“Is that her?”
“Yes it is. Help me cut her loose.” I began slicing the nylon ropes on the right, while Chuck started on the left.
“What’s wrong with her? Why’s she all tied up?”
“Apparently they’ve been feeding on her. She barely has enough blood to sustain life. It’s pretty damn painful.” Finishing with the rope, I moved up by her face.
“A vampire running on empty. That’s kind of funny, don’t you think?” Once more in the midst of dire situation, Chuck extrapolated humor from whatever source he deemed appropriate, this time a Jackson Brown song.
“Sabine, I am Nicholas. We are going to get you out of here.” I reached across her body and grabbed Chuck’s hand. “This will only sting a bit.” I lanced his palm with my knife and blood began to flow.
“What the hell man? First you break my arm and now you stab me?” Chuck screeched.
I put his hand to her lips. “Drink this, it will help you recover.” Sabine parted her lips, allowing the steady flow of blood to enter her mouth. I looked back at Chuck, “Trust me, I know what I am doing.” Chuck pulled back on his hand, but I did not allow it to budge. “Trust me.”
Sabine opened her eyes, her gray flesh began to turn. I pulled Chuck’s hand away and then began feeding her with my blood. The running footsteps forewarned of approaching company from the stairs. “Chuck, go deal with them.” Chuck positioned himself in the hallway just beyond the opened door, as an impromptu rescue party arrived.
The two vampires that entered almost stumbled over the bodies of their fallen brethren. “What the hell is this?”
Before he finished his question, his head was rolling on the floor, detached via Chuck’s machete. In a moment of, look what I did, Chuck temporarily forgot what he was dealing with. The singular follow through of his assault brought the blade behind him and then over his head creating a vertical strike on our second vampire, splitting his skull straight down to the nose. He was not happy.
Blood spewing in all directions, instantly he shoved Chuck to the floor and bit into his neck. Chuck howled in pain. I flew across the room and knocked him against the wall.
Of all the gore I had witnessed in my life, none compared to this. With his head lopped in halves, he rose from the floor and stood before me with a laugh so sinister I knew it would fill my nightmares for years to come. At this point I had to believe he thought I was human, because he continued to laugh without attacking. I felt a stake enter my hand from behind.
One might think, now with two brains, he might have been smarter. He was still laughing as the stake pierced his heart then pegged him to the wall. For just a second, I wanted to be like Chuck, to find some witty recant as his life departed. But in all honestly, the vision before me was just too damn disturbing.
“Hey man, help me up, I’m fucking dying down here.”
I reached down and pulled Chuck to his feet.
“I hope that fucker didn’t have rabies.” Chuck held his hand over his neck and picked up his machete. “Ain’t this some shit, a couple days in New York and I’m all fucked up. I need to get back to Colombia where it’s safe.”
“How about for now, you just get Sabine downstairs to the lobby.” I helped Sabine to her feet and walked her to the door. She did not possess the strength to make it down five flights of stairs. “This is Chuck, he will get you out of here. If you do what he tells you, everything should be fine.”
Sabine’s eyes were sullen and suspicious. She looked to the sunshine streaming in the broken window and pulled away. “There’s not much time. My friend will carry you down and cover you before leaving the building. I don’t have time to explain, but I have found your daughter. You must go now if you hope to see her.”
Without a word, Sabine took hold of Chuck’s arm. He swept her from her feet and headed for the stairwell. “You gonna take the lead?” Chuck asked.
“I’ll go down to clear the way, but then I will double back. I’m going to find this Vincent the others spoke of, I need to know what he knows.”
“Fuck him, let’s get the hell out of here and blow this place to holy hell.”
“Nick, don’t do it,” Sam implored over the com.
“Get the hell out of there, O’Reilly commanded.
“Brain …” Phillip began to join the chorus of the job is done, get the hell out.
I pulled out my earbud and stuck it in my pocket. “Have Phillip initiate exit B.” I closed my eyes and felt the presence of approaching evil. “They are coming, we need to go.”
