Paranormal Encounters

by Carl East

  Chapter 14

  The sun was setting and one by one, they arose to the night. Jenny found herself entwined with Michael on the edge of the room with his hands moving over her body. She shifted to give him better access totally forgetting the presence of the other two vampires but was brought out of her sexual stupor when she heard Johnny’s deep cough. Michael’s hands stopped roving when he suddenly realized that Johnny was probably privy to his seduction plans and God knows what else he’d been thinking when he first awakened with Jenny wrapped around him. Even now, his cock was rock hard and he was forcing himself to count sheep and think of anything else but sex, when Johnny heaved open the heavy door.

  James was completely oblivious to what was going on with the other three members of the group. He was checking the area where the knife had pierced his chest the night before when he heard the heavy door being opened. He stood up, turned to see Michael with Jenny and Johnny pushing his way through the door and began to worry about this turn of events. If Jenny had been feeding Johnny, would she have enough for Michael too he wondered.

  Johnny broke into everyone’s mental questions by stating the obvious that it was time to head to their main hideout and think about what they needed to do to work through the current dilemma. That effectively put the brakes on anything but survival for the time being and they cautiously made their way through the darkened night taking turns to survey the surroundings. They moved forward and kept watch but the night remained quiet and there didn’t appear to be anything to worry about. When they arrived at the main hideout James and Michael were impressed with how well it was concealed within the broken shells of buildings in the area. Johnny gave the two newcomers a quick tour of the various tunnels and main rooms. He carefully explained their procedure of never using the same entrance or exit twice and pointed out the additional hidden bolt holes and camouflaged hiding spots within the ceilings and floors of the lair.

  James and Jenny were beginning to feel the first twinges of thirst when Johnny said that he would like to talk to Michael alone. Jenny walked over, whispered in Johnny’s ear and turned to ask if James would like to follow her out. James had the sudden realization that he would probably be required to feed at least one of the vampires they were leaving behind. Once they were gone, Johnny turned to Michael.

  “What are you intentions towards Jenny?” he said.

  Michael watched the expressions crossing Johnny’s face and knew that he had no other choice but to tell the truth. Although hearing someone’s thoughts was different than mind reading it stood to reason that Johnny would know if he was telling the truth or not. “I have no intentions towards Jenny at this point, other than to get to know her better. We had an extreme physical reaction to one another when she offered her blood to save me. I can’t explain what it felt like; the only way to describe it is that it felt like I was coming home. All of my human life was dedicated to my studies to become a doctor and then when I achieved that goal I seemed to have less time for women than before. That’s not to say I hadn’t been involved with women it’s just that no one had ever made me feel the things that I do for Jenny.”

  Johnny watched Michael pacing back and forth, his hands moving to express this point or that. He’d stop to gather his thoughts and then start speaking again. Johnny thought, ‘my God he’s got it bad’. I think he’s in love with her.’ Michael continued to ramble and talk and go on and on until Johnny thought he was going to puke and then he heard sounds coming from one of the secret entrances and realized that Jenny and James must be on their way back. He put up his hands to stop Michael’s rambling and the minute he stopped talking Johnny said, “Enough.”

  Jenny came dashing in first all bright and smiling with James trailing behind her lost in thought. She went to Michael and asked how he was doing and as she went towards him, her footsteps slowly dragged to a stop as she came to the realization she wouldn’t be feeding him. Jenny did an odd about face and turned back towards Johnny with a forced smile on her face. She felt foolish and exposed and if she wasn’t a vampire she’d probably be blushing she thought as she began to roll her sleeve up to offer her arm, there was no way she’d be able to feed Johnny any other way with Michael there watching.

  Johnny and James looked at one another and it was apparent they had both come to the same conclusion; this was going to be a problem. Two besotted vampires on their hands how were they going to deal with this. Michael’s smile abruptly left his face as he watched Jenny turn away; he looked like a puppy that just lost his favorite bone. Jenny meanwhile was trying to look at no one as she focused on her shirtsleeve and walked stiff legged back to Johnny.

  James spoke first, “Johnny, I feel duty bound to offer my blood to you as I am Michael’s master. It is my duty to ease your need as repayment of the aid offered by Jenny to Michael.”

  Johnny slowly shook his head and started laughing and Michael was immediately on the defensive while Jenny abruptly stopped to block Michael from seeing Johnny’s face. Johnny held up his hand, motioning for everyone to calm down.

  “I’m not blind, nor am I a fiend that I would keep the two of you apart,” he said to Michael and Jenny. “James, I accept your offer, until a better one comes along. Let’s take a walk.”

  James gave a parting glance to the couple that had now drawn closer together and in his thoughts wished them well. He followed Johnny down to one of the other vacant rooms where a worn rug and some cushions were placed against the corner wall. A wood crate being used as a small table held a half-melted candle and a few days of old newspapers, which he assumed were Jenny’s touches. Johnny sat down and extended his arm for James to do the same. They both started to speak at the same time when James took the lead.

