Blood Street

by Alves, Carl

  Gaining in confidence, Mark prepared for another strike. Before he could, Magnus leaped from the floor and grabbed the railing on the second floor.

  Agent Winfield shot Magnus twice, missing with each shot. Mark watched in awe as Magnus soared through the air and landed on top of Winfield. Magnus bit him on the neck and tore into his flesh like it was butter.

  Mark raised his stake, charged, and thrust it at the vampire. With uncanny speed, Magnus lifted Winfield, turned him around and used him as a shield. Instead of piercing the vampire, Mark stabbed his colleague. It didn’t matter. Winfield was already dead.

  Mark backed away. Enough was enough. They had to escape.

  He grabbed Scrambolgni’s arm. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “Where’s Enzo?” Tony asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ll contact him on the radio and tell him we’re leaving.”

  As Scrambolgni gathered the others, Mark spoke on his radio. “Enzo, we’re pulling out. Get the hell out of here.”

  On the other end Enzo said, “Not yet. I’m in the middle of something.”

  “Leave now. We’re getting annihilated. We’re not waiting.”

  “Then I’ll catch you later.”

  Enzo turned off his radio. “Damn.” He needed more time.

  A single coffin sat in the last room. He just killed the vampire lying inside. Her screech was so loud he was sure the other vampires would hear her, but apparently when they slept, they were dead to the world.

  He entered another room. Two more coffins, one white and one brown. He lifted the lid to the first coffin. This vampire looked like a teenager, but that wasn’t indicative of his true age. After all, vampires were immortal.

  He kept that in mind when he plunged his stake into the vampire’s heart. Surprisingly, his only reaction was a soft whimper. Enzo closed the lid when the vampire’s head slumped to the side and he stopped breathing.

  When Mark called, there was panic in his voice, which meant things had gone horribly wrong up there. He had to bust out of here soon. If he had additional time, he would dispose of more vampires. Since he didn’t want to die today, he would kill this next one and find a way out, hopefully avoiding Alexei and Magnus.

  He opened the lid to the brown coffin and jumped back when a blonde vampire with pale skin opened her eyes and popped out of the coffin.

  “Shit!”

  The vampire drove him back. The other four had gone down easily, and he expected more of the same from this one.

  She snarled and reached for his throat. Enzo turned his head to avoid her. He kicked her in the abdomen. When she tried to dive on him, he held his stake in front of him. She plunged into the stake and let out a shrill scream. She flailed at him to no avail.

  Enzo slid out from under her, his heart pounding. He wrenched the stake out and thrust it into her again. “Damn it, what’s it going to take?”

  He remembered the Wiz telling him that beheading should be an effective tactic against vampires. With that in mind, he took out a knife with a long blade. He grabbed her by the hair and sawed through her skin, flesh and cartilage with the knife. For a moment he turned away from the gruesome sight. He continued, not stopping until he finished the job. When her head came loose, he dropped it in disbelief at what he just did.

  “I gotta get out of here.”

  He exited the room as footsteps came from the hallway. He found a window, unlocked it, slid it up, then knocked out the screen window. He stumbled out of the window and onto the grass below. Without looking back, Enzo ran like hell.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Charlie Senerchia paced around the room. He hadn’t heard a sound for hours. Earlier on, he heard gunshots, furniture breaking, and people screaming. Enzo and the Feds must have raided the house. Why hadn’t they come for him? Maybe they didn’t realize he was inside, or maybe the vampires wiped them out. He yelled and banged on the door, but nobody came.

  Despite this, he couldn’t stop thinking about Magdalena. She was…he didn’t have the words to describe her. She was unlike anyone he had ever met. She completely captivated him. Magdalena was a goddess.

  Last night was pure ecstasy. She could only see him at night since she had to rest during the day. He had been dozing off when the fighting woke him.

  Afterward, he tried to shoot pool to distract himself, but his restlessness grew.

