The Vampirists

by R. G. Nelson

  With that whole area now delegated, I turn my mind to figuring out exactly how I’m going to trap Lukos and get this tranquilizer inside him so I can finish him once and for all. I touch the syringe where it rests in my pocket–yep, still intact. Still ready to go. If only my plan had been as sturdy. Part of me is in shock that Taylor is gone–I keep hoping against hope that he somehow made it through. I remember hearing someone wounded in the background, so maybe Lukos left him alive? But I’m guessing that you don’t survive to be an Elder by being sloppy.

  Vera snaps me out of my internal dialogue with a simple query. “Adam, what do we do now?”

  “We grab some supplies, take this place out, and then regroup somewhere and figure out a new plan to nail down Lukos.” I hope I sound more self-assured than I feel.

  “Adam, I need to break off from you for a bit,” Metz says from behind me. I turn and look at him, confused. He explains further, “There are human prisoners in the holes. I may have had a hand in putting people there before, but I can save some now. They don’t know about vampires–there is no risk. I am not a fighter, but this I can do.”

  “It’s dangerous; the VG are looking for us,” I point out.

  “Actually, they are looking for you. Only Franklin knows that I am helping you–you killed the rest.” I’m about to protest further, but he cuts me off. “Adam, I have to do this. From what I heard you just say, if all goes well tonight, this building will not be here in the morning. They don’t deserve to go out that way.”

  I can only nod my head. Truth be told, with the frenzied pace of tonight’s events, I had forgotten about those trapped in the holes. I feel guilty about it, but I don’t think I have the time to go free them. So I wish Metz luck and give him my number so that we can meet up later. He takes it and disappears down the hallway.

  “You ready?” I ask Vera.

  She nods, “Let's go.”

  We press forward, going human speed to be alert for anything and anyone: It wouldn’t pay to rush into a trap when we are this vulnerable. Yet, interestingly, the hallways seem clear. I don’t know if people have pulled back to regroup or if we have just been lucky in the route choices that we’ve taken. Though I’m heading to the gear room, I’ve selected a circuitous path of the least-used corridors. We slip into a stairwell–Vera is careful to ease the door shut behind us so that the bolt doesn’t click loudly. With all the noise from the alarm overhead, you’d think we’d be in the clear, but with vampire senses being what they are, you never know.

  I’m halfway down the stair case when my own vampire senses are alerted. At first I can’t pinpoint the source or understand why I’m conscious of danger. But then I do. I don’t know if my powers heard a rustle in the air or something, but my arm shoots up almost without me thinking about it and grabs a pouncing vampire by the leg. He had jumped down from an upper level in the gap between the winding staircases–I didn’t even give him a chance to land. But I make sure that he reaches the floor as I send him tumbling down the rest of the steps in front of me. He impacts hard against the unforgiving wall at the bottom, head first, and grunts in pain. As unyielding as the wall, I’m on him in a heartbeat that we don’t physically have and dispatch him to the neverend. I barely get a look at this face, but I think he was one of the bloodshirts, maybe from Tomas’ cell.

  Fortunately, there are no further real incidents before we reach the gear room–only one poor soul who saw us from a distance and blurred off running in a direction that we didn’t need to go. I know that means more will be coming, but at least now we will be equipped properly. Inside, we don’t have a moment to lose. I unearth two armored vests: one I fling to Vera as I throw another over my own head quickly. That feels so much better. And it is a huge weight off my worrying about Vera, though it definitely isn’t fool-proof.

  Now that defense has been taken care of, I think about offense. I poke around in various lockers and boxes. “Score!” I mutter under my breath. Not only do I find a spare blood bag (only a touch on the old side), which Vera and I split to help recuperate from all our exertions and wounds, but I also find a box of a dozen pre-prepared Molotov cocktails. Somebody must have been planning something big–but then again, these nights the streets have been filled with protests escalating to this type of violence. I’m sure we have been there behind the scenes, stoking the flames.

