B00724AICC EBOK (10 page)

But how the hell could that be without a body?

The vampire now walked awkwardly in a circle, although only moments earlier he had been walking perfectly normal as a Siamese cat. He was in control of his new cat vehicle; however he could unquestionably detect the cat’s influence. He now realized that he would have eaten that mouse. How distasteful would that have been? Moon Diamond continued to show him images of delicious mice, and they did in fact look tasty. He thought that lots of people ate mice. No they didn’t! He shouted at the cat from inside his head to stop its effrontery, but instead of complying it showed him a dead bird.

Had life become unworthy of living?

Zacharia was also a seer and could observe that the master was across the ocean in Canada. He would jump on a plane and be there in no time. But no, he was now a cat.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

LAUREN SAT ON A BENCH near the Brewer Fountain at the Boston Common, the oldest city park in the States, which was near the wall at Park and Tremont Streets. The statues at the base of the fountain represented Galatea, Neptune, Amphitrite, and Acis. Park Street Station was the main transfer point between the Green Line and the Red Line. Two other sheriffs were at the Green Line platforms and others were in the general area. Lauren had a hunch that an attack might originate with a meeting near the fountain. She had daily hunches and most of them came to fruition. Her presence might frighten them off but she could give pursuit and call for backup.

Lauren’s swords were prominent on her back, and she was patrolling the area because of information she had received from the Boston police. It was sketchy information about some sort of attack near the area, supposedly involving vampires. Her mood was a little blue though she was hopeful of better days to come.

Michael blurred into the area, having had a wet dream involving Lauren and was feeling a little more confident. The dream had been so vivid that he hoped it was a sign of things to come. He felt as though they should be a couple, although he had no idea how he was going to accomplish it. She seemed disinterested at best, and unfortunately one of her talents was blocking vampires from reading her mind. He sat on the bench near Lauren and her gray-blue eyes didn’t appear happy to see him; he was hurt by the look on her face. It was as if he was an unwanted neighbour come to borrow coffee.

“
Michael, what the hell are you doing here? See the badge?” She lifted up the collar of her black trench coat and showed it to him, and it was done with an attitude that appeared to be a bit of a threat.

He ran his hand awkwardly through his short brown hair. “You’re not going to cut me in two are you?”

She smiled. “I would never hurt you without cause but I’m working here. Expecting big trouble. I don’t want to have to place people in jeopardy with having to save your cute ass. So you better get going before I