The Legacy Series (Book 1): Legacy [Sanguis]

by Ray, Timothy A.

  “Then we’re not giving it back. We figure out where he’ll be next and wait for him to show up,” Naomi told him.

  “And where is that exactly? He didn’t give a name, who knows who he’s going after?” he said with a tone of despair. “Closer to home? I have some distant relatives I don’t talk to, very few friends, no one that I can think of that would impact me heavier than the loss of my wife already has. He’s already hit as close to home as he will ever get.”

  “He’ll find a way, the bastards always do,” Naomi remarked. “Any news from Ayana or Hoops yet? They were supposed to be heading back here an hour ago.”

  Speedy shook his head, then pound the desktop with his hand. “Got it!”

  “Got what?”

  “Oi broke de phone’s encrypshun! We’re in!”

  Naomi leaned over, a hand on the young man’s shoulder, her eyes peering intently on the phone in Speedy’s hand. “What’s on it? What’s driving this vamp to such extremes?”

  “Thar’s an app on de main screen called Bludhub, waaat de feck is dat?” Speedy replied with surprise. “Is dat sum boke vampire version av Grubhub?”

  “Grubhub?” he asked, unaware of what he was talking about. “That got something to do with food?” Then it hit him. “Oh, that’s awful.”

  Naomi lifted the phone, her brow furrowing as she opened the app and peered at its contents. “Body type, blood type, hair color, diet, everything you need to custom pick your victim, like a dating app gone horribly wrong. Says its version 11.4. How the hell did they have something like this for that long and we not pick up on it?”

  “Judging by what we’re seeing,” he commented, motioning to the monitor, “they go through great lengths to keep it hidden.”

  “Not loike we’ve bothered checkin’ their pockets for their phones after we behead dem,” Speedy snickered, then grew grave. “Proobably not master av times ter craic jokes, eh?”

  Naomi set the phone down, “its disgusting. We need to put a stop to it. Can you hack in and shut them down?”

  Speedy leaned back and thrummed his fingers on the desktop. “Depends on de level av sophisticashun an' encrypshun, 'oy gran' a coder they 'av, but most likely Oi can. But ye sure yer want ter shut it down?”

  “Baboso, how can you ask me that? This is a menu of human beings served up like lobster on a room service tray. Oh, I’m fucking sure,” she snapped back.

  “Let me rephrase. Dare is a gran' chance dat if Oi can 'ack into their network, Oi can access de IP addresses av every user, maybe track their phones through their locashun services,” Speedy returned with a thoughtful look.

  “Are you saying you can track every bastardo that uses this thing?” she pushed, an eyebrow raised.

  Speedy nodded.

  “I need to know where all our people are,” Naomi replied with a pursed lip. “Track their transponders.” She then picked up her phone and sent a few hurried texts. “I know that you’re practically going into this blind, but like it or not you’ve been thrust into the center of this thing. I need to know I can count on you not to bolt, that you’ll see this through.”

  She was now looking at him and he gulped. “Don’t really have anywhere to bolt to,” he began. “Besides, I want the bastard that murdered my wife. You seem to be the best way for me to get that. We can discuss what comes after when that son of a bitch is dead.”

  She laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s the spirit.”

  “What’s up?” Ezio asked from the doorway, phone in hand.

  “You say that you can use that app to track down all vamps using it, which means they can also track us as you just logged into the damned thing. Turn the fucking thing off, take the sim card out and stick it in a burner. Put a new sim card in it and hand it over. Then I want you to pack up your shit and get your ass back to London. We need that shit secure and Texas sure as shit ain’t it.”

  “Yer want us ter abandon yer ‘ere?” Speedy asked with confusion.

  “Yeah, that’s not happening,” Ezio responded.

  He took a step back, he could see that her temper was about to flare, and he didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire. “I think you two hijos de putas have forgotten who’s in charge here. I gave an order, get it done or I’ll kick your culos myself!”