  For her part, Vera turns up a small collection of assorted grenades. I think they are mostly stun and smoke grenades, but it’s better than nothing. All this, plus lighters and backup lighters, goes into two backpacks that we commandeer from another cell’s lockers. And, of course, we each grab a handful of silver stakes. Can’t leave home without them. Can’t destroy home without them, either.

  Back on the move and feeling more secure, we blur into a super long hallway that is half dark. The remaining lighting flickers and buzzes loudly enough to be heard against the wailing fire alarm. I wish that someone would shut that thing off–but then I remember that it’s helping to mask our sound. I slow up and proceed forward cautiously; there isn’t much cover, and frankly, I’m expecting an ambush at some point. The creepy lighting effect is spooking me, vampire though I am, and I almost consider turning back and taking another route. We just need to make our way to the main assembly area at the core of the factory. If we can set that ablaze, the rest of the factory will follow.

  When they materialize at the end of the hallway, three ghostly VG walking confidently toward me, I’m not surprised. This was as likely a location for a trap as any. Instinctively, I turn around behind me and note the other end of the snare being sprung as Meng and another vampire move in from an adjoining corridor. I take stock of the situation, my brain processing with amazing speed. I guess I could easily fight the bloodshirts–I doubt Meng and his boy will be much hassle for me now.

  Three VG, on the other hand, could be a bit of a handful, though I think that I would prevail if the events in the lab proved anything about my new abilities. But five at once, while watching out for Vera against VG–that could be a hassle. Turning back to the bloodshirts, I could punch our way through there and escape this hallway set up, but they would just try to entrap me in a different location with the same odds. Unfortunately, there are only so many ways to the assembly area, and they seem to have figured out my intent to go there.

  I start to pull out a stun grenade, hoping to buy myself some time to deal with a few of them before the rest recover. Problem is, the hallway offers nowhere for Vera and I to hide, so we may inadvertently catch ourselves in the flashbang’s radius. Okay, time to improvise further. Seconds later, and the two smoke grenades from my bag have been deployed to opposite sides of us. The last thing the approaching vampires see of me is my impish grin as the world whites out.

  While the smoke swirls around me, I close my eyes to become better attuned to my other senses. As in the stairwell, I try to let my body detect where the others are. Though they have no heartbeat, my newly enhanced abilities pick up small tell-tale clues. A careless footstep there: probably a bloodshirt. A touch of warmth from someone newly fed over there. A displacement in the shifting air patterns from the direction of the approaching VG. My mind plots these on a mental grid and assesses the most efficient manner of dealing with them.

  I find Vera and grab her shoulder gently. She flinches at first, but then relaxes at my familiar touch. I guide her to the wall silently, and then employing the trick that worked with my father and Taylor, craftily up the side and onto the ceiling. I push her down on all fours, out of the way, so that I don’t accidentally encounter her in the melee that is about to break loose. Noting with satisfaction that I’m now having an easier time being upside down, I go to work.

  It’s done before the smoke even begins to clear.

  Battle buzz in full swing, I triumphantly lead Vera out of the haze by
the hand. I see her look at me from the corner of her eye–she seems impressed. That produces a little flutter inside that lets me know just how crazy I am about her still. I try to focus back on the task at hand. One more obstacle down: I hope Metz is having the same success.

  We kick things back into vampire speed and race forward–hoping that we have room before the next attempted ambush. Two corners later, I spot a vampire peeking around a bend in front of us. I stop abruptly, my hand shooting out to prevent Vera from racing by into danger. I pull her back around the corner from which we just emerged. On my signal, we both ready stun grenades. We wait until the last second and then whip them down the hallway as fast as we can so that they detonate at the end without giving the vampires there a chance to avoid them. Or throw them back.

  Boom. Boom. The cacophony reverberates deeply throughout my body. Vera and I head over and each send one of the vamps there to the neverend. I don’t know which crew they were from exactly, but they looked vaguely familiar. Right before they turned to dust.