  He sat on the floor holding his pool stick when footsteps sounded. He leaped to his feet. The door opened, and his heart skipped a couple beats. It was Magdalena, looking even more amazing than he remembered.

  He rushed up the stairs and held her tight. “What the hell happened? You okay?”

  Magdalena smiled. “I’m fine. Unfortunately they killed some of the others.”

  Charlie’s face sagged. “No. Why would they do that?” He should want them dead, but he could no longer bear the thought.

  “Your kind always wants to kill us.”

  “What’s going to happen now?”

  She ran her fingers through his hair. “I don’t know yet.”

  He walked down the stairs holding Magdalena’s hand. He could help them out by using his contacts, but once he did, there was no turning back. His old life would be over. He took a long look at Magdalena. How could he not help her?

  The vampires sat at the long living room table. They would grieve later over their fallen brothers and sisters, but now Magnus had to consider practical matters.

  He and Alexei let the attackers leave. They could have continued fighting, but Magnus felt weak after one of them stabbed him with a stake. They had done him a favor by escaping. The same was true for Alexei, although he would not admit it.

  He and Alexei gave the invaders a severe beating, killing five and leaving the others wounded, limping out of the house. Then he found Cecilia, Carmen, Francois, Jorge, and Claudius.

  He had no idea how it happened. He and Alexei repeatedly went over the details of the fight. One of the thugs stabbed Magnus with a stake. After swatting him away, that was the last Magnus saw of him. He must have been responsible for the deaths of his brood members.

  Magnus cursed himself for not killing that one. With so many attacking, it was difficult to keep track of them.

  Magnus stood at the head of the table. The rest of the brood remained quiet. “We can’t stay. They’ll be back.”

  Alexei had his feet up on the table. “I wouldn’t be so sure, not after that ass kicking we gave them.”

  Magnus glared at Alexei. “These are mafia figures and members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, not peasants in a European village. They’ll be back. Probably tomorrow. I doubt they will strike again tonight, but just to be sure, we’ll patrol the neighborhood.”

  “It’s going to be difficult to move,” Gabriella said.

  “I’m painfully aware of it.” Magnus stared at Alexei, who seemed oblivious of the implication. “But we have no other option.”

  “I’m willing to fight them again, if you’re game,” Alexei said. “It was fun.”

  Magnus pounded his fist on the table. “This isn’t a game. Five of our own are dead.”

  Alexei sat straight. “I know, and it saddens me, but we can take them on again. This time, I’ll make sure there are no mistakes.”

  Magnus clenched his fist. “We can’t risk another encounter.”

  “Moving will be prohibitively difficult,” Gabriella said. “If we’re going to do this, then we better start now.”

  Magnus nodded. “Does anyone know where we can move, at least temporarily, until we find a permanent residence?”

  The members of the brood provided suggestions, but each had problems. They debated, but Magnus saw little progress. He was not concerned for himself. He could stay anywhere. The others needed complete protection from the sunlight.

  Everyone stopped talking when a mortal entered the room.

  “I think our friend Charlie can help us,” Magdalena said.

  Magnus scowled. “How c
an he help?”

  Charlie stepped forward. “The way I see it, you have two problems. First, you need a place to stay. I know people all over the city. Second, you need to transport your stuff. You have things here that are worth a lot, but you can’t worry about that. They can be replaced. What you really need to do is move those coffins, right?”

  Magnus nodded.

  “My cousin owns a moving company. I can get a few trucks. He owes me a favor.”

  Magnus folded his hands and stared at Charlie. His dreamy eyes as he stared at Magdalena convinced Magnus of his sincerity. She had snared another man. She was the most seductive creature he had ever known. The Sirens of ancient times had nothing on her.

  Magnus nodded. “How quickly can you do this?”

  “I need to make a few phone calls. With a little luck, maybe tonight.”

