once, twice, three times…just as she thought he wasn’t going to answer, he did.
“I want you to listen to something, Clifford,” she said excitedly, not even bothering to say hello. She held the phone to the screen for him to hear. She then promptly put it to her ear. “You get that?”
“I sure as hell did! Are you in the house?” he asked, anxious for her, knowing about the vampires around.
“Yes! The dogs were raising hell…and I was gonna take Jeff out to see what was wrong and we heard this horrible screaming.”
“You stay inside! I’ll get Grady and Brooks on the phone. Do not go outside!”
“Okay…Okay…I won’t.”
“What’s more…and this may sound strange…I don’t care who might come to your door…Even if they look in terrible shape…if you don’t know them, personally – Don’t invite them in! You hear?”
“Yes. I hear.”
“You stay put, now. I’ll be there ASAP.”
She stuck her phone back in her pocket. The screaming was still going on. She closed her door. “Oh…God! What’s happening?”
Amber and Dorian were just readying to leave for their night of hunting, had just stepped outside, when Amber thought she heard something. Dorian perked up too.
“You hear that, Dorian?”
“Sure did. Sounds like the trouble-makers are encroaching on our territory a little too close! And that really pisses me off!”
“Are you gonna summon Klaus and Sally?”
“Already on it, babe. Klaus is on his way…And Sally’s just leaving the store. They’ll be here in a few.”
“But in the meantime…people are dying!”
“What are we waiting for?”
“Nothing…”
“We’re outta here then…” And they shimmered out so fast Star didn’t even see them leave. He swirled around, yapping, wondering where they went.
Clifford arrived at Jerri’s just seconds ahead of Grady and Brooks and a deputy. The screams were still going on. The four men jumped out of their vehicles about the same time, converging at Jerri’s front door that she already had open.
“How long this been going on?” Brooks asked.
“A good half hour…whoever it is out there is being tortured.” There was a loud cry for help and a man screamed. Jerri covered her ears. “Oh God…what’s going on?”
“Clifford, you stay with Jerri!” Brooks ordered.
“Not leaving her side,” he said and closed the door.
Brooks, his deputy and Grady made a trail through the woods behind Jerri’s house, moving in on the screams. Suddenly Brooks, who was in the lead, stopped. “Over there!” he said, in a whisper, peeking through an opening through the trees.
Huddling together, they looked. There was a man and a woman being passed around by five vampires, each one taking a bite, sucking for a minute and shoving the victim on to the next vampire.
“For the love of God! They’re toying with them!” Brooks exclaimed.
“What do we do?” Grady asked.
“We can’t just sit here and watch! We have to try and help them!” the deputy commented.
“Agreed,” Grady said, but he’d never been so scared in his life.
“Sticks!” Brooks said. “Find sharp sticks…have to impale them through their hearts…Only way I know to kill them.”
“There’s three of us and five of them,” the deputy noted.
“I’m aware of that,” Brooks said.
Suddenly the woman let out a chilling scream as one of the vampires bit hard into her neck, and this time he wasn’t letting go.
“Come on!” Brooks encouraged and broke out in the yell of a challenging soldier. Grady and the deputy right behind, yelling their lungs out too.
The vampires, seeing they were being pursued, swiftly turned. “Ah…” the tallest one said. He looked to be the oldest. “More food!”
Brooks charged in first, greeted immediately by a young female vampire with long black hair, she snatched the stick out of his hand and tossed him aside like a rag doll. He landed hard on his right hip. Grady was met by a young male and was sent flying through the air, landing up against a tree, knocking the wind out of him.
The deputy was killed instantly when the lead vampire grabbed him up and broke him in half like he was a plastic toy. The other two vampires just stood there, amused by the helpless humans trying to come to the rescue of their victims.
Brooks knew he was a goner and prayed that his wife would forgive him for getting killed, but he forced himself to stand and ran towards what he knew was certain death. Grady couldn’t let Brooks down; he managed to get up and ran towards them too.
The taller vampire met Grady head-on, lifting him up over his head and Grady knew this was it. Then out of nowhere…came a big blond male, one that hadn’t been there before, plowing into the one holding Grady. Grady was flung to the ground from the impact, but the big blond was all over the other vampire. “What the shit?” Grady scrambled back out of the way.