By the time Chuck reached the outer door, the street was full of cops trying to enforce a perimeter. Two news crews were frantically jockeying for position on the block just beyond the yellow and black crime scene tape. Lieutenant Michaels had just arrived on the scene and was busy barking out commands. O’Reilly had taken position between parked cars, slightly out of plain sight.
“O’Reilly, I’m at the door. Am I clear?” Chuck asked.
Mitch surveyed the chaotic circus. “Not hardly,” he scoffed.
“Get me clear, I need to get Sabine to the apartment, pronto.”
“Negative Big Guy. The albino cross-bowed the bloodsucker you guys threw out the window. The cops are all over command central. Phil, Daniel, and Sam, hell the entire crew may all be in custody by now.”
“Shit, I got to do something with this girl. Tell the cops we’ve got to get the CI off the streets ASAP. Suggest the lobby of a building where the sun’s not shining.”
“Ten-four. Stand by.” Mitch sighed deeply and headed for the Lieutenant. This was about to go over like shit Slurpee in a blender with no lid.
“Lieutenant Michaels,” Mitch called as he recognized the commanding officer.
“What the hell? Who let this lunatic in?” Michaels threw his arms in the air in exasperation and waited for someone to reply.
Joe Bonelli knew his lieutenant’s tone all too well. More so, the lump in his throat knew it better. “Lieutenant, this is Mitch O’Reilly.”
“I know who this is. This is Mitch Fucking O’Reilly, formerly of the 7th precinct, formerly of the NYPD. Would somebody please arrest this man or shoot him? Either will be fine with me.”
“Lieutenant, before we go for a romp down memory lane, I’ve got a situation here,” O’Reilly explained.
“You’ve got a situation? You are in my jurisdiction, Mitch, which makes it my fucking situation.”
“Walter! Save it for later. I’ve got a deep cover CI. I need to get from this building to that one across the street, right now. Then it’s all yours.”
“It’s all mine right now Mitch.” Michaels looked down the street as the reinforcements piled in.
“If you’re planning on storming the building, I’ve got intel you’re gonna need to know before you go in.”
Michaels grunted forcefully. “Let them out, Joe,” Michaels instructed Bonelli.
“All units stand-down. We’ve got two agents coming out,” Bonelli radioed.
“All’s clear Chuck, proceed to the lobby across the street,” O’Reilly relayed in his com.
Chuck, drenched in blood, burst through the doors with Sabine in his arms, her body concealed by a blanket from the early afternoon sun. Running as best as he could, he crossed the street and disappeared into the apartment.
“I want two men on those two,” Michaels instructed Bonelli. “Then I want ten guys at the door ready to take this building.” He turned back to O’Reilly. “What the hell was all that about?”
“Walter, have your guys stand down. They will get massacred in there.”
“You tell’n me ten of Brooklyn’s finest can’t take care of this business? What’s in there?”
“You’ve got a cult in there with at least fifteen members, the likes of you’ve never seen before. I’ve got one guy still on the inside. He says they’ve killed every civilian in the building. One hundred of your best are no match for them.”
Michaels got on the radio. “Is SWAT on the
way?”
“Two minutes,” a voice replied.
“You might want to get your guy out, Mitch. If what you say is true, as soon as SWAT gets here, we’re going door to door and floor to floor … and there won’t be any trial dates necessary for those pricks.”
“Walter!” O’Reilly grabbed the Lieutenant by the arm and pulled him aside. “This is going to sound completely insane, but guns won’t do any good. They are not human.”
“Bonelli,” Michaels screamed. “Get this deranged lunatic across the street and hold him with the rest of the circus he brought to town.”
“Walter, you have to listen. They are vampires.” O’Reilly implored. Bonelli grabbed him by the arms and as he was led away he screamed out, “Walter, they will slaughter them all.”
“You’re damn right we will.” Michaels replied. “Where’s my SWAT?”
