by Joe Fowler
“How do you know so much about him?” Josh was asking. He had clearly noticed Rosalyn’s reaction.
“Cyranos is my grandsire, sort of. He is the one who created my maker. I met him briefly when Kira took me to Greece right after I was turned. She was one of his favorites. He is also one of the reasons I left Italy later on. I had heard he was headed that way, so I ran.” She shook her head. “You can’t imagine how bad this just got.”
“We will deal with him if we have to. Seth will be here tomorrow night. He can help with the planning and with this Cyranos.” Josh was trying to stay on point with what we were doing. “Now, do you know what the plan was for going public? How were your leaders planning on announcing themselves?”
“They were going to make a live broadcast on the local news in all three cities. Well I guess it will be two cities now.” Spiky sent Rosalyn and me a go to hell look. “They weren’t hurting anyone. We have been catch and release since this started. Any vampire caught killing a human would be put down immediately. We work and pay taxes now. What right do you have to take that away?”
“If your leaders succeed in announcing us, then all vampires will be at risk. I have seen it more times than I can count. One human finds out and two hundred of us die. It will be the same now too. The humans love their vampire movies but once they know we exist they will come after us until we are extinct. Everyone loves a good fantasy but they will not tolerate threats to their way of life. They will be overcome by fear and it will drive them to end us.” Rosalyn gave Spiky more beer.
“Werewolves don’t bother humans and yet we are killed when we are discovered as well. We have even been the ones protecting them from your kind, still they would wipe us out if they knew about us. True Blood, Twilight, and The Vampire Diaries might be entertaining to watch but they would realize quickly that this isn’t television or a movie.” Josh leaned back against the wall behind him. He gave a look to the front door, his thoughts were clear enough. If humans find out then he and his family would probably die. I hoped we could stop that from happening. I had come to like him and his pack.
“You don’t know that. Times have changed.” Spiky either couldn’t or wouldn’t understand what was being said.
“I am over two thousand years old. In all of that time you can imagine how much change I have seen in this world. Remember, I was old before Jesus was born. For all the machines and technology, medicines and charities, as well as customs and laws, people haven’t changed at all. They never will. Greed, lust, hunger, love, fear, jealousy, these things and more are a part of human nature. Fear of us will make the decision. Our existence isn’t logical. Once a person dies they are supposed to stay dead. No, this time will not be any different from the others. Humans find out about us and we die.” Rosalyn sounded sure of her assessment and I had seen enough of humanity to believe her.
We all were lost in our thoughts. We sat or stood, in Josh’s case, without speaking. What happened over the next few weeks would have wide ranging effects. We all felt the importance of the moment. Even Spiky seemed to finally get that going public would be bad. I finished my beer and looked at the others to see if they needed another.
“Anyone want another?” I asked as I got up. After yesses all around, I went back inside. Once again Alicia helped me in the kitchen. She was a good host.
“Maybe we should break out the whiskey and get drunk. It might be the last night we have the chance for a while.” Josh said as I handed out the cold beer.
“If you have a sunless room and are willing to let us wait out the day, then I am all for it!” Rosalyn smiled and seemed enthused.
“Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t let you guys but we need each other too badly to turn against one another right now.” Josh looked toward the door and said in a slightly louder voice, “Alicia, why don’t you and the girls bring a bottle or two and join us?”
After a minute or so the three women of Josh’s pack came out and joined us. One had a bottle of Jim Beam and another had Jose Cuervo. Alicia had the glasses. We drank for a while, we even gave Spiky some. We were mostly laughing and having a good time when Rosalyn reminded Josh that we hadn’t seen him change yet.
“I had forgotten your request.” Josh said.