  They convened at Sophie’s house, which had become vampire hunting headquarters. Mark Andrews broke his nose during the fight, but that was the least of his problems. Three FBI agents were dead, including his mentor, Rick Carroll.

  Mark shook his head, holding ice to his face. “What a fucking disaster. It was only two of them, and they crushed us. Where the hell is Enzo anyway?”

  “He’s on his way,” Tony Scrambolgni said. “He had to take care of a few things.”

  “Wonderful.” Mark’s head throbbed. His face felt like someone had smashed it with a sledgehammer.

  “So what now?” Sophie asked.

  “I have to make a full report to the Director,” Mark said.

  “This’ll become a bigger mess if you get more agents involved,” Scrambolgni said.

  “What’s the alternative?” Mark asked.

  Sophie sat next to him. “Close your ranks. Right now, a handful of agents know the truth. Keep it that way. Your story is this was a drug bust gone bad. You were ambushed by the cartel, and three of your men got clipped.”

  Mark looked out the window. “I don’t know if that’s feasible. We’re fighting a losing battle. This thing’s going to break.”

  The doorbell rang. Sophie opened the door. A disheveled Enzo Salerno walked inside followed by the Wiz.

  Enzo put his hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Tony told me what happened. I’m sorry for your loss. I know you were close to Carroll and the other men.”

  Mark nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Like I was saying, we don’t stand a chance against these vampires. They’ll wipe us out if we don’t change our strategy.”

  Salerno smirked.

  Mark glared at him. “What the hell’s so funny?”

  “We took our hits today, but believe me, we paid them back,” Salerno said.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I killed five of them.”

  “You did what?” Sophie asked.

  “While the rest of you engaged Magnus and Alexei, I snuck out. I found them sleeping in their coffins. I killed four of them with my stake. The last one put up a fight, so I cut her fucking head off. Damn, I need a cigarette.”

  Sophie took one from her pack and handed it to him.

  Salerno gave a blow by blow account of what happened. After hearing what he had to say, the day no longer felt so bleak.

  “How did you get out?” Mark asked.

  “Crawled out a window,” Salerno replied.

  Scrambolgni slapped Salerno’s shoulder. “That’s what I’m talking about, boss. I knew you would take it to them.”

  Mark nodded. “At least we put a hurting on them. They sure hurt us.”

  “We can kill them,” Salerno said.

  Sophie lit a cigarette. “Why were Alexei and Magnus the only ones fighting? Besides that last one, you said they didn’t put up a fight. Yet these two fought like hell.”

  “That’s why I went to see the Wiz first.”

  The Wiz took a swig from his can of Red Bull. “We went to the library at Penn. They had this old text, and it said that a vampire’s strength is directly correlated to their age. The older they are, the more powerful they are. You guys must have run into some pretty old bastards.”

  Mark cracked his knuckles. “So if we can neutralize those two, we can knock off these other sons of bitches. These old ones, they can still be killed, right?”

  The Wiz shrugged. “As far as I know.”

  “I hurt Magnus when I stabbed him. They won’t go easy, but we can kill them.”

  Scrambolgni nodded. “I got a shot on that creepy son of a bitch, too. He felt pain.”

  “That bodes well for us,” Salerno said. “We need to formulate an effective plan.”

  Mark looked out the window. He should tell the Director about the vampires. What he was about to do defied every protocol and procedure, but he felt more confident dealing with the vampire problem with Salerno then by going to the Director. He turned around. “We’ll go with the Cartel story for now.”

  “Let’s get to work,” Salerno said. “This fight ain’t over. Not by a long shot.”

  Charlie hung up the phone and returned to the living room, hardly believing what he was doing. His father once told him a woman would be his downfall. Looks like the old man knew something after all.

  “All right, here’s the deal,” Charlie said. “There’s an abandoned warehouse in Camden I use to store hot merchandise. There ain’t any shipments coming in, so it’ll be empty for the next few days. Until you figure out where you’re going, you can use that.”