“And who was the brainchild that decided I should not have been woken up?” Vincent peered out the window to the street below. Even with his dark sunglasses on, the brightness of the afternoon sun burned his eyes. He turned back and stared menacingly at Sylvia and Peter. Running his hand along smooth finish of his cherry casket, Vincent’s ominous eyes warned of a festering rage.
“Len thought …” Peter began.
“Len thought, now Len is dead along with Al, Angelo, and Turek, and my fucking wife is missing. Additionally, all of our security is gone. You’ll forgive me if I seem a little cross, but apparently while I tried to get a little sleep, somebody was completely butt-fucking us and you morons were probably too busy fucking each other to notice.”
“Vincent …” Sylvia began to explain.
“Were either of you idiots aware that there is a legion of cops preparing to storm the building?”
“We were just about …”
“Oh shut up and listen. We have a few more hours till sunset. Gather everyone down on the third floor. As the cops work their way up, make sure none of them ever leave. I want them all dead, every last one. That should back the NYPD off long enough for the sun to go down. When it does, we leave.”
“Vincent, we should stay with you.” Sylvia began to approach their chosen leader, but Vincent held his hand high. “So you can protect me? I think I’ve had all the protection I can stand. Go down and kill the cops, slowly. One of them is bound to know what happened to Sabine. Do not come back without an answer.”
The sacrificial lambs entered the building, divided and began searching the ground floor apartments. Over the radio, they reported the tragedy from inside the building, breaking the spirits of all who listened to the barbaric details. So many gray corpses. Apparently, all had suffered from a multitude of bite wounds, in some ritualistic act of cannibalism.
Phillip had switched channels on my com, enabling me to know the progress of the SWAT team in the building. In my search for Vincent, I had gotten pinned down on the fifth floor as numerous vampires headed down to welcome New York’s finest. For better or worse, Vincent was my priority, and the welfare of the cops below could be of no concern at this junction.
The floor grew quiet again, I guesstimated roughly twelve to fourteen vampires passed. If Chuck’s intel was correct, I would face minimal resistance. I returned to the stairs and cautiously headed up. The first echo of gunfire stopped me dead in my tracks. Two more steps and my progress was halted by screams of agony. Too many screams to be ignored. This massacre had to stop.
Arriving from the rear of the attack, I was able to pick off most of them one by one with the stakes from Chucks backpack. Consumed with the buffet of fresh blood, the first five vampires I encountered on the fourth floor never saw me coming. By the time I reached the lobby only two police were left alive, both suffering from multiple lacerations. I sat on the bottom step and watched as they struggled to crawl to the door. Having witnessed the viciousness of the assault, I could not help but reflect on Rob’s death. All of these people, these innocent victims, were all of my making. The repercussions of this day would have long-reaching consequences for years to come.
Night had fallen, and I knew it would not be long before a second wave of cops stormed the building. Turning my attention to departing this macabre crime scene, I headed back up the stairs. By the third floor, I sensed the solitary presence of another. Upon reaching the eighth floor, I knew he waited in apartment C.
The door was slightly ajar and creaked as I pushed it open. Standing beside a casket and looking through parted drapes at the spectacle on the streets below, he ignored my arrival. If Marilyn Manson had an ugly twin, this would be him.
“You must be Vincent.”
“Yes,” he replied in mellow tones, while continuing to gaze below. “And are you the one responsible for the death of all my friends?”
“I am.”
“I guess that makes you some kind of lord of the damned?” He turned slowly and stared into my eyes. “Tell me, how does one man manage to kill so many?”
I offered a cordial smile exposing our dental similarities.
“And you are the source of my missing wife?”
“I merely offered Sabine the opportunity to leave. She was more than eager to accept.”
“I find it rude for a stranger to interfere in the marital affairs of others. How is it you came to us?” Vincent crept alongside of his casket, fingers trailing on the glossy wood surface.
“Maltor seemed more than eager for us to become acquainted.” I studied his motion and his hands. I could not read any premeditation to strike, but the human nature I once possessed warned his rage would not long be contained.