Josh handed his drink to Alicia and stepped off the porch. He began undressing to the catcalls of the girls. We were all laughing pretty hard. Once he was naked, he closed his eyes and began to shimmer. He grew into this humongous black furred creature. He was huge! When he opened his eyes they were red and glowed a little. He really did look like a bigfoot, only black and a hell of a lot scarier. His huge arms ended in wicked looking claws. I couldn’t help but walk closer to get a better look. Even though I was standing on the porch I was looking eye to eye with him. He must have been eight feet tall if he was an inch.
“Wow. You are huge!” I know I sounded stupid saying it but that was about all my mind was comprehending.
“Now I understand a little more. The demon part of you caused the difference?” Rosalyn had walked up beside me and asked that.
“Yes. It is why I don’t have the normal wolf form.” Josh’s creature self said in the spookiest voice you can imagine. His voice was incredibly deep and sounded so gravelly you could almost see rocks being rubbed together.
“Would you mind if I tried the strength test on you that I use on newborns? It is real simple. I twist your arms a little and you twist them back. I increase the pressure until they can no longer turn their arms back right.” Rosalyn asked, bringing back memories of my first night as a vampire.
“Sure. Sounds simple enough.” Josh said in that spooky ass voice of his.
Rosalyn walked to him and grabbed his arms. She would twist and he would untwist. This went on a few times. Taking a second to gather herself, Rosalyn twisted again. Clearly she was using all of her strength this time. Josh turned his arms back with seemingly no effort at all. I just shook my head.
“Damn! You are definitely much stronger than me.” She admitted. She let go of his arms and stood there looking incredibly tiny next to him.
“You don’t know the half of it. I am getting more powerful much faster than normal. Alicia was only a step slower than Seth, and much faster than I was in the beginning. Now I am faster than she is. I was warned of a few things, my growing strength was one of them.” Josh didn’t sound too happy about how strong he had become. “I am also growing larger. This form has grown maybe half a foot since I first turned last May.”
“If that keeps up, you really will be a monster. Feel like racing me?” Rosalyn was geared up to try to beat Josh at something since he proved to be stronger.
“Sure. How about to the highway and back? About a mile and a half round trip.” Josh was willing, though not excited about racing.
“I will countdown from three and we start on go.” Rosalyn suggested. Josh nodded in agreement. “Three, two, one, go!”
They were blurs even to my vampire eyes. They were out of sight in about two seconds. They came back into view with Josh in the lead. He won by a few feet. They were both laughing like it had been the most fun thing they had done in a long time.
“Closer than I thought it would be. You really are fast. Seth will be sad to hear that I can outrun him now.” Josh said. You just couldn’t get used to that creepy ass voice of his. It gave you chills even when he seemed happy.
“I hate to break up the fun and games but what are you going to do with me?” Spiky had mostly been forgotten.
Josh didn’t reply with words. All of us grew quiet. Josh walked onto the porch, having to duck his head to keep from bumping it on the roof. Josh made a seemingly absent minded swing that took off Spiky’s head. He then turned and walked back to where his clothes were. He shut his eyes and began to shimmer again. It only took a couple of seconds for him to revert to his human form. Even as he got dressed there was still silence.
“We knew what he could tell us. Now we wait for Seth and start planning our attack.�
�� Josh was back to business. “We have a windowless basement. The two of you are welcome to use it if you need to.”
“That would be good. It would save us driving to the hotel and back. Besides we have been drinking a little too much to be on the road.” Rosalyn said.
“Alicia, you and the girls might want to get some sleep.” Josh said. “We will have a lot to do to get everything ready for Seth and his wolves.” Josh and Alicia kissed briefly before she and the other two went inside.
Roslyn untied and gathered the rope that had held Spiky in place. I grabbed his head as Josh grabbed the body. We took the pieces out toward the woods but dumped them in the grass well before we got there.
“You will want to bring the bodies from your truck and dump them before sunrise. You can drive over since the corpses are probably in pieces by now. When the sun comes up, the remains will catch fire if there is enough of them left.” Josh was telling me. “You don’t want your truck to catch on fire too.”
