for phase two?”

  The doctor slapped Kunnert on the shoulder. “Oh absolutely! By all means go out and start bagging and tagging our ‘volunteers.’ The sooner we get them back to the lab with the others, the better.” The doctor raised the camera up to his eyes and resumed clicking away at the lifeless forms on the floor.

  Kunnert began to move off when the doctor called out to him. “This is so stimulating. Can you ever remember having this much fun?”

  Chapter 21

  4:30 a.m. Los Angeles, California

  Steve and Chris had dropped down into the sewer in pursuit of Alpha, Lei and the woman they had carried off. They instantly lost the trail, as Steve had suspected they would, and the two climbed back out of the sewer and replaced the manhole cover a few moments later.

  As they made their way back to the H2 Chris broke the uncomfortable silence.

  “So, at the risk of repeating myself, now might be a good time to tell me again that you are not really a vampire.” Chris wasn’t afraid when he posed the question this time. In fact, he actually seemed more amused then anything else, teasing Steve with the repetition of his earlier request.

  “After what you just witnessed I’m not sure I can anymore.” Steve paused and shook his head, “in fact I’m not sure I can convince myself of that anymore either.”

  Chris’ mocking expression vanished as soon as he heard the tone of Steve’s voice. The two walked in silence until they reached the H2. Chris held his hand out to Steve who silently handed the keys over and moved to the passenger side of the vehicle. The two climbed in and buckled up as Chris turned the key in the ignition. He left the H2 running in idle as he turned to Steve.

  “Okay, let me see if I can make a few educated guesses here. You knew them didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  Chris nodded. “Well you’ve told me enough about Alpha for me to guess that was him?”

  “Yes.”

  “And he’s the leader of your people and a direct descendent of the original founder of your clan, or coven or whatever you call it?”

  “I call it my family Chris. We’ve never looked at ourselves as anything other than a large family and community. As far as Alpha’s lineage is concerned, the rumor is he’s a direct descendant of the family patriarch Alphonso Diemo.”

  “And he’s your father?”

  “Yes…no…well, basically yes. He’s not my biological father, I don’t know who that man might be, but Alpha is the one who raised me and taught me just about everything I know.”

  “Lovely. What kind of name is Alpha anyway?” Chris wasn’t bothering to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

  “It’s more a title than a name. ‘Alpha’, you know, like the first in charge kind of thing.”

  “Oh sure, that makes perfect sense.” Chris rolled his eyes as he spoke. “Now, on to the more important things; as far as I can remember you’ve never mentioned ‘she of magnificent rack’ before. Who was she?”

  Steve turned to Chris, his face a mask of rage. “After all you saw her do, all you can comment on were her breasts?!?”

  Chris only reacted with a shrug of his shoulders and a smile. “You should know by now a good set of tits are and have always been at the top of my priority list.”

  When Steve’s face didn’t lose its edge Chris said only a little more seriously, “I haven’t forgotten the rest, it’s just my nature to make a snide sexual remark whenever I can. Although it would be remiss of me not to point out that this type of humor is usually well received by you. Why are you so sensitive all of a sudden? Who is she?”

  Steve’s face calmed and he pressed his hands to his temples as if fighting off a sudden headache.

  “We were engaged.” As he spoke the words Steve felt like all the air had suddenly been let out of him.

  “WHAT?!? You hit that?!? Oh good God in heaven tell me you hit that!”

  Steve immediately raised his head with an incredulous look on his face as Chris’ response couldn’t have been anymore inappropriate. Then again, it was Chris and the goofball expression he was shooting at Steve cut through his memories; a small laugh swelled from somewhere deep inside his core. By the time it reached the surface the laugh was rolling out of him and Chris had started as well. When the laughter finally ebbed, Chris put the H2 into drive and pulled out from where they had parked.

  “That’s better,” Chris said victoriously after having broken Steve out of the funk he’d been in. “Now about the vampire thing?”

  Steve asked the question out loud as if talking to the universe in general, “Am I a vampire?”

  Chris waited trying not to let his own excitement of the impending answer show in his expression.

  “The simple answer is ‘Yes.’”

  Chapter 22

  The silence in the H2 lingered for a time before Steve felt ready to continue.

  “People, and I do mean ‘people’, like my extended family and me, have existed throughout history. Why? I don’t know. Maybe nature decided humans needed a natural predator, or maybe it truly is as simple as a genetic mistake which caused the condition. Regardless, our history would read something like this, and please note this is more legend than fact.”

  “Initially, the madness caused by our Porphyria claimed the sufferers around puberty and they would become little more than animals. Some basic instinct we have however, tells us what we need in order to survive, hence the legendary attacking of people and the drinking of blood. Some of my kind even embraced the condition and thrived despite the serial killings they were perpetrating within their own society. The one commonly perceived characteristic was that all of us were monsters and deserved little more than the gruesome deaths we eventually received. My kind were hunted down and killed in the most heinous way the primitive villagers or tribesmen could conjure up in their minds. Even the church got involved and proclaimed us demons; they had special branches employed to hunt us down. I suppose its no surprise these branches included the Inquisitors during the Spanish Inquisition, but I reckon that it’s not relevant at the moment.”

  Steve paused for a breath in order to collect his thoughts and he realized Chris was driving in circles.

  “Where are we going anyway?”

  “Nowhere. Keep talking.”

  Steve nodded and continued. “Anyway, the way the story goes is that one of my people was able to overcome th
e madness. How he managed it has never been figured out because, even to this day, if any of my kind goes into the madness there isn’t supposed to be any way to recover. Still, according to the legends, this one man recovered and began to collect as much information on the condition as he could. Initially, he could only use his own life as data, but gradually he found another like him on the brink of insanity and helped him recover. Together these two men went on a bloody crusade of sorts to save others like themselves. This is where the modern day legend of the vampire may have started. Alphonso and William treated anyone not like them as little more than cattle. They were brutal, secretive and incredibly efficient in their abilities.”

  Steve paused at this point and stared off into space as if telling the story had caused him to drift into his own memories.

  Chris grew uneasy in this moment of silence and prompted, “So when did this Alphonso go from being a serial killer to your benevolent patriarch?”

  Steve awoke from his daydream with a start and looked around as if confused by his surroundings, until his eyes fell on Chris and he seemed to regain his wits.

  “Right. Sorry.” Steve rubbed his face and continued where he had left off. “After a while, Alphonso and William had gathered so many of us together they couldn’t take enough blood from unwilling victims without running the risk of exposing themselves. They had been run off a few times when angry mobs began hunting them down; they needed to find a better way than killing indiscriminately. It was Alphonso who came up with the answer to the problem when he began working as a barber in England. He set up a makeshift hospital/barbershop and began to perform bloodletting services to the English Aristocracy. Word spread and soon Alphonso had set himself and his extended family up in the heart of London; he was known to be an advisor to several of the English Kings from 1450 through 1528.”

  “Wait, wait, wait!” Chris interrupted. “That’s 78 years! How could he have worked for…” Chris looked at Steve and then thought to himself before saying, “Oh, vampire…right.”