Gidion's Hunt

by Bill Blume

  This house was karma’s bitch, complete with a Rottweiler in the backyard that Pete’s dad loved more than his kids. Place probably came with a few garden snakes, too, just without a garden, more like a miniature grass jungle.

  “Welcome to the Addams Family’s Technicolor cousins,” Gidion said as he parked the Little Hearse on the street. He checked his phone. Still no call or text from Tamara. He really had way too many people to chase after these days. Hopefully, she wouldn’t try to reach him while he was here. He’d driven straight to Pete’s after school.

  He knocked on the door. Good news was that it looked like both of Pete’s parents weren’t here. The only car in the driveway was Pete’s. No answer. He didn’t even hear anyone moving around in there.

  “Yo!” He walked over to the left corner of the house, just under Pete’s window. “Pete! Yo, dude!”

  That was effective—not.

  “Oh, the hell with this.” He went back to the front door. Sure enough, it was unlocked. He pushed open the door. The den/living room had DVD cases on the floor. Place was pretty much status quo for the Addams.

  “Pete, it’s Gidion!” Nada. He stepped over a shirt in the hallway, probably belonged to Pete’s dad by the looks of it.

  The door to Pete’s room was cracked open. He could see his friend sprawled on the bed. He was dressed the same as last night, just minus the dog collar. “Pete?” At least he was still breathing. Either he was snoring or wheezing.

  He went in the room and stopped as he saw the bite marks low on Pete’s throat. The dog collar and upturned shirt collars had warned him they would be there, but that didn’t mean he’d been ready to see it. Seeing him like this, was it any wonder why he’d lost his job at the car shop? No wonder he’d “overslept” enough times to get fired.

  After the shock cleared, Gidion kicked the side of the bed.

  “Pete! Wake up!”

  Pete’s head rolled over. His eyes opened and then narrowed. “Gid?” He placed a hand on his forehead. “Oh, man. Head hurts.”

  Gidion resisted the urge to slap him and really make his head hurt. “You’re looking pale, Pete.”

  “Rough night.” He turned away, as he sat up.

  “Yeah, I hear it’s a real bitch donating blood.”

  Pete’s back stiffened. “What do you know about it?”

  “Enough to know you’re in a crapload of trouble, pal.”

  “Me?” He laughed at him like he was an idiot. “I don’t know what you think you know, but—”

  “Vampires, Pete. You’re some vampire’s bitch. That’s what I know.”

  “Vampires?” Pete laughed. The idiot was trying to bluff his way out of this, but his reaction had come too late. “What have you been smoking?”

  Gidion saw two half-empty glasses of water sitting on the nightstand. “You wanna know how this really works?” He picked up the glasses and poured the water back and forth. “This is how it goes. You’re the small glass, and this is the vampire.” He raised the bigger glass. “Right now, seems all fine and dandy. Thing is…he’s taking a lot of your blood, and you’re only getting a little in return.”

  “She.” Pete glared up at him.

  “If you found a leech on your leg, would you really worry whether it was a boy or a girl?” He emptied out the last of the small glass into the larger one. “Gee, looks like your glass is empty.”

  “You don’t know shit about it.”

  “I know it’s only a matter of time before they kill you.”

  “The only person who’s gonna get me killed is you.” Pete stood. In all the time Gidion had known him, this was the first time Pete’s height scared him. Then Pete collapsed back onto the bed, his legs unable to support his weight. “Why the hell do you think I’m so wiped out? They bled me until I passed out and only gave me two lousy, fucking drops in return.” Tears ran down his face. “They did it because you followed me into the club last night.”

  “So they own the club?”

  “I don’t know!” He sobbed. “It’s just where they like us to meet them.”

  Gidion’s phone rang. Dammit, it was Tamara. “Pete, I’ve got to take this call. I’ll get you something to drink.” Something that wouldn’t be red and didn’t sound like it was Sesame Street’s letter of the day, he thought to himself.

