Blood of the Forsaken

by David Horrocks

  Entropy clawed at her seatbelt, buckling herself in securely as she fully expected a crash at any second. “We're almost there, Sam! Brace yourself!”

  Two.

  They were so close to their destination, but neither the truck nor the car showed any sign of backing away. Their pursuers were apparently too engrossed in the thrill of the chase to realise which part of town they had stumbled into. Sam used their distraction to his advantage, pushing his van harder and further than it was ever designed to go. The back left tyre blew, causing the vehicle to swerve uncontrollably as he struggled to reign it back in.

  One.

  Sam focused on the finish line. 79th street was milliseconds away, and it would hopefully be the end of their daring escape. The truck was coming in for another blow and was just about to hit when they were stopped in their tracks by a hail of bullets that penetrated both glass and bodywork with ease. The driver was hit, letting go of the wheel as he collided head on with a lamppost.

  Zero.

  Sam glanced back at the chaos, just in time to see the car launching over a newsstand. It hurtled through the air until steel met an immovable object in the form of the concrete wall of a nearby building. The front end seemed to disintegrate, leaving little left of the vehicle as it crashed back down to the pavement.

  Entropy was right, the 79th Street Locos wouldn't tolerate another gang in their territory, but that was a lot to have gambled their lives on. The van’s engine shuddered, sounding as though it was close to dying as Sam slowed to a crawl, otherwise moving relatively unhindered. He didn't have a second to relax though as the worried voice of Entropy chimed in. “Keep driving, Sam. They might change their minds and come for us too…”

  The ever increasing crescendo of sirens were growing nearer and if the Locos didn't catch them, the cops surely would. Sam continued to putter along in what was left of the van, moving as quickly as it would allow. He could feel his hands shaking, not from the vibrations of the steering wheel this time, but from whatever was flowing through his dead veins these days. The reckless drive through the city had taken as much of a toll on his nerves as it had their vehicle and all he wanted to do now was get somewhere safe.

  Both Sam and Entropy stared straight forwards at the road, trying their best not to make eye contact with any of the gun toting gang members that lurked in the shadows of doorways and alleyways. They had already drawn too much attention to themselves and it wasn't wise to outstay their ‘welcome’. The Locos were known for their cruel and unusual treatment of outsiders who wandered into their territory at night, so it was wise to get out of there as soon as possible.

  As soon as they were far enough away from 79th street, they would have to dump their vehicle somewhere and torch it to remove any evidence of who it belonged to. After all, they didn't want the cops to trace it back to them, as burning in the sunlight of a Miami jail cell wouldn't be a pleasant way to go. However, dying at the hands of TJ didn't sound appealing either. It was clear that Sam and Entropy needed to find allies of some sort, and they needed to find them sooner rather than later.

  Chapter Fourteen: The show must go on.

  It was a dangerous move, returning to the club when TJ's men were after them, but Entropy and Sam needed to gather a few supplies before going off the grid. The plan was to stuff as much as they could into a duffle bag as quickly as possible and then vanish into the night before anyone came looking. It likely wouldn't be long before they had company and moving too slowly could spell the difference between their own demise and escaping to start over somewhere new.

  Creeping through the back door of the club, the pair kept the lights off as they made their way through the storeroom and out into the main hall. The place was eerily quiet, like a graveyard at night, and Sam was haunted by the ghosts of the recently departed. They hadn't had time to recover from losing the other members of the band, their friends who were now deceased and who they would never get a chance to see again. They couldn't even bury the bodies and there had been no time to grieve or mourn their loss. All of that and more had been stolen away from them by TJ and his goons. It had all been lost in just a matter of moments.

  The venue seemed larger in the dark as Sam’s eyes adjusted to compensate for the lack of light. The place was exactly how they had left it, an unorganised mess of folding furniture with the smell of stale beer and old cigarette butts, both reminders of those who were gone and memories now passed. Sam couldn't imagine how awful Entropy was feeling, as he himself was overwhelmed by sadness and he had only known them for a fraction of the time. She needed to work through her grief in her own way, but he would be there by her side for as long as it would take to get through it.