I did as he asked. When I was done I found Josh and Rosalyn in the living room discussing attack strategies. They both seemed frustrated. One would make a suggestion and the other would poke holes in that plan. They traded ideas for a while but nothing was decided. I started feeling the sun’s approach and Josh sensed our need. He provided a couple of pillows and blankets for us, apologizing that there wasn’t a bed in the basement. I reassured him it didn’t matter. When the sun rises we sleep like the dead, literally. Comfort is no longer a concern in that regard. Rosalyn actually looked tired for the first time since I had met her. I guessed it was the worry over the vampire crisis we were trying to stop.
Josh’s basement was larger than expected. There were some boxes and not much else. We made our bed on the floor and held each other as the sun began to rise. I felt true worry then. How many more times would I be able to put my arms around Rosalyn? This Cyranos clearly frightened her even with Josh and Seth on our side. I hoped it turned out to be needless worry. Surely Seth could handle him.
Chapter 8
We awoke to the sound of laughter above us. It took a second to remember where we were. It sounded like Seth and his crew had arrived and there was a party upstairs. Rosalyn held me down when I started to rise. She didn’t want sex today, but she wasn’t in a hurry to join the others either. We stayed like that for a few minutes before we got up and went upstairs.
“There they are. Hello again.” Seth greeted us with a smile. He was fixing himself a plate of food. There were several here that we had not met yet.
“Hello, Seth. Good to see you again.” Rosalyn was the first to speak. I just nodded to him in acknowledgement.
There was food everywhere. The kitchen table was loaded down and everyone was eating. I felt uncomfortable and out of place. When Alicia came into the room, she offered us a beer and told us that most had gone out on the porch where there was more room. That sounded much better.
Rosalyn and I walked outside. Most of the wolves acted like we were welcome, although a few sneers could be seen. This made our situation very clear to me. While they would act nice enough, we were not entirely safe here either. They needed our help and we needed them. It wasn’t going to be a happy truce.
“Hey Rosalyn, Austin. Y’all come over and have a seat.” Josh called to us and pointed to a couple of chairs near him. I liked the idea of sitting close to him if only because the wolves wouldn’t dare bother us with Josh right there. “Rosalyn is twenty-four hundred years old. There aren’t too many left that are that old. Oh wait, I guess I shouldn’t be mentioning a ladies age.”
Some of them laughed at Josh’s remark and I knew he said it to make everyone relax a bit. I was still learning about the deep hatred between our species. I met Seth and then Josh with his pack. I liked them more than almost any human I had met in my normal life. I had not had to fight them for survival. Seeing the distrust in the eyes of the other wolves only reminded me how bad other vampires could be. I had no illusions. Of the two groups, vampires are the bad guys.
Most of the talk that I heard was of past battles with vampires. How the fights had gone or some strategy that had worked. Some of them talked at length of a fight where Seth and Josh killed seemingly dozens of vampires in a matter of seconds. They spoke of both Seth and Josh with awestruck voices. I had seen Rosalyn in action and those two wolves were more powerful than she is. I understood their awe.
The eating and easy conversations lasted an hour. Slowly everyone made their way closer to where Josh and Seth sat. The fun drained out of the group and we started making our plans for the attacks. It didn’t start well.
“There are three groups here in Chattanooga. I will lead one attack. Josh will lead one, and Rosalyn will lead the last.” Seth hadn’t even stopped talking before there were rumblings. None of them were willing to be led by a vampire. “Shut up. These two, Austin and Rosalyn, have just as much at stake in this as we do. They are the ones who destroyed the group in Jackson. We would not even know of this threat if not for them. You will follow them as needed and you will treat them with respect.”
There were no more rumblings after that. I can’t say that the wolves would be thrilled to be assigned to Rosalyn’s attack, but they wouldn’t argue. Seth spoke and they listened, it was that simple.