  Magnus narrowed his eyes. “If this is true, then it could take care of our immediate shelter problem. We still have to transport our belongings.”

  “I got that taken care of. My cousin’s got two big trucks idle. You can use them.”

  Magnus glanced at Gabriella, who nodded. “Okay, make the arrangements.”

  Charlie just signed his death warrant. For better or worse, he was tied in with these vampires. If Enzo Salerno found out he was helping them, he was a dead man.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Enzo cast his eyes downward as he walked alongside Gina. His wife had been crying all morning. Fat Paulie had practically been family. It was tough telling the kids that Uncle Paulie was dead.

  The wet ground near the burial site muddied his Bruno Magli shoes. This was his third funeral this week.

  The last three days had been a lesson in futility. He and Mark Andrews created teams to search for the vampires. Most of their belongings were gone from their Wyncotte mansion, and the teams had no luck so far finding them.

  Sophie approached them and hugged a sobbing Gina.

  “When’s this going to end?” Gina asked.

  “I hope soon,” Sophie replied. “It’s been tough on us all.”

  “Can’t those damn vampires just leave?” Gina fought through tears.

  Last night Gina had been hysterical, demanding to know what had happened. Normally, he never discussed business with his wife, but this wasn’t business. Gina was friends with the wives of the deceased. She had a right to know, so he told her.

  Enzo excused himself and walked away with Sophie.

  “What’s the latest?” Sophie asked. “I haven’t heard anything since last night.”

  “Still nothing. We have to smoke the bastards out of their holes.”

  “Maybe they left town.”

  Enzo stood stone-faced. “Until we know for sure, we have to keep looking.”

  Sophie shook her head. “I can’t believe Paulie’s dead.”

  Enzo nodded. “He was fiercely loyal. I can’t let his death go unpunished.”

  For a while, they said nothing. When they reached the end of the parked cars Sophie said, “The Wiz has something to show you.”

  Enzo’s brow furrowed. “Where is he?”

  “Follow me.”

  Standing at the edge of the property, the Wiz stood with his hands in his pockets, wearing a shirt and tie. Enzo hadn’t thought he owned any.

  Enzo hugged him. “Glad you made it.”

  The Wiz nodded. “This sucks. I really thought, you know,
you guys would have been able to take ‘em out.”

  “It’s not through a lack of trying,” Enzo said.

  “Yeah. A couple days ago, Sophie told me you needed to know how to spot the vampires. Well, I came up with something. From everything I’ve read, they don’t cast a reflection in the mirror. If that’s true, I got a way to identify them.”

  The Wiz produced a contraption consisting of two small mirrors at ninety degree angles fastened together. Attached to the mirrors was a short, leather strap.

  Enzo frowned. “What the fuck is that, and how is it going to help us?”

  The Wiz bent down. Enzo stepped back when the kid grabbed his Bruno Magli shoe. He attached the leather straps to the shoe.

  “Are you all right, Vito?” Enzo glared at Sophie.

  “Perfectly fine.”

  “What’s this all about?”

  “Look at your shoes and tell me what you see.” The Wiz walked toward Enzo.

  Enzo looked down. “I see you.”

  “Precisely. If I was a vamp, you wouldn’t see my reflection. That’s how we identify them.”

  Enzo tilted his head. “That’s fucking crazy, but it might work. I just don’t know how practical this is.”

  “You won’t even notice them. Go ahead, walk around.”

  Enzo walked on the muddy ground. “You’re right. You don’t notice them.”

  “I made a bunch,” the Wiz said. “They’re at my apartment. We can give them to the guys when they’re walking around the city, going to bars, nightclubs and stuff. If they find someone without a reflection, then they’ve got a vampire.”

  “Will these things stay on?” Sophie asked.

  “Sure. I used heavy duty adhesive from the chemical company my roommate works at.”

  Enzo patted him on the back. “I’ll pick them up at your apartment. Good work, kid.”