  Soon, we are at the entrance to the assembly area. Tomas and the remainder of his cell are there, including Piotr. The militia banners are still up, unfurled on the walls as they were the night Joseph riled up the crowd and sent the Vampirists into the final phases of his blueprint. I guess it is fitting that it all will come to an end here, in this room. Just as he fired up his militia base to put in motion a plan that would lead to unspeakable horror for humans, I will literally set fire to the base and wipe the slate clean.

  But first, I have to deal with the bloodshirts. They stand in the middle, as if waiting for us to show up for a duel. I don’t want to disappoint. I take a silver stake for each of them in hand and head out there, the extras still in my bag. They puff up to meet me, obviously not understanding how dangerous I am even after I’ve survived everything they’ve set up for me until now. Including VG. Their loss.

  Tomas speaks to me. “Betraying your cell is an unspeakable crime. For that alone, your life is forfeit. You will be put to the stake, just as we did to the doctor and humans we caught attempting to escape.” He watches that sink in. Piotr smiles next to Tomas. So Metz didn’t make it out. I can barely process that right now, because he speaks again, though this time to Vera. “You showed poor judgment in this one.”

  And then they charge me. A silver stake whizzes by, catching one in the stomach and stopping him mid-blur. Vera. Nice idea. I start whipping stakes at the others; I impress myself and get off two before they manage to reach me using their vampire speed. Piotr turns to ash as my silver finds his heart; he disintegrates over a span of a dozen feet as momentum carries him forward even after re-death. Tomas manages to dodge my stake, or maybe my throw is sloppy, but too bad for him–it would have been a quicker death. I finish him before Vera even has a chance to take out the vampire on the floor that she wounded earlier. The last vampire disappears out the factory doors, but not before my stake finds his leg. I could go after him, but I sense others lingering nearby, and I have a fire to start. I look up, catching a glimpse of a few shapes scattering across the ceiling for cover.

  I nod at Vera, hoping that she is thinking what I’m thinking. She raises a questioning eyebrow at me, confused. So I clarify, “Smoke it.” She obliges, using her remaining smoke grenades to give us cover over a wide area for what we have to do. I don’t think any of those nearby will challenge us if they just witnessed the devastation we wreaked on Tomas’ guys, but you never know. Not to mention, while I hope like hell they are out on a mission, by my count there are still half a dozen VG left somewhere. Smoke could be useful again.

  Inside the relative comfort and safety of the smoke, we start lighting our cocktails. We slip to the edge of the cloud and fling one to some far-away corner and watch with fulfillment (at least I do) as it explodes and catches on the walls. Then we slip back inside and do it all again. It’s satisfying work, and over too soon. I make sure to save one last cocktail to cut off the exit immediately behind us and protect our retreat. Arm in arm, I escort Vera to the doors of the factory, not even worrying that the wounded vampire that escaped might be waiting for us. Maybe my new strength is going to my head, but I’m that confident of our victory over the Vampirists on base at this point.

  And then we’re outside. We made it. I breathe in deeply, tasting the free air. It’s a bit smoky, but I guess that makes sense. I stop a moment at the edge of the parking lot here and turn around to look back through the portal into the world I’m leaving behind. Inside, I see growing clouds of smoke billowing and streaming upwards. The Vampirist Militia banners seem especially flammable. The air wavers with a clear, hot intensity–defying the ceaseless, blaring fire alarm.

  I look over at Vera. She’s just there, watching me. I must look a mess with everything that I’ve been through tonight. Somehow, though, she manages to look beautiful and angelic despite the soot and grime and blood. As I gaze at her, I try to read her face. I wonder if she is as happy to see this place burn as I. Or if she is sad and maybe regrets that it came to this.

  In answer, she smiles at me.