  Ezio came forward and threw his shoulders back, “you can’t honestly think I’m just going to leave you here with a guy more likely to shoot himself than a vamp for backup?”

  “I gave you a direct order,” Naomi shot back, holding her ground.

  “Renny an' Ayana are showin' ter still be at de police stashun. Benji is watchin' de birds an' their aunt, 'is fone is pingin' jist outside their apartment complex. Scalps looks ter be returnin' ter base,” Speedy informed them.

  “Without checking in first?” she asked without turning away from Ezio. “We’re about to get hit. I’m telling you one more time, get Speedy and Kayumi in the Humvee and get the fuck out of here!”

  Speedy was already moving while Ezio held his ground, frozen in place. “You don’t think you’re overreacting?”

  “He’s been ignoring our calls, he was on location at that last attack, and now he’s heading back here without checking in,” Naomi growled. “You know what? I don’t need to explain myself. You’ve got your orders, carry them out or get lost, you’re done.”

  “There’s no call—,” Ezio began.

  “Cállate,” she commanded, and the other man immediately cut off his retort and stood there fuming. “The longer we stand here discussing this, the closer this asshole gets. Get them out of here, now.”

  “Oi’m not done ‘ere yet,” Speedy suddenly protested.

  “Take your laptop, work on the road, but make sure you turn the damn location services off, mask your location,” she ordered, then turned to him. “Make sure you’ve got all the gear you need, this is about to get rough.”

  He nodded, unwilling to argue and face her wrath as well. The other two were moving towards the door where Kayumi was waiting just beyond; he stepped out of the way, so they could join her.

  A few moments later, all that remained were he and Naomi, and they were supposed to do what? Fend off a master vampire by themselves? Naomi might be able to pull that off, but how the hell was he? Until this night, he’d only held a gun once before in his life, and he hadn’t fired it even then.

  “I’ve got all that I need. Wouldn’t know what else to use anyhow. So, we’re just going to hang out and wait for someone to show up?” he asked.

  She smiled, “not a chance.”

  II

  Standing in the woods near the road leading towards the main house, he felt a cool wind blow across his face, making him shiver. It was the coldest part of the night, the hour before the dawn, and despite the gear he had weighing him down, he felt cold and rigid. Naomi was nearby leaning against a tree, her phone in hand, eyes roaming from the screen to the road with a calmness he wished he felt. “Does it make sense that they’d allow themselves to be tracked coming in? Wouldn’t it be smarter to get rid of the phone? Have the element of surprise?”

  “Why do you think we’re out here instead of in there where it’s warmer? If this is a trick, I don’t want to be caught with our pants down,” she responded. She then tapped the Bluetooth in her ear. “Yeah. Well, tell Renny there is no point in coming back now. He wouldn’t get here in time anyhow. Got maybe five minutes til contact. Yeah, I hope it’s just Scalps too, but I know better. Okay. If you don’t hear from us in an hour, assume the worse. Call London, get reinforcements, and get that phone and everything you get from it back to them as quickly as possible. If they find out we have access to their network they’ll shut it down. See you on the flipside. Look,” she paused, glancing his way, “I know you’re nervous, just don’t shoot me by accident, okay?”

  He laughed and shook his head, “no promises.” He didn’t know why it was funny, it just was. He couldn’t help it. It helped bleed off some of his anxiety and the smirk
he saw forming on her face made it worth it. “I would just avoid standing in front of me the best you can.” It was a moot point anyhow, he had seen the way that Amanda moved during their first encounter, he doubted he’d get a shot off anyway.

  She waved her hand in the air to signal he should be quiet and stowed her phone in a pouch at her waist. Then she brought up her AR-15 and looked to where the driveway emerged on their right.

  With trembling fingers, he undid the catch on his gun and slipped it free; it felt heavier than before. Was it him being tired or his subconscious railing against its use? Keeping it near his right thigh, he leaned against a tree, making sure he was mostly hidden from view, and peered out at the road beyond.