“Maltor, one would have thought a stock broker would have been a most excellent vampire,” Vincent laughed smugly. “You, however, appear to be a most outstanding vampire. How is it I have never heard a word of your existence?”
“My existence is of no concern to you. But what you have done in this building is the utmost concern of mine. Your very actions endanger the lives of those who prefer to remain in seclusion, living peacefully amongst the human world.” Vincent was blocking his thoughts, that much I knew for sure. Skilled to a lesser degree of our ways, I knew his play was imminent.
“Coexist? Surely you are kidding me. Humans are weak by nature’s standards. Take away their weapons and they would never survive in the wild. No my friend, it is not time to hide our identity as a coward, but to wake the humans to the reality of a new master race. And give them a choice, you know what most will decide; we are the master race.” Vincent spread his arms as if I were to behold some magnificence that would stem the confrontation.
Vincent had methodically circled the room and was now at the door. If he were planning on running, the chase would be short. “All I see is a murderer, with no purpose but self-fulfillment.”
“You know, I have learned much about vampires since meeting Sabine. It was a shame she thought as you did. It is why she had to be punished. But as she made me, I must have her back.” With reflexes as fast as mine, Vincent pulled a semi-automatic pistol and fired the hollow point round into my head. As I fell backwards, he fired several more rounds all striking my head and chest.
I was on my back in excruciating pain as he picked up the stake I had concealed in my sleeve.
“What do we have here? Oh, was this intended for me? Vincent stood over me, feet straddling my hips. He touched the tip of the stake. “Damn, that’s sharp.” Licking the blood from his fingertip he smiled broadly.
I could not move or reply. Although the wounds he inflicted were temporary, my body was wracked in unfathomable pain, again. Having endured so many catastrophic injuries over the last week, I was ready to clock out, permanently. The only issue in the way; I needed to kill this douche bag first.
“Well, time’s just about up. Too bad mere bullets wouldn’t do the trick. I hope you won’t think it ill-mannered of me to use your own weapon to kill you.” Double fisted, Vincent raised the stake high above his head. “On behalf of all my friends, fuck you.”
Just as Vincent�
��s arms began to strike down, the bloody point of a spear ruptured through the front side of his chest.
“Not today, asshole, nobody kills my fiancée without permission,” Samantha screamed from behind. Vincent grabbed the front end of the stake as Samantha continued to shove it through. With the tip of the spear nearing my face, Samantha pushed Vincent’s lifeless body to the side. Gazing down at me, Sam’s expression was of dire concern. “Oh Jesus, look what a mess you are. Can you move?”
Moving just a fraction was all I could muster. “Sam,” I mumbled weakly.
“You know, somehow this just doesn’t qualify as being careful or safe. If you weren’t already such a mess, I would wear you out, Nicholas Tepes.” She put her hand behind my head and raised it up. “We don’t have much time, can you stand?”
With three bullets in the head and three in the chest, standing was an unachievable concept. I gurgled my reply, which came out in the form of a bloody moan.
“God Nick, you are such a mess.” Samantha shook her head as she studied the shambles of my face. “Do I need to get all the missing pieces?”
I weakly moved my head side to side, indicating no.
“Sam, time to go,” Phillip radioed.
“I’ll have him down in five minutes.” Sam sighed deeply as she raised my chest off the floor. “It’s a damn good thing I love you, but you are gonna owe me a new outfit after this.”
Effortlessly, Sam lifted me off the floor and cradled me in her arms. “Did I forget to mention I’ve been working out? You should try it sometime, when you’re not all busy getting shot up and bleeding all over my clothes.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
TO SAY THE next hours of my life were a blur was a colossal understatement. I drifted in and out of consciousness; my body taking hours to recover from Vincent’s well placed shots. “It’s about time you woke up.”
Although not exactly the voice I expected to hear, Chuck’s voice was a welcome relief nonetheless. “Where are we?”
“About an hour from Romania.”
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