  Hidden amongst the usual smells, there was something else that Sam’s nose picked out as he peered at the empty chairs around the table in the far corner. The new scent wasn't quite as familiar as the others in the room, but he had gotten a whiff of it once before. It was some kind of cheap perfume, with overbearing chemicals that burned the senses. No, not a perfume at all, a sports deoderant that had been over applied to disguise body odour. It seemed that they weren't alone inside the club and that someone else was there too.

  Sam glanced back at Entropy who was so close to him that they were almost touching as they crept across the hardwood floor. He whispered to her, trying not to alert the intruders. “Do you smell that?”

  From the worried look on her face he could already see that she sensed it too. “Yes. And I hear them breathing…” She replied quietly as her eyes scanned the edge of the room for any signs of movement.

  Sam realised that he could hear the breathing too, but he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. There were at least two men, and one of them was definitely a mouth breather. Whoever they were, they were hiding somewhere nearby and would likely attempt an ambush soon. Mentally preparing himself to repel an attack, Sam tried to think things over logically. Had TJ’s crew beaten them there? They couldn't have recovered from what the Loco’s had done to them, could they? Several of their number were dead as they had been shot in the street. They couldn't have recovered that quickly, unless there was more to the gang than he knew. Entropy had mentioned that the loan shark dabbled in arcane powers, but did he have the power to control life and death?

  Sam suddenly remembered where he had encountered the smell before. It had been a while, but he recalled that the last time he had caught that particular scent on the wind was the day that he was chased from his parent’s house in Fort Lauderdale. It was the very same day that he had run for his life and ended up in Miami, and that could only mean one thing. It meant that the hunters who were there that day had followed him here. They had apparently never given up the chase, spending months tracking him down and after all that time they had finally found him.

  As if on cue, a spotlight from somewhere up above flooded the immediate area with a blinding white light. Sam temporarily lost use of his eyes as they struggled to compensate for the sudden change in environment. His vision was rendered useless and he knew that Entropy had been similarly stunned as she grabbed at his arm to make sure that he was still there with her.

  “Don't fuckin’ move!” The harsh, deep tone of a man’s voice echoed out from somewhere on high. Sam’s first reaction was to attempt to dash for cover, but Entropy had frozen still, the sheer strength of her grasp holding him in place.

  A second, commanding voice boomed out from somewhere behind them, a darkened silhouette of a man stepping out from somewhere behind the stage. “I would listen to him if I were you. He’s a really good shot.”

  Sam's eyes were slowly getting used to the light, as he could now see the blurred look of panic on Entropy’s face as she spoke. “Sam, I know those voices…”

  The man on the walkway seemed to be aggravated by her words. “Yeah? I was startin’ to think you forgot about us, Christie.”

  Christie? Sam wondered if that actually was her real name, the realisation that he still didn't know much about
her kicking in. Unable to see the faces of the men, he stared straight at his companion as if he was waiting for an explanation, yet it was hardly the time for one as the men’s weapons were trained on them. Sam believed that he could survive a few gunshots, but he wasn't willing to test the theory as his shoulder still hurt from where it had been grazed by a bullet already.

  Her voice bursting with conflicting emotions, Entropy looked up at the walkway, slowly releasing her grip on Sam’s arm. “Tommy…” She didn't just know who the men were, she knew at least one of them on a first name basis. Sam found himself wondering how on earth a vampire could be friends with those who actively hunted her kind. Who were these men to her?

  **********

  Watching from his vantage point upon the stage, Aaron kept the barrel of his shotgun aimed towards his quarry. Samuel Mitchell was in his sights and he wasn't about to let him get away. He tried to ignore the fact that his friend Christie Reece, and Tommy’s ex-girlfriend, was standing there too, as she was supposed to be dead. She had died years ago and he remembered her funeral like it was yesterday. It should have been impossible for her to be standing there and yet there she was, as clear as day.