  “I know this must be hard on you, but it does seem that Jenny and Michael truly care for one another. It happens that way sometimes, I’ve seen it before when I was human, but never encountered it for myself. It does seem odd how close they’ve become in so short a time but what can we do?”

  Johnny nodded and replied, “I know, it’s not like Jenny and I were a couple but it’s going to be difficult for me to accept her transfer of affections.”

  James opened his shirtsleeve and the buttons at his neck to give Johnny a choice of feeding and Johnny settled his fangs into James’ forearm to enjoy a much-needed meal.

  Chapter 15

  The atmosphere at the lair formerly led by Falcon was bleak. The remaining vampires were loosely gathered around the Second in Command Damien who was sitting at the table in the main room trying to figure out exactly what course of action to take. Damien knew that Falcon went with a small contingent to find James and bring him back. He knew that they were also going to question him about Michael. Now the survivors come back and tell him that Falcon’s dead, James and Michael have gone off with a group from another lair and that although Michael appeared to have recovered from his ailment he was now a monster.

  The tales of Michael’s and the other unknown vampire’s killing skills were unbelievable. He wished he had been there to see it himself but looking at the last two, he wondered if he would have survived either. What to do, he pondered as he looked around the lair at the last surviving members. He was going to have to contact the other lairs in the city there was no other choice. Sitting down at Falcon’s wooden desk, that was now his own, he began to map out his strategy. He’d send letters to each of the other nine leaders of the city explaining what was happening and that he wanted to meet to discuss the situation.

  A meeting like this hadn’t been held in centuries, not since the original ten areas were designated and assigned to the lairs. It had stopped the in-fighting between the ten houses then and averted a major war that would have wiped them all out; perhaps with their help they could join forces to eradicate this abomination that appeared to be growing within their midst. Only time would tell and as he reached into the drawer for the velum stationary, he saw the seal of their lair lying next to the sealing wax.

 
Chapter 16

  The letters began arriving at the other nine lairs soon after twilight and as each head of the lair broke the seal and began reading the contents, it sent a buzz throughout the night, as if an angry storm of bees had taken flight. One after another, the eight remaining leaders gathered their lairs in to advise them of what had been happening, that is, all except one. One letter was returned back to Damien with the news that the ninth lair was gone. Damien had heard the rumor that an entire lair had been wiped out but now that it was confirmed by a member of his own lair, he began to recall what else he’d heard. So, the rumor could now be confirmed as fact; that a member of this rogue group had wiped out his entire lair in a fit of rage.

  He once again turned to the desk and began the task of sending out another set of letters to the remaining eight lairs to convey the details of what he’d learned and dispatched them before dawn. Damien was now going to sit and wait for the messenger’s return; he needed to know that this news had been delivered to each of the other lairs before he succumbed to the day’s sleep. Absently he scratched the raised hairs on his arms dismissing the sudden chill that had caused the hairs to stand up abruptly. Moving a hand to his face, he pinched the skin on the bridge of his nose trying to shake the sudden feeling of doom that seemed to hover over him.

  The members of his lair were gathering about in the shadows talking amongst themselves when he stood up and sent them to their day sleep. He wanted to be alone when the messenger returned.

  Chapter 17

  Days had passed since Johnny and the group had returned to the main hideout and all had been quiet, too quiet. They had each taken turns during the past two days reconnoitering the surrounding area expecting to see some sign of retribution heading their way, but nothing was evident. They gathered on the fourth night arising to discuss the events of the past three days.

  Johnny stood motionless against the far wall lost in thought while James and Michael were discussing the areas that they had covered and the nearby ones that they felt they should expand to. Jenny was listening to them intently but also had one eye on Johnny.

  “Johnny, it looks like you’ve got something on your mind. What’s up?” said Jenny.

  He blinked and turned his head towards them and began to walk closer to the group gesturing for them to sit down as he slowly lowered himself to the carpet.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling,” he said. “I can’t seem to shake the notion that something big is going to happen but I don’t know what. I would have fully expected them to hunt us down with the remaining members of their lair; we didn’t finish them all off, there was at least two that got away. Typical lair mentality is to hunt down and destroy anyone and everyone that harms the lair. They usually come at you in mass and with this group seeing how both Michael and I transformed I expected them to come back with significant fire power to eliminate every one of us.”

  James nodded in agreement and turned to Michael. “You are still new to our ways, this isn’t something that you would be familiar with but Johnny is right. I’ve been thinking the same thing but didn’t want to admit it to myself. I was hoping we’d made a clean get away, and were hidden well enough that they wouldn’t find us. However, it’s not Falcon’s old lair that I’m worried about. I know that the Second in Command Damien will have taken the lead by now. He’s very much one of the old political leader types so I can hazard a guess on what he might do. He’ll probably contact the other nine lairs to discuss the situation and ask them to join in as a group to wipe us all out.”

  “The other nine lairs, what other nine lairs are you talking about,” Johnny shouted.