  He could hear the crunching of gravel, saw the flicker of light, and knew that a car was slowly approaching the main house. Moments later Scalps’ truck nosed its way into view, inching along the road, the tinted windows and the darkness of night making it impossible to see who was driving. It coasted to a stop and the engine died.

  His heart was thundering in his chest, his eardrums pounding with its furious beating. He took a deep breath and tried to steady himself; it was not working.

  No one emerged from the vehicle, the headlights and steam coming off the engine the only signs it had been recently used. Every second they waited felt like a minute, every minute an hour. As much as he feared what would happen next, part of him wanted it to begin so the anticipation of it would be over. And as more time passed, he shot Naomi a questioning look, but she didn’t return it, her eyes focused on the truck as if nothing else in the world existed.

  The driver’s door clicked open, giving him a slight start, lights flashing briefly over his vision as his tired mind throbbed with the movement.

  He was getting punchy.

  A large foot emerged, the tip shaking slightly as it reached down and made contact with the gravel driveway. Another leg followed, as a hand reached out and grasped the edge of the driver door for support. Then the large figure of their Navajo team mate appeared, his eyes distant, his movements slow, as he came to stand in the doorway of the truck, his body weaving slightly as he tried to maintain his balance.

  It looked like he needed help and his first instinct was to run and give it, but Naomi hissed at him and motioned for him to stay put. That was her comrade out there, how could she stay in the shadows and not go to his aid? Were they just going to stand there and watch him die?

  The broad-shouldered man turned, making his breath catch in his throat. There was a large gash in the man’s neck from where he’d been attacked, a dark maroon color staining his right shoulder and chest; dried blood. How the man was standing on his own was a mystery, that he had driven there at all—a miracle.

  Scalps shut the door and was lost to view as the headlights overpowered and drowned out their vision. He was nothing but a black shadow moving amongst the light as he wobbled his way up the driveway to the front porch. The man had been hurt, had driven back to where safety should have been afforded, and rather than helping him, they were skulking in the forests watching him die instead.

  It felt wrong.

  The man’s form blazed into existence as he stepped in front of the headlights, his hand gripping the railing on the porch steps as he took a shaking step up the first. More blood had cascaded down the man’s back, how he had any left in his body to keep his heart pumping he doubted even a doctor would know.

  “We need to help him,” he whispered hoarsely.

  Naomi shot him a dirty look and waved her hand downward.

  He shook his head, ready to pitch forward and go to the man’s side; they couldn’t just let him die on the front porch, not after coming so far for help. It was obvious that using the phone for anything but texting would be out, who could talk with a wound like that? And with the trembling of the man’s body, texting would probably prove difficult as well.

  She waved harder, then pointed towards the house once more, her finger slightly elevated past where the porch would be.

  He turned his head back around and watched as Scalps reached the front door, his hand on the doorknob, his body swaying as he tried to shove the locked door open; to no avail. His eyes elevated past that to the roof on the second floor and froze. A figure in black stood on the rooftop peering in their direction, an automatic weapon in hand.

  Vampires carried guns too?

  How had he gotten there? No one else had emerged from the truck other than Scalps, who was busy bending over to retrieve a spare key from under the welcome mat and apparently unaware that he’d been followed home. The stranger put a hand to his head, as if straining to hear someone, then brought his weapon up and aimed it in the direction of the road.

  Another seat of headlights appeared on the road heading in, his mind reeling at the sight. Had someone followed Scalps here besides the guy on the roof? Was that man a scout? A dark blue Volvo appeared and rolled to a stop next to the truck, its occupant leaning forward and peering out the windshield at the man trying to open the front door to the plantation house.

  A light appeared on his left and he saw that Naomi was furiously typing something on her phone, her eyes twitching from the man on the roof to the Volvo; did she know who the driver was?

  Four things happened simultaneously, and his tired mind had a hard time focusing on any part of it. It was like watching a movie in the fourth row of a theatre, body craning back and trying to see one thing amongst the many; it was impossible to catch it all.