  Pete flopped onto his side on the bed. Gidion hoped he wasn’t passing out again.

  He answered his phone. “Hey.”

  “I call at a bad time?” Tamara asked.

  “Kind of, but don’t worry about that.” He went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Damn, there was some scary looking stuff in there. “Long story short, that attack on you wasn’t random, and you’re still in danger.”

  “What? How can you be so sure?”

  “I’m not in a safe place to talk.” He looked over his shoulder to make sure Pete wasn’t there trying to listen, not that he was likely to crawl out of his bedroom anytime soon. “Any chance I can call you later tonight?”

  “Probably better if I call you. My parents didn’t take my phone, but they weren’t exactly thrilled last night either.”

  “Sorry about that.” He pulled out a can of Coke from the fridge. The sugar content and caffeine would probably help Pete a little. “In the meantime, don’t go out alone, not even during the daylight.”

  She laughed. “No danger of that. They grounded me. If I wasn’t in the band, I don’t think they’d even let me go to the game this Friday night.”

  “My Cavaliers are gonna stomp your Vikings.” He couldn’t resist a little trash talk. Football was more sacred than vampire hunting.

  “Oh, please. We’ve beaten you for five years straight.”

  He laughed. “Call me later, and be careful. Okay?”

  “Trust me.” She sighed. “I’m not going anywhere tonight.”

  He hung up, and took the soda to Pete.

  “You still alive in here?” Gidion asked.

  Pete sat up. He resembled a puppet with half his strings cut.

  “I know these vampires are putting hits out on humans, a teacher at our school and a student at another. Why?”

  Pete took the Coke and sipped it. “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “You’re telling me you’ve been hanging out with these monsters for months, and you don’t know anything?”

  “You don’t get it, Gid. I’m a guy, so I’m nothing in their world.”

  You’re nothing but a blood bag, he thought to himself. “What do you know?”

  “I know only what Stephanie tells me.”

  “She the one who got you into this?”

  He shook his head. Gidion didn’t get the feeling Pete was going to discuss that without him pressing a lot harder. How he got in didn’t matter as much as getting him out.

  “Where do I find them, Pete? Where do they sleep?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “I don’t know!”

  He’d known Pete since they were little. He considered Pete one of the worst liars he’d ever met. He believed him, but he didn’t want to.

  “I can’t help you unless you help me.”

  “I don’t need your help.”

  He laughed. “Oh, really? That can of Coke didn’t teleport from the kitchen into your hand, pal. I’ll bet you can’t even walk to the bathroom without help.”

  “The only reason I’m like this is because of you!”

  “Pete, they’re using you. You think I’m the one to blame? You’re smarter than this.”

  He glared up at him, ready to pounce. Gidion fought down the instinct to go for his box cutter, but he did shift his position in the room to be closer to a baseball bat that was propped against a dresser.

  “They punished me because of you,” Pete said. “I’d be just fine if you hadn’t gone into the nightclub.”

  “Last I checked, Stephanie invited me in there. Sounds more like she’s pissed because I turned her down when she made a pass
at me.”

  “You and Stephanie?”

  Good God. The idiot was latching onto the least important details. It was like they were speaking in different languages.

  “Yeah, she’s turned into a real bitch.”

  Even running on fumes, Pete still launched up from the bed at Gidion.

  “Shit!” He balked on the bat, just couldn’t bring himself to turn his friend into batting practice. His back slammed into the closet door. Pete pulled back for a punch. Gidion slammed his fists into Pete’s chest, sending him onto the bed. All the adrenaline in the world didn’t change that Pete was running on empty.

  “They’re targeting people, a girl and a teacher,” Gidion said. “I need to find these vampires and end this.”

  “What part of ‘I don’t know’ was tough to understand?” He picked up the can of Coke he’d dropped. Half of it had spilled onto the floor.

  “Does Stephanie know?”

  “Get out.” Pete sounded ready for another run at him. What was it? Was he carrying a torch for that witch? He was tempted to tell him what she’d called him at “Old World,” but he wondered if Pete would even believe it.