“The furniture store only has sixty to seventy vampires. I can handle that with only a couple of wolves to help make sure none escape me. They might not even have to fight at all. I will go in and kill them. Austin can watch one exit and we post two wolves at any other door so they can’t get away.” Rosalyn offered. She knew we could almost handle the furniture store with just the two of us.
“Are you sure you don’t want help inside the building?” Seth asked. He was both impressed and worried that she would make such a claim. “This Silas that you were told about is fifteen hundred years old and with help he could a match for you.”
“It would be easier if I had Austin inside with me. It would be dangerous for him though. Austin might be able to handle a thousand year old, but that would be his limit. I don’t see him beating one who is fifteen hundred. I almost lost Austin during the attack at Jackson. I was hoping to keep him safer this time.” Rosalyn sounded strained. I was touched at her concern. I couldn’t let her put herself in danger to cover for me though.
“I will go in with you. We can’t risk not being successful on my safety. None will be safe if we fail.” I looked at Rosalyn and held firm. I would not wait outside where it was safe. “You may need me anyway.”
“We will have to do some recon to know how many of us to send with you. We have fourteen wolves here that we can divide up as needed between you, Josh, and myself. We have to check out the other two businesses as well. As for Memphis, I am going to call in some help. There is a pack outside of Nashville and two packs in Arkansas that can handle the toy company. I may call in a fourth to make sure.” Seth hesitated while he thought. “They don’t have a Josh, or a Rosalyn, or me. They will be in a rough fight. It needs to be simultaneous though. If we attack one before another then they will all be alerted and much harder to handle.”
“Not to mention that they might go ahead and announce themselves to the public if they think they are in danger. That’s the part that scares me the most.” Josh chimed in with that cheery thought.
“So, who feels like going on night watch duty? We need eyes on all three buildings. Write down how many you see going in or coming out. Find out how many doors each building has. Check for any problems like nearby buildings that have a lot of activity. Always remember that vampires can smell you as well as you can smell them. You will need to do your surveillance from inside your vehicle with the windows up. Any volunteers?” Seth looked around making his decisions on assignments. Everyone present raised their hand to volunteer. “Jimmy and Thomas will go with Rosalyn and Austin to check out the furniture store. I will take Cynthia, Kyle, and Fred with me to the warehouse. Josh can take Mark, Sarah, and Crystal to the electronics place. Does that sound a
greeable?”
“It’s good to us.” Rosalyn said.
“Sounds good to me. I will go get the addresses and directions for each place.” Josh rose and went inside to get the information for us. Two of the wolves separated themselves from the rest and came over to us.
“I am Jimmy and this is Thomas.” Jimmy was a big muscular guy. Thomas was more average size. They both looked like they could handle themselves.
“Nice to meet you guys. I am Austin and this is Rosalyn.” I said as I held out my hand to shake. Jimmy hesitated briefly but then shook my hand. “My truck can’t carry the four of us so we may have to use another vehicle.”
“The blue van is mine. We can take it. There is plenty of room.” Jimmy stated. We spent a couple of awkward minutes waiting on Josh to return with the directions.
“So you guys live in Mobile now?” I was trying to talk and be polite.
“Yes, for the past few years now. It’s a nice place.” Jimmy understood and was trying to loosen up.
“I grew up in Pascagoula and had lived in Hurley since high school. I used to spend some time in Mobile when I could.” I was just keeping the conversation going.
“I like the golf course in Hurley. What is it called, Whispering Trees or something?” Thomas spoke this time.
“Whispering Pines. It is only a couple of miles from where I lived. I played occasionally, but was never any good.” This was going better than I had planned. Maybe the four of us could get at least a little more comfortable around each other.
“I’m not too good either. I love to play though. I’ve tried to get Jimmy here to try it but he refuses. He says it is a stupid game but I think he is just scared that he will suck at it.” Thomas had us laughing with that one. Josh came and handed our set of directions as we brought our laughter under control.