  Staying put, Aaron tried to focus his mind, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself as he let Tommy take charge of the situation. There was a lump stuck in his throat as he observed in silence, having promised his friend that he could take the lead. This odd turn of events could possibly offer Tommy the closure that he had sought for years. After all, it's not every day that you can confront the person that you were accused of murdering, despite there being a severe lack of evidence to actually prove it.

  The air was thick with tension, Aaron’s lungs struggling to maintain a regular breathing pattern as Tommy began to pace on the metal walkway that was suspended high above the room. The anger in his voice was apparent as he almost snarled at the two people who had been caught in the spotlight within the centre of the room. “Couldn't take the time to let us know you weren't fuckin’ dead? How about lettin’ the cops know? Or was that too much to ask?”

  Christie’s distress was obvious as she replied weakly. “I… I didn't mean for you to get hurt.” Both her and Sam were lit up for all to see, yet from their squinting, Aaron could tell that he was still obscured by shadows.

  Tommy slammed his hands down on the railing, his own gun slung over his shoulder by a strap. The metallic clang rang out like a gong that echoed throughout the entire hall. “They locked me away! Do you even know what that's like? We all thought you were dead and I was the number one fuckin’ suspect!”

  Hanging her head in shame, Christie lowered her voice until it could only just be heard. “I'm sorry, Tommy. I didn't know...”

  Aaron noticed that Sam was trying to edge out of the spotlight, and so he cocked his shotgun in response. “Don't even think about it, dumbass!”

  “Okay! Just please don't shoot...” Sam's startled words were as weak as they were pathetic, making Aaron feel sorry for him. He didn't even need to see Tommy’s face to sense the scowl of disdain. It had taken all of his friend’s willpower to not shoot Sam Mitchell where he stood, but he knew that if he did the conversation would be over and chaos would ensue.

  “Did you even think to check?” All Tommy wanted now was some answers to the questions that had eaten away at him for years. He spoke with purpose as he ignored Sam completely, treating him as nothing more than a distraction that was no longer worth his time.

  Christie glanced at Sam and then back up to Tommy who she couldn’t look at for long without turning away with guilt. “I didn't think that…”

  “No, you didn't think! You never fuckin’ do!” Tommy yelled at the top of his lungs, his pent up anger on display.

  Scarlet pools began to form in the corners of Christie’s eyes, the red liquid glistening under the bright light. The sight of it set off alarm bells in Aaron’s head, as they let him know what she had become and how she had managed to return from beyond the grave.

  “I thought you’d be better off without me.” Christie suppressed a sob, trying to hold back her floods of tears.

  Tommy hadn't noticed the odd colour in her eyes as he was too swept up in his own anger. “Yeah? Nothin’ I love more than being a cop's goddamn punchin’ bag! You have no idea what I went through after you went missin’!”

  Christie was struggling with her words, the red pools close to overflowing. “I went through a lot too…”

  Aaron tried to get his friend’s attention by calling out to him, his gun now aimed at Christie instead of Sam. “Tommy, look at her eyes!”

  Unfortunately Tommy was on a roll and remained oblivious to the fact that his ex-girlfriend wasn't exactly human. “Well boo hoo! Cry me a fuckin’ river!” His harsh words set off a reaction that he hadn't anticipated. Christie's tears formed crimson streams that flooded down her cheeks. It was then that he realised that she wasn't all that she appeared to be. Plucking his rifle from his shoulder, Tommy took aim at her head as years of hunting experience took over and muscle memory placed him into a combat ready stance. “It figures you'd become a damn bloodsucker!”

  His reaction left Christie speechless, turning her into a quivering wreck which forced Sam to come to her defense. “Leave her alone! It's me you came for!”