  “Listen, Pete. You can help me save a life—two lives.”

  “Only thing you’re gonna do is get me killed.”

  “Once I kill those vampires, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  “Stephanie already thinks you know more than you’ve let on.”

  No shock there. Gidion suspected as much, and that begged one question. “What is she planning to do about it?”

  “They’re gonna be watching you.” He looked towards his window. “Might already be doing it.”

  “Great.” This time of day, it would have to be another feeder. He just hoped the feeder spying on him wasn’t the one in this room. “Let’s get our story straight then. I came here accusing you of doing drugs. You denied, and I called you a lousy lying piece of crap before I stormed out of here.”

  “You really think they’ll believe that?”

  “Let’s hope so, because your life is riding on it.”

  Pete looked up at him. “You realize all it takes for me to save my ass is to just tell them you know about them.”

  Gidion felt a chill go down his back. Jesus, would Pete do that to him? The second the fear passed, anger kicked in. He stepped closer and got right in his face.

  “And don’t forget that all it would take for me to get you killed is telling them you were the one who let me know about them.”

  “I won’t tell them.” He held up his hands. “I promise. I wasn’t serious.”

  “I am.” Gidion didn’t pull back. “Now answer my question. Does Stephanie know where the vampires sleep? Does she know where their home is?”

  “I don’t know.” He held up his hands to stave off Gidion’s protest. “But if any of them do, then she would.”

  “She’s the top feeder, huh?”

  He nodded. “The women always call the shots.”

  “How many vampires?”

  Pete narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. He’d seen him wear this same face the last time he had to choose between the latest issues of Red Sonja or Witchblade.

  “At least five, maybe six or seven.” He shook his head. “It’s hard to say. They don’t all show up every time, and they sometimes have guests.”

  “Who’s the coven leader?”

  “Elizabeth.” No hesitation in that answer.

  “When do you next see them?”

  “I don’t know. Stephanie sends us a text when they want us. If we don’t go right away, they short us.” Even without screaming, Pete’s voice shrieked on that last detail.

  “Like they did to you last night?”

  Pete nodded.

  “The next time you get summoned,” Gidion said, “you text me when and where you’re going. Make sure you delete it from your sent messages. Don’t need them checking your phone and seeing you contacted me.”

  “Do you have any idea what they’d do to me if they found out!”

  Gidion knew damn well what they’d do, and “shorting” him was the least of his worries if that happened.

  “Make sure they don’t. As far as they’re concerned, I think you’re doing drugs and that Stephanie and her goons are the ones selling them to you.”

  Pete placed the can of Coke on his nightstand, pushing the pile of comics and empty glasses aside to make room for it.

  “I’m sorry, Gid.” He sobbed, his chest heaving as he spoke. “I didn’t think anything bad would happen—not like this.”

  “If things turn worse, you call me. I’ll do what I can to protect you. Just stick to our story, and text me the next time they contact you with a time and place to meet.”

  “What are you gonna do?”

  “Follow them back to their home.” Gidion put a hand on Pete’s shoulder. “Get some rest, pal.”

  Pete didn’t stand to walk him out. Gidion hadn’t really expected him to.

  As soon as he walked out the front door, any question as to whether he was already being followed was answered. A blue pickup was parked in front of the house across the street. He recognized the driver from last night at Old World. It was one of the two who’d come after him on the dance floor, Thing One and Thing Two. This one had a purple, vertically-challenged Mohawk. He’d make this dude Thing One.

  Gidion had planned to play off that he couldn’t see his tail, but their eyes met. He decided to make the most of it. Going straight for the Little Hearse’s trunk, Gidion reached inside and pulled out a black aluminum bat from the pile of “sports camouflage” in there.

  “You!” Gidion didn’t bother closing the trunk. He marched straight at the pickup and pointed the bat at Thing One. “Are you the one selling him drugs?” he shouted as loud as he could. He reared back with the bat. Thing One scrambled to crank the truck. “Get out of here!”