  A phone lit up in the car as the driver lifted it to read an incoming text, the illumination provided revealing that he knew the driver after all, it was Benji. Scalps got the front door open and staggered inside, nearly falling as the door gave way. The man on the roof dropped to the ground, his knees bending with the landing, but otherwise unhurt from what might have killed a lesser man, the gun already rising. Another figure emerged from the woods across from them, leapt onto the truck bed, then launched himself onto the roof of the Volvo, making it rock with impact, the crunching of the hood the only real sound that reached him from all of it.

  “Can we go help them now?” he hissed hurriedly, hand tensing on the grip of his gun, his fear for the man in the Volvo overpowering his need for self-preservation. Benji seemed like a kind soul, despite his genetic make-up, and the thought of what might happen to him in the next few seconds was an atrocity he couldn’t just watch happen.

  Feeling tough with a gun in hand and you don’t even know how to use the damned thing.

  Point and squeeze the trigger lightly, breathe out while doing so. I watch the cop shows, no sweat, right?

  The silence his mind responded with was enough of an answer as to how wrong he really was.

  Her weapon was up but she made no effort to do anything else, her eyes watching everything closely, as if trying to calculate the best way to attack, assessing the odds, whether they’d all die or if there was even a chance at coming out ahead. He didn’t envy her; a leadership role was not something he’d ever wanted. Being responsible for his own self was enough without adding the lives of others. Yet, he wondered how she could just stand there and not act when one of her own was in danger?

  The man on the roof of the Volvo hopped off and landed heavily on the gravel, his hand snaking out and yanking on the driver door. It came off with a loud crunch, then was flung in their direction, striking a tree just four yards to his left and embedding itself in the vibrating trunk. Benji was pulled from the Volvo, his eyes wide, hands struggling to rise as his aggressor leaned forward and spat hurried whispers in the man’s face. Benji shook his head and tried to shrug his shoulders, but the other man had forced him against the side of the car, restricting his movements.

  “They’re gone,” a voice muttered from the left, another figure coming to stand on the front porch and looking at her armed comrades below. “The bitch is dead, which is really going to piss him off. He had a soft-spot for that one. The phone is gone as well. Best let the boss know, they are in the
wind.” The timber of the voice was feminine, the shape of the speaker lost to the body armor she wore.

  A branch broke nearby and an instant later another larger form emerged from the forest, missing their position by less than five feet, “nothing out here either.”

  Holy fuck. Had they acted, they’d have been cut down seconds after revealing their position. How did that thing miss them, and how had they not noticed him moving through the trees as well? The fucker was huge, like Andre the Giant huge.

  Instinctively he shrank against the tree, trying to take up as little space in the world as possible. He had expected to see the vampire that had been taunting him over the net, not a strike force employing military tactics.

  “Where are they?” the man gripping Benji’s jacket blurted, giving him a shard shake.

  “Of whom do you refer?” Benji returned with a calm voice that did not match his facial expression. “I am a representative of the estate, called out here to investigate the alarms having been triggered within. As we speak, law enforcement is en route. You might want to release me and take your leave before they get here.”

  The man snorted, “your Jedi shit doesn’t work on me, I’ve got the blood in me. Maybe more than what I smell on you.”

  Benji’s face remained stoic and his shoulders squared in defiance. “Makes no difference, what I said was true, the authorities shall be here any minute. Don’t believe me, check the open call on my phone.”

  “Fucker is a half-breed,” the man told the woman on the porch, “don’t believe a word he says, he’s one of them.”

  The leader of the group came down the steps, her weapon at her side, the large man flanking her as she approached the duo. “Like my comrade here, I don’t believe in coincidences. A vampire showing up at a hunter’s nest and pretending to be nothing but a glorified groundskeeper? Not bloody likely. Where is the rest of your crew?”

  Benji held his ground, straightening his stance despite the man pushing against him. “I wish I had the information you seek, but I’m just as stunned as you are that no one is here. However, it doesn’t excuse your trespassing on private property, something I’ll be sure to take up with the sheriff’s department when they arrive. We will be pressing charges.”