Wasn’t even a second later when the female vampire that now had Brooks and was about to eliminate him, was knocked down by another female that looked kind of familiar, had shoulder length blonde hair. Brooks was dropped aside like Grady. The other three vampires headed for Grady and Brooks, but a tall female with long auburn hair shimmered in, and with her, another familiar male and they took on the three remaining vampires, young males. The battle was on. Grady and Brooks scooted back, watching with unbelieving eyes as the death battle between the vampires ensued.
For a brief second, Dorian paused in front of Grady. “You okay?” he asked in a raspy voice.
All Grady could do was nod. And Dorian swung around and tore into the tallest vampire who’d shot up.
Grady looked at Brooks. Brooks looked at Grady. “That was Dorian Lodovico!” they chimed simultaneously.
Then Grady said, “And I believe that’s Amber over there.”
“That’s who it looks like, but they’ve moving so fast it’s hard to tell.”
Brooks’ attention went to the victims. The woman was trying to back away towards the man. “We need to see if we can get them outta here while the vampires are busy.”
“Yeah…agreed.” Grady got up with Brooks and, crouching down, they headed that way.
Suddenly one of the vampires screamed a blood-curdling scream. The men looked back to see one of the younger males literally being pulled apart by Amber, who had her foot on his neck holding him down and was pulling his arms off.
“I can’t look anymore!” Brooks said.
“Neither can I.”
But when the other vampires saw that one of their own was dead, they dropped back. The tallest one yelled at Amber. “You’re dead, bitch! You just don’t know it yet!”
In a streak as fast as lightning, Dorian tore into him, ripped his head off his shoulders and tossed it aside. “That’s what you get for threatening my female!” he roared.
“Thought you weren’t going to look anymore?” Grady said to Brooks, who was still watching over his shoulder.
“I ain’t now!” He faced back around. And they continued on, heading for Jerri’s.
The other vampires wasted no time in leaving now that their leader was dead.
Klaus, Sally, Amber and Dorian settled down then and turned to see the deputy sheriff and Grady escorting the two victims away. They weren’t looking back.
Klaus said to Dorian. “Pretty good for one night’s work, wouldn’t you say?”
“I’d say…How’s about us getting some beer and after we finish hunting, getting good and drunk?”
“I’m all for it…Girls?”
“Fine with me,” Amber replied.
Sally was agreeable. “Yeah…I’m thirsty for beer, too...Then we’re gonna get the beer first?”
“Yeah…I need to pick up some more,” Dorian said. “And it might be a good idea to wash up a little.” He said, noting that they were all covered in blood.
br /> They left the scene in a blur.
Grady was surprised but glad to see the lights on at Paul’s. He pulled in the lot and went in the store. Paul was just getting ready to lock doors and looked up. “What the hell happened to you? You’re sprinkled in blood!”
“Yeah, I am.” He looked around the store. “Why you open so late?”
“Oh…Sally said there was an emergency and needed to leave early. Judy wasn’t here…and I got really busy. Couldn’t just run them all off. Crowd just now died down. Just getting ready to lock up.” He pointed a finger at Grady. “Gonna leave me in suspense? Or are you going to tell me what the hell happened to you?”
“Well…” Grady said, and then turned as the bell over the door tinkled and Amber, Dorian, Klaus and Sally all walked in, looking like they were dressed for a night out on the town and not a drop of blood on them.
“What you doing open so late?” Sally asked, moving up to the counter. She gave Grady a side glance and eyed the blood on his uniform, but didn’t address it.
“Was telling Grady that Judy was gone…” he frowned. “And you had an emergency…I take it that everything’s okay now?”
She suppressed a grin. “Yeah…it’s taken care of.” She looked over at Klaus and Dorian at the beer cooler loading up.
Amber was picking out chips. She glanced up at Paul and smiled. He smiled back, but was totally confused. She then walked up with her chips and the guys headed over with their six packs of beer. Dorian had two and Klaus had two.
“We’re really glad you were still open,” Amber said. “We thought we were going to have to go further down the road.”
“Normally not open this late. In fact, was just getting ready to close.”