  Agitated he jumped to his feet looming over James and moved to grab him. James abruptly stood up and exclaimed, “Yes, the other nine lairs. There are ten lairs in this city. Each lair has a leader. The land was divided up centuries ago to stop the war.”

  Johnny’s eyes were wild; he hadn’t known about the other lairs and was in shock. His anxiety was causing the berserker to come out and Michael stepped in to remove his hold on James.

  “Johnny, calm down, listen to my thoughts,” said Michael.

  Only Michael’s latent strength as a berserker himself kept Johnny in place and brought him back from the transformation. All was silent as James gathered Jenny behind him still unsure if Michael had Johnny under control.

  Johnny was fighting the terror that was overwhelming him. How would he be able to protect Jenny, the others, hell what about himself if there were ten lairs out there gunning for them? Wait, only nine, he had destroyed all the members of his lair.

  “Wait, there’s a total of nine lairs, remember, I destroyed my own lair to save Jenny and myself,” Johnny replied. “I know that’s not much but at least it’s not all ten.”

  He looked at the group and knew that if they were going to survive they would either have to prepare for a major war or run as fast from this area as night would allow them. Even with two berserkers and finding major weapons to take into the fight, it would probably go against them and he couldn’t have that.

  “I have to think about this,” said Johnny, as he moved away from the group to try to figure out how they were going to leave the city and find a new territory to live in. If only he still had access to a computer or several computers. Maybe he would be able to scout out a few locations where they could be safe. They were going to need weapons and transportation too just to get out of the city.

  He walked down the corridors leading out of the lair his mind set on finding a library that was closed for the night. It would be easy to get in and access a terminal. He’d start by making a list of cities and let the others know so they could agree upon one. Nearing the end of the corridor, he stopped for a moment and added a vehicle to his mental list.

  Slowly opening the door he reminded himself to research local stores for high power weapons and perhaps swords for close fighting. While he was there, he might as well look up how to make some type of flash bomb. It might be enough to slow a group of them down if they found themselves in a tight spot. A bomb might startle them enough so that they could get away.

  Johnny was completely engrossed in the mental checklist he was preparing. He stepped out into the night lost in thought rummaging through his pockets to see if he had any cigarettes left when he suddenly felt a stinging sensation in his chest. Looking down he saw an arrow with brightly colored feathers and in one smooth motion, he pulled it out and at the same time managed to pull the door closed behind him when he made it back into the tunnel. He slammed the heavy metal bar in place and thanked God that he’d had the foresight to put one on it. He was running back to alert the group when he heard the first sounds of pounding on the door behind him.

  Chapter 18

  Michael started and suddenly turned to James and Jenny saying, “Johnny’s in trouble.” They all heard the footsteps pounding down the narrow corridor and braced themselves even when Michael told them that it was Johnny coming. Flying into the room, he pointed to the other corridor as they broke into a full run to follow him.

  “We’re under attack. I was hit by an arrow when I stepped out the door and they just missed my heart,” he said as he suddenly veered right to one of the hidden tunnels. They followed closely behind him. Johnny led the way, with James and then Jenny behind him. Michael was bringing up the rear when they heard the first explosion.

  The sound was deafening to their enhanced hearing as it rolled down the tunnels to reach them. A second explosion went off and Johnny knew that his premonition was correct. ‘Dam, they must have banded together and have the entire area surrounded.’ Michael broke into his thoughts, ‘do you think they have all the exits covered.’ Johnny replied just as silently, ‘they may have all the exits they know of covered but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Just keep an eye on Jenny and keep up because I’m heading for the secret bolt hole I put in last week. I don’t know if they found it yet but it is close enough to one of the far exits that they may hear us trying to leave.
’

  Johnny kept turning left, and then right and then straight for some time as they passed from the tunnel to dirt covered runs that grew narrower and narrower. The complete darkness that enveloped them didn’t allow even a vampire to be able to see clearly. They were all following Johnny into the darkness with a hand on the back of each other as they followed him through the earth covered walls and floors. The pace slowed and each wondered if Johnny knew where he was going when suddenly he stopped. They piled into him one by one but became still as statutes when he reached back his arm and pressed it against them, as if in caution.

  The silence and the darkness were oppressive and still they did not move. Johnny indicated that they stay with the movement of his arm against them and he crept forward leaving them behind, wondering where he was heading. They felt a slight movement of air, as if an opening had been breached and with their enhanced sense of smell began taking in scents of the street that must lie before them.

  Essence of garbage and urine began to permeate their hiding place and they knew that they must be in one of the alleys where the transients hung out with the cheap liquor bottles. They heard the tiniest hint of glass moving and figured that he was now out on the street assessing the situation. Johnny listened carefully and heard the explosions and noise that was surrounding their hideout. He was lucky that he had placed the secret bolt hole near the farthest exit; it should take them some time to reach them if they were tracking them through the tunnels.

  Mentally he contacted Michael, ‘tell the others to come out slowly, there’s a guard at the far entrance but he’s paying too much attention to what the others are doing, we may yet make it out of here. Tell them to come one by one and to do so slowly?’