  I take that as my cue and look down at the one Molotov that I have left. I light it up, surprised by how much illumination it throws off. I’m just about to toss it into the exit and seal that route off behind us when I realize that I can see my shadow. Now that I’m actually paying attention, even over the fire-alarm still going off inside, I hear a low rumbling behind me. An idling car engine. I turn and see a fancy-looking black vehicle behind us. It’s coasting to a stop a stone’s throw away, but I can’t make out anyone inside. Its brights are on, semi-blinding us.

  I glance back at Vera. She’s as worried as I am. The driver’s door opens, and a large vampire in a suit gets out. He looks like some sort of movie bodyguard, except for his ice-blue eyes, which are clearly visible even from here. He is also radiating fury. A seething malevolence rolls off him as visibly as the heat from the fire earlier. My fangs emerge once more in instinctual response. I have no idea who he is or how powerful he is, but I know that I don’t want to find the latter out. I also know that I have a flaming Molotov cocktail in my hand.

  So I throw it at him. But I don’t just throw it: I use all my power and ability to fling it so quickly that he won’t have time to blur away. I watch with satisfaction as it impacts on his open car door, in between his stretched out hands where he had intentions of catching it. It ignites in a fireball that rolls up and over and below and all around the car door, engulfing him fully. He screams; it isn’t pretty, but it had to be done. And honestly, I’m a little smug that someone so obviously hostile to our escape was dealt with so easily.

  Suddenly, Vera is at my side, squeezing my hand. I feel terror in her grip. Then I see why, and I instantly stop feeling smug. My fangs shrivel and withdraw back into my gums. From the opposite side of the car, Lukos has materialized. Oh, crap.

  He doesn’t seem very happy that we just destroyed his bodyguard–or I guess that was one of his vampire Secret Service agents. He also has probably noticed the fact that we are in the process of burning down the factory headquarters. In fact, I would guess that he has probably put everything together from catching us in this one, super-incriminating moment and knows that I’m the voice from the other end of the line.

  Again, oh, crap.

  I glance down hopefully at my bag and then remember that I’m out of Molotovs. I have no real weapon except for a silver stake and the syringe with the tranquilizer in it. Neither will be enough for me to defeat someone as powerful as Lukos, not when I don’t have the element of surprise. Not to mention the fact that Vera is here and would be in danger. I can’t fight the way that I would have to while simultaneously being worried about her. Maybe that’s chauvinistic, but it’s just the way it is.

  I realize what has to be done. While I don’t have a chance of beating him, I might b
e able to survive and stall him long enough for Vera to get away. Then I could try to make my own escape. We wouldn’t be running away, just making a tactical retreat. Surviving to fight another day and all that–when it would be on our terms. When we’d have a plan.

  I look at Vera and see so much terror and fear in her eyes. Fear for her life, but also fear for mine. Such eyes shouldn’t have to look like that. They should be filled with love and joy and happiness, but I know that can’t happen until all this is over, until our enemies are gone. Still, right now, she just needs to get away.

  “Run,” I tell her.

  She shakes her head. “I can’t leave you. You can’t-–”

  “Run!” I shout, commanding her. I even break her grip on my hand so I can give her a little push.

  “Adam, I can’t,” she says, now starting to cry little rosy streams.

  “Run!” I scream and push her harder. “Please!”

  I look back over at Lukos. He is walking toward us, calmly, at normal human speed. I have maybe ten seconds before he is here. I turn to Vera, ready to throw her across the parking lot if I have to, but she is moving finally. Relieved, I watch her as she works her way up the side of the nearest building, also abandoned. She mixes running, jumping and hauling herself up by her hands. Though we can’t run up walls at the same speed as we can run on the ground, she moves with practiced swiftness and makes better time than I’ve seen her do when she crawls up spread eagle.

  Lukos is now five seconds (or ten paces) away. I feel very fragile in front of him–even in my armor, even with my new powers. I have no idea how I will pull this off, but I’m just happy that Vera is safely away. I don’t know why Lukos let her go; maybe he plans on tracking her down later. Or maybe he knows that I’m his man, and this is all on me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Vera, now standing on the edge of the nearby roof, silhouetted against the pink night sky.