“Not too late to get the beer, is it?” Amber asked.
Paul glanced at Grady and back at Amber.
“No. You can still get it.”
Grady spoke up, “Tell you what, Paul…” he studied the vampires’ faces that had saved his hide and the lives of several other people. “This is on me…if it’s okay with you guys?”
“Fine with me,” Dorian responded, eyes lighting up in surprise.
Paul was really taken aback, eyeing Grady sideways. “Whatever you say, Grady.” He quickly rang them up and Grady paid for it.
Dorian said, “Thank you, Grady!”
Klaus added, “Appreciated!” The girls nodded.
“Hey…it’s the least I can do! Thank you!”
They smiled amusedly, waved and left.
“Okay…Now I need a beer!” Paul said, closing the register. “You want to tell me what that was all about?” He went off to lock the door and turn the closed sign over. Then he hurried back.
“Kind of a long story…I’ll fill you in on the details later…But you lied to me, Paul.”
“What do you mean…I lied?”
“It was Amber…wasn’t it? The vampire that saved your ass the other night was Amber…And her boyfriend was Dorian Lodovico!”
Paul screwed up his mouth. “How’d you know?”
“Cause those four vampires that just walked out your front door there saved me from an early grave, Brooks and two victims of some really mean vampires! Unfortunately, we did lose one man before they arrived to help us.”
Paul was utterly speechless, stood there, mouth gaping, staring at Grady, and processing what he said. He finally found his voice. “They did?”
Grady nodded in the affirmative. “Looks like we were sort of right about Lodovico. He was…is…a vampire…but obviously not one of the bad ones. Neither are the other three…bad ones. But they are most definitely vampires! And that pretty, sweet little Amber…I witnessed her ripping the arms off another male vampire tonight. She was utterly ruthless. Wouldn’t want her pissed off at me.”
“She did what?”
“Ripped his arms right off his body. And Lodovico… after a tall vampire threatened Amber for killing the young one…snapped that vampires head right off his shoulders!”
Paul gulped. He shook his head. “This is unbelievable!”
“Yeah…I saw it…witnessed it…and I’m still having trouble believing it!”
“Woe!”
“Brooks and I talked…And we spoke with the victims. They’ve all promised not to tell a soul who the saving vampires are. Because…there’s probably still some bad ones out there, Paul.”
“Crap.”
“And it seems our only real hope is the help of the good vampires.” He stopped briefly and looked around the store and then turned back to Paul. “Well, I need to get home. Samantha’s going to give me hell for being so late.”
“Probably.”
“And she’s going to want to know why…and I can’t tell her any of this. I’d like to in some ways. But I don’t want her to know that some things really exist that we thought didn’t.”
“I understand, Grady. Thanks for sharing this with me. And I’m sorry for lying to you…You know it’s the first time I ever did.”
“You lied for the same reason I am…and am going to. We’ve got to protect those who’re protecting us! God knows…no one else can!”
Paul bobbed his head. “That’s how I see it.”
“Well, you have a good night.”
“You, too, Grady! Thanks for telling me!” he walked with Grady to the door and opened it for him.
“Have I ever kept anything from you?”
“No.”
“Night now.”
“Night!”
After hunting, the four vampires partied all night and didn’t stop until dawn, keeping to themselves at Dorian’s cabin. When the sun was finally up bright, they decided to call it a night and cleaned up after themselves. Sally wanted to go home and check on Ginger, and Klaus went with her. Dorian had decided he’d start on a special greenhouse for his herbs and was going into the nearest town to pick up some lumber and cuts of glass he’d ordered. Amber went off to her cabin to do some housecleaning.
By the time Amber was through tidying up her cabin, Dorian was back and started on the greenhouse in the backyard behind the porch. Amber smiled at him lovingly, as he was hard at work, and went on up the porch and looked over the herbs that appeared to be doing well. Dorian had planted them in a special mixture of soils. She picked up the tray and took in their scent. “These smell divine,” she commented. “Not like anything I’ve known before.”
“It’s a really rare herb. Normally only grows in certain regions in Russia.”
“Yeah, I think you mentioned that to me before.” She sat the tray down. “Need any help?”
