* * * *
I was practicing my blocking with Candy. She had told me earlier that if I did “Good enough” she was going to start working on my offense. Candy wanted me to learn a solid defense before learning how to attack. We were going through our practice with her attacking me relentlessly, then out of nowhere she was on the ground. She had a surprised look on her face. I don’t remember what I did; I just did something and she was on the floor. You could have heard a pin drop, it was that quiet. Candy asked what I did. All I could do was shrug. We went back to her testing my skills when I caught her arm and maneuvered it behind her back. I was working on autopilot. As she went to stomp my foot I was able to sweep her other leg before the stomp happened. She looked mad when she hit the floor again. She asked me where I had learned that technique, and in a way that told me I had better answer her or else. All I could think of was that I picked up it watching her and Sammy sparring.
Tammy was muttering something I couldn’t quite understand. When she was done casting her spell she looked at me. I was afraid of completely looking at Tammy for fear that Candy would kill me. Candy said, “Again,” loudly and we met with the usual result of her landing more blows than were blocked. When I looked back at Tammy she had a puzzled look on her face. Candy decided that I was ready to learn offense and concluded our lesson early. Later I saw her and Sammy sparring. I felt sorry for him as I watched them. I caught him glance my way and knew he was tomorrows lesson more painful than normal because of the beating he was taking from her
A few days later, a drug house opened two buildings from us. The guards out front decided they owned the whole block. Any time they saw us, they drew weapons on us. Max knew they didn’t want to bring the cops; they were just trying to scare us, and they were doing a good job with me. Max had Tammy increase the protection spells while he was scouting another location. When Max returned with Todd, things went bad really quick; one of the guards opened fire on the two. This brought everyone running. The guys running the house had automatic weapons. They were turning the car into Swiss cheese. Most people think the skin on a car will protect you to some degree from a bullet. The reality is that bullets go through cars with relative ease with few exceptions, like the axles and engine block. Thankfully, these guys didn’t have Nish teaching them proper weapons techniques. They were spraying bullets everywhere. It only took second for us to spring into action. Nish was the first to score a kill. He found a guy with some skill aiming out of a second story window. He quickly assumed a firing position and fired. The gunman fell out of the window, clearing a second shot for him. Just like that two were down with an unknown number left to go.
As I dropped to the ground, my heart was racing as I recited Nish’s mantra: breathe out, aim, and squeeze. I hit one of the door guards square in the chest. I watched as debris flew from the weakened body armor. I adjusted my aim and fired two more quick shots as I walked the bullets up his chest and into his head. By the time the third shot landed the other door guard was adjusting fire in my direction. Luckily, his clip ran out before he sprayed my exposed position. I still had plenty of bullets and walked three more rounds up his chest before I got a kill shot. Each round was like a miniature movie as I watched the bullet fly towards its target and hit home. The slightest correction and the next movie started. It wasn’t until I saw Erica through a window inside the building that I realized the others were around. Erica made very short work of a guy in a room on the first floor and had moved on to another guy when I spotted a third person entering the room.
I snapped off a quick shot as the new player in the room made a move to attack Erica. She looked out the window and gave a quick wave. Mathew was laying down cover fire so Todd and Max could get back to the building and get the evacuation process rolling.
The building was cleared out in quick order as Erica, Sammy, Candy, and Allyson cleared the building floor by floor, with us covering from the outside. When they were done inside Nish and I covered their exit. No words were spoken as we entered the building. Tammy was inside destroying any evidence we were ever there. Clinton was driving out of the garage and confirmed something with Max that I couldn’t hear. My ears were ringing from the fire fight we just had. There was another large van in the garage waiting for us. Nish headed for the living area when Todd said, “I already grabbed all the fly away kits.” Nish went straight for the remaining vehicle and started it up.
Grabbing my arm Max asked quietly, “You’re shaking really bad kid, are you okay?”
“I’m fine”, I lied, knowing he knew.
“Listen it’s always hardest your first time in combat. Don’t sweat it you did good.” He clapped me on the shoulder
“Everyone out, we only have five minutes before we can’t make it out of here cleanly,” Max said in a very commanding tone.
A chorus of “yes sirs” sang out from the rest of us. I could see Max counting as I closed the cargo door. With everyone in we made our getaway before the helicopters arrived. Nish, always one to play it safe, made several direction changes to see if anyone was following us. It seemed like an eternity before anyone said anything.
Max was the first to speak. “I’m thankful that I have a family like all of you. I have no doubt that had it not been for you, Todd and I would be dead by now. Where did you learn to shoot like that, Samuel? That’s right … I taught you.” Nish and the others laughed at his joke. Mathew went to Todd and asked, “Do you have any injuries that need tending?”