  He spoke with such vigor that it took Aaron by surprise, but Tommy remained unphased by it. “Shut the fuck up, Mitchell! This doesn't concern you!” Sam’s temporary burst of confidence was knocked from him by the power in Tommy’s voice. Whereas Tommy himself had already forgotten about it, as he was far too busy catching up with events that had up until now been a complete mystery to him. “It was Frank, wasn't it? He did this to you. I'll kill that son of a bitch!”

  **********

  Frank. Sam knew the name. He was the one who had become obsessed with Entropy and had tried to kill her. Christie, not Entropy. He was still getting used to the idea of knowing her true identity and was no longer sure what to call her. Had Frank been the one to turn her into a vampire too? The pieces, however jumbled, were beginning to fall into place. He looked over at Christie, wanting nothing more than to come to her rescue, but any sudden moves could result in their untimely demise. There was no way of telling how trigger happy this Tommy and his friend were or what their intentions were for her. Sam didn't care if his own life was forfeit, he just wanted to make sure that she wouldn't come to harm.

  Blood still streaming from her eyes, Christie tried to plead with her accuser. “Frank’s dead, Tommy... It’s over. Please put the gun down, I don't want to hurt you or Aaron.”

  It was clear that Tommy and Christie had some serious history that Sam didn't want to get involved with, but what he shared with her was special too, wasn't it? He fought his own silent battle against the doubts that plagued his mind.

  Tommy grumbled from up high, the barrel of his rifle lowering a little as he spoke. “Yeah, he's a walkin’ corpse and I'm gonna stick 'im.”

  Still struggling for words, Christie only just managed to pull herself together to form another sentence. “No. I mean he’s dead dead. He won't be coming back.”

  Sam eyed up the second, shorter man on the stage, the shotgun moving back and forth between him and Christie. He wondered if he could move fast enough to block any shots that were intended for her, but it would be impossible to defend her against fire from both firearms simultaneously. Either both of them had to run at the same time, or they had to talk their way out. He severely doubted that they would emerge victorious if it came down to a fight.

  **********

  Tommy seemed to be taking a minute to think things over, which made Aaron wonder if his friend was losing what little was left of his composure. He had been waiting for him to take the lead, but the conversation with Christie seemed to be taking its toll. It was now time to take point and deal with the situation before things spiralled out of control. Aaron knew that Tommy wouldn't forgive him if he took Christie down, as if anyone ended her existence, it had to be
him. However, Samuel Mitchell was still fair game and was still his primary target. If Sam died, then there would be one less monster in the world, and one less monster meant that fewer innocents would suffer. It was his one purpose in life and he could never forget that.

  Aiming his shotgun for a blast to Sam’s head that would be lethal for a human and enough to stun even a vampire, Aaron’s clear shot was quickly blocked by Christie who had noticed his intent and stepped into the line of fire. She glared at him with blood red eyes, flashing fangs that protruded from where her canines should be. In that moment he knew that he had caused her true form to reveal itself from behind the mask of his long dead friend. “Step away from him, Christie.”

  She dismissed his instruction with a vicious snarl. “Put the gun down, Aaron! This is your only warning!”

  He could see in the corner of his eye that Tommy had raised his own gun again and was aiming it straight at Christie. A look of disgust had crossed his face now he had seen her for what she was, his instincts taking charge once more. “Don't even think about it, bitch!”

  Tommy’s words cut deep like a knife, causing Christie to instantly retract her fangs and resume her desperate pleading. “Please don't let it come to this, Tommy. I love you, but this won't work out the way you planned.”

  He grimaced at her, ready to fire his rifle at a moment's notice. “You're right about that. Besides, I don't date corpses… You're fuckin’ dead to me!”

  **********

  There was no time for Sam to react as Tommy’s finger pulled back on the trigger. Fortunately for him, Christie’s response time was much faster. She released a scream that caused the space between them to shudder, the sound sending ripples through the air until they collided with Tommy. Caught completely off guard, the hunter’s body was thrown backwards into the wall with such force that the rifle was knocked from his hands.