“I think I can manage, beautiful. Something for me to do. I enjoy having a project, otherwise I get bored and drink too much…as you know.” He winked askance.
“Maybe I’ll drive in and see Paul. If it’s okay with you?”
He looked at her a little surprised, but with no signs of jealously. “Still kind of sweet on him, aren’t you?”
“I like him a lot, Dorian! And I did love him! If I hadn’t known you, I would have probably ended up marrying him. But when you and I got together…it was so totally different! No one ever made me feel the way you do. Such a profound difference. It’s you I really love. And the longer we’re together, the more I love you.”
He stopped from his work long enough to give her a full smile. “Way I feel about you too.”
“So…Anything you need or want from Paul’s?”
He breathed out, staring at the frame he’d started, and then turned to her and grinned mischievously. “Beer…”
“You’re incorrigible.”
He bugged his bright eyes at her. “I’m a vampire! Gotta have some vices.”
“Beer it is…as long as you don’t want it more than you want me?”
He put down his hammer, turned, was instantly standing in front of her. “Amber,” he said, eyes delving into hers, “I’ll never want anything or anyone more than I want you!” Those sparks that rendered her weak-kneed were there again. He
kissed her with all the tenderness he was capable. Once more, they slowly began to lift off the ground as they relished one another’s embrace, and they would have kept on rising, but were suddenly distracted by Grady’s Jeep pulling up behind Dorian’s Porsche. “Aw…shit!” Dorian breathed. “Looks like we’ll have to take this up some other time, babe.”
Grady was getting out of his Jeep as they settled to the ground. He had seen them levitating, but only briefly appeared surprised. After all, he knew what they were now. He cleared his throat and nodded.
Dorian spoke first, wearing a cocked grin. “A few minutes later, Grady…and it could have been a bit embarrassing.”
“I kind of gathered that,” Grady responded looking off and then back. “Sorry…if it wasn’t important, I might have thought to call first.”
Dorian released his hold on Amber, kissed her quickly and walked over to Grady. “What’s up?”
“I hate to bother you with this…but don’t know what to do. Who else to turn to.”
“Out with it, Grady.”
“Judy didn’t come home last night.”
“Judy?” Amber gasped.
“Paul’s completely beside himself.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Dorian replied. “Not to seem insensitive…But isn’t law enforcement on it?”
“That they are…but the reason I came out here…Well, her friends tell me that she’s recently been hanging out with this dark-haired guy…who has a sister with really long, coal black hair.” His hand went to his mouth and then dropped. “Dorian, from the descriptions of her friends, sounds like its two of the vampires you were fighting last night.”
Dorian tilted his head back. “Ohhh…I see.” He looked at Amber who was now standing beside him. She was definitely concerned about her friend.
“Instead of getting on the bus yesterday afternoon, she hopped in a yellow Mustang with the girl and the young man. There was another dark-haired man driving. Sounds like the brother.”
“Why didn’t Paul mention this last night?” Amber asked.
“Cause Judy called him from her mobile phone and told him she was going to the movies with some of her girlfriends…for him not to wait up on her.”
“That doesn’t even sound like Judy.” Amber grabbed Dorian’s arm and looked up at him. “She’s just a kid!” Her attention went back to Grady.
“I know,” Grady continued. “Paul didn’t like it. But she’s always been pretty responsible…and he figured that it was probably okay. He told her all right. But he hasn’t heard from her since. And that’s the real reason he kept the store open so late. He kept hoping she’d come home, and he wanted to wait until she got there… We were all there at closing time…but at the time, he didn’t want to trouble us with it in case it wasn’t anything.”
“But where was she when they were torturing that couple?” Amber asked.
“That’s what really worries me.”
“You’re afraid they’ve already killed her?” Amber said, glancing at Dorian and back to Grady.
Grady was trying hard to keep it together, but his eyes teared. “After what I witnessed last night…” He put up a hand. “Nothing derogatory about you and Dorian and your friends…But…Yeah… I’m afraid it’s a good possibility.”
“I never picked up any vibes from her though,” Amber said.
“I think I know,” Dorian said, eyes flashing.
“What?” Grady asked anxiously.
“They’re keeping her for a slow feed.