Todd shook his head. “No, but Max does.”
The van went quiet again. Max looked at Todd like a brother who’d just been ratted out to their parents. Then I noticed the blood on Max’s sleeve. Mathew chanted while holding Max’s arm. The blood was still there but I’m sure the bleeding had stopped. Max mumbled, ”Thank you,” as he pulled his shirt off and checked Mathew’s handy work. I was sure it had to have been a huge wound from the amount of blood involved, but from my position there didn’t even appear to be even a scar.
Todd had a shirt for Max before he even asked for it. I was thinking that they really were a family more than a group of people. I knew I would lay down my life for any member of my family. I couldn’t say the same for my friends. That day I had put my life on the line for these people and I hadn’t even thought twice about it. All of us had thought of the safety of the family over our individual safety. I had killed people. Granted, they were drug dealers, but I had done it. I had been shot at and didn’t move so I could cover my family. I learned that it is one thing to think someone had your back, but that night I knew these people had mine. I learned just how much this family was willing to do to protect their own.
Todd broke me out of my trance when he came over and tapped my shoulder. “A penny for your thoughts, buddy.”
“I was just thinking that this truly was my family now.”
“Don’t worry we grow on you after a while,” laughed Todd.
We sat in silence for a few minute, then he gave me my fly away kit. Seeing the bag reminded me that I had forgotten to pack my electronics from earlier. It was one of Todd’s rules: always keep what you want in the fly away kit when not in use. I had been playing a game on my phone when everything happened. I didn’t even get to pack my wallet. “Look inside,” Todd said with a grin. I looked inside and found he had taken the time to pack the item I left out. I started to say thank you when he waved it away.
Power Shift
Francis was furious. Two very dangerous people had slipped through his fingers. He was left to wonder what other people they had with them that would pose a threat. He knew the names of the people that had escaped; however, most were recaptured, and there were only three names left unaccounted for. Sasha McAlister came to mind first. She was an enlightened human with a thirst for blood that rivaled that of a vampire’s. She didn’t have any particular agenda except to cause death and destruction. He couldn’t see her working with Tammy and Nish. Kendrick was another
name on the list. He was another enlightened human, a computer hacker that had pushed the wrong button and earned himself a trip to a reeducation camp. He was an unlikely candidate because he was completely useless in a fight. The last name was Todd, a gnome with a knack for getting into even the most secure areas undetected. He was a likely candidate for his breaking and entering skills but lacked that killer instinct. But something else was bothering Francis. Somebody with Todd’s skills shouldn’t have been caught. Francis didn’t think that he was a good fit for Tammy and Nish, but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.
The thirst brought him out of his current thought. There was a feeding station not far away where he could get some freshly tapped blood. There was also some chilled in his mini fridge. Thoughts of finding someone on the street and drinking from them were tempting but he had to toe the line. That meant following the rules and not making waves. In the end he didn’t think it would be wise to leave the building in his current state so he settled on the chilled blood in the refrigerator. He didn’t care for it that much but it would satisfy him until he could get to a bar. Unlike most vampires, Francis didn’t have a favorite type of blood. He had an age preference. He liked his blood from young children between the ages of eight and thirteen, with a preference for girls. This was the blood he would drink on special occasions. Unfortunately tonight wasn’t one of those occasions.
His drink was interrupted by his cell phone. The ring was reserved for his boss. He knew this was a call he had to take. He answered with one simple word, “Sir.”
“We are disappointed to see that you are not on location already,” the voice said in a cold monotone.
“Excuse me sir, but what location?”
“Turn on the local news, any station.”
The line went dead. Francis had the remote in his hand and saw what the person was talking about. Police had responded to reports of a gang fight in the warehouse district and found the scene a massacre. Only bodies from the Sureno’s gang were found. Meanwhile, what made the report so interesting was that not all the victims were shot; some were sliced with a long cutting blade. The media was calling it a ritualistic killing.
Nigel grabbed for the phone when it rang. He didn’t have to look at the caller ID to know it was Francis. “Hello sir, I was just reaching for the phone to ….”
“Shut up”, Francis interrupted, “We have a situation and I’m calling you. Do you see a problem with that? I bet you don’t even have a team assembling!” Francis paused for affect. Nigel fumbled trying to answer the question. “I’m growing tired of your incompetence, Nigel. I’m leaving for the site now. I want your team on location no later than fifteen minutes after me.” Francis terminated the connection envisioning Nigel staring at his phone. At least he could take comfort in Nigel’s discomfort.