  The truck screeched from its spot, but not before Gidion smashed a hole in the driver side window. The pickup went onto two wheels as it turned the corner and disappeared from view on its way out of the neighborhood.

  Gidion hoped he was convincing. As long as the vampires believed he only suspected Pete had a drug problem, the better his chances were of staying alive long enough to kill them. They weren’t done spying on him, though. They’d just send someone else instead of Thing One, and that one probably wouldn’t be so easy to spot.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Page was barking as if fire demons were charging the front door. She didn’t like it when the neighborhood kids got home from school.

  “You’re home late.” Dad was in the bathroom, “shaping” his beard. He never bothered with shaving cream. He just wet his face and got rid of the hair on the bottom of his jaw and down to his throat. After that, he’d get his cheeks. Dad was a perfectionist about his beard, really about most everything he did.

  Gidion dropped his book bag by the bedroom door. “Yeah, went by Pete’s on the way home. You working a double?”

  “Yeah, going in at four.” That gave Dad about twenty minutes before he had to roll out the door. “You got a lot of homework?”

  “Not too bad. Mostly reading. Got most of my math done at lunch.” After Ms. Aldgate had given him what information she could on her ex, he spent most of lunch in the library doing homework. Who would have guessed that Seth’s dating life would improve Gidion’s study habits?

  “So, how’s Pete doing these days?” He rinsed the razor and put it in the cabinet.

  “Varying degrees of shitty.”

  “Hey, mind the language.” He smiled at him as he walked past him and into his bedroom.

  Gidion scowled. “You’re the one I stole the saying from.”

  “Only reason I didn’t smack you for it.” He was teasing him. “So what fresh hell is brewing in Pete’s world?”

  “He’s just being stupid.”

  That earned an interesting look from Dad. “That’s not exactly what I’d call ‘fresh hell’ for Pete.”


  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Never cared for Pete. The boy’s an idiot.”

  Not that Dad had ever suggested he liked Pete or Seth, but he’d never flat out stated a dislike for one of them.

  “He’s not an idiot, Dad.”

  Dad stole a glance at the clock and sighed. “Sorry, I know it’s not a nice thing to say about one of your friends, but Pete’s always had a bad habit of making bad choices. Always worried me to see you hang out with him.”

  “I’m not stupid.”

  “I know. It’s why I never tried to forbid you from playing with him. Kind of put faith in time to do it for me.” He put on a blue dress shirt and buttoned it. “Are you okay? You’re not in some kind of trouble are you?”

  Aside from a coven of vampires who are sure to want me dead the minute they realize I’m hunting them? Yeah, he was just peachy.

  “Gidion, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” he said. “Just trying to help Pete is all.”

  “Help Pete?” Dad sat on the bed and laughed as he pulled out his loafers. “Make me a promise.”

  “What kind of promise?”

  “I don’t want to pay for a window you didn’t break this time.”

  “Jeez, you knew?” Back when they were in elementary school, they’d been playing wall ball on the back of Pete’s house. Pete threw the ball through a window. About ten seconds after the glass fell to pieces, Pete did the same. His parents weren’t home, but his dad had threatened to beat the snot out of him if he caught him bouncing that tennis ball off the back of the house again. He hadn’t warned Seth or Gidion about that. Gidion had taken the fall for him. Gidion’s dad might threaten to smack him, but the worst he’d ever done was plant him back into a chair or drag him by the arm across a room. When Pete’s dad threatened to beat his kids, bones broke.

  “Of course, I knew.” Dad sounded insulted.

  “But if you knew, then why’d you ground me for a week after that?”

  “Do you have any idea how much that window cost? I swear, I think his dad tried to make me buy the most expensive one he could find. Stupid thing was probably worth more than that pigsty of a house.” He laughed. “Hell, yes, I punished your ass. Wasn’t punishing you for breaking that window. That was for lying and making me your accomplice to cover for Pete.”