Nigel had his team at the site with minutes to spare. “I should have left Timothy off the team,” he said to himself. Problem was, Timothy had become the “golden child” after the escape. Nigel still didn’t trust him, but he had skill. He was just going to have to keep him on a very short leash.
The site was a mess, at least a dozen bodies scattered all over. There wasn’t a single style for the killings. It was obviously not a gang fight. This is where he belonged, out in the field finding the evidence, not chained to some desk making reports. He was great at dissecting a scene and coordinating recovery operations, which was how he got his current job. Nigel liked the job and had a bigger piece of the puzzle but he didn’t love it like he loved this.
Something about this whole setup didn’t seem right. After a quick glance he could see how the fighting had been started by the two at the door. Toxicology screens would reveal that at least one of them was high, if not both. Whoever was in the car didn’t get much of a chance to return fire. The kill shots for the two at the door came from a different direction. Someone had been lying on the lawn of the building to the right. He walked over to the outline of a body on the ground, shell casings near it. The rest of his team moved from body to body inside the building. He found another area with more shell casings. This shooter was kneeling. Either this one was a great shot or didn’t have many available targets. Nigel could tell the shooter was a dwarf from the size of the indents left on the ground. He got down to the height of the shooter and could clearly see several dead people. This was a very skilled individual.
Looking around, he found some tracks leading further down the road. He followed the tracks to the next building over. Walking back to the drug house he saw a quick flash. Less than a heartbeat later, all the windows on the second floor burst outwards. Acting quickly he set about getting his team accounted for. Secondary explosions rocked the building as volatile chemicals reached their flashpoint. He lost a member of his team, Larry Holsted, an enlightened human with a wife and two kids. The civilian crime scene investigators tripped a trap left by the attackers in the drug room. The trap was cleaver in its simplicity.
Francis came screaming at Nigel calling him every name in the book and Nigel just stood there and took it. Then it happened: something in Nigel’s mind snapped. Anger overtook his fear of Francis. He’d had enough; it was time to take a stand. Nigel chopped him on the neck and spun around to sweep his legs. With no thought for personal safety, he didn’t give Francis a chance to recover. He paused only long enough to scan for a piece of wood to impale him with.
Nigel had long ago learned the vulnerabilities of his ‘masters.’ The old legends were only partial truths. Garlic wasn’t dangerous to them; however, garlic fumes were like tear gas to them; it wouldn’t hurt them, just really piss them off. Holy symbols were a rumor they spread to give society a false sense of security. Wooden stakes could kill them, but not like in the legends. It didn’t matter where the stake was placed as long as it went all the way through the skin; it was guaranteed to bleed them dry. Sunlight was the most overrated myth. It was true, they were sensitive to it and would ultimately die from exposure, but to avoid this they just wore really strong sun block and covered as much exposed skin as possible. As a form of punishment, they would strap a victim to a table and leave them exposed to sunlight. It was a slow and painful death. The final nail in their myths: they weren’t undead like most people thought. Vampirism is similar to lycanthropy in that it’s an infection that changes the body to meet the needs of the infection. So many people think they rise from the grave because when the infection hits a critical level it shuts down the body, leaving it in a comatose state that resembles death.
The pause to look for wood was all Francis needed to recover from his shock. He easily flipped Nigel off of him. Francis’ heightened senses gave him an advantage but the blood running freely down his face blurred his vision, rendering him nearly blind.
Wiping blood from his face, Francis said, “It looks like there is still some fight left in you. I’ve only seen a whipped dog for so long I forgot what you were like.” Francis was trying to push Nigel into attacking again.
Nigel recognized the trick and feinted with a punch that he never threw. Instead he aimed a kick to the ribs. Nigel heard a cracking noise and smiled. Not letting go of his advantage, he got Francis into an underarm head lock, knowing that snapping his neck alone wouldn’t kill him, but it would give him time to find that piece of wood he needed.
Francis’ body went limp as Nigel applied pressure. It took a few minutes to find a suitable piece of wood. Nigel looked Francis in the eyes as he raised the stake over his head and stabbed it into the ground, just grazing him. Shock registered on Francis’s face that he was still among the living. Nigel leaned over and whispered in his ear, “I have your number now. Just because you’re a vampire doesn’t make you better. Don’t forget you are still only turned. I can kill you and they might just thank me for saving them the trouble. The sun will be up in three hours. I hope you are a fast healer.”
Then Nigel left Francis there with the stake just touching his face.
No one saw the fight happen but every
one noticed the change. Nigel took charge of the site. Directing his team to the building, he traced the tracks to the building next door. He gave very specific instructions of what he wanted done and by when. This was a person they hadn’t met and didn’t want to anger.
When his team left, he started getting the police to better secure the area in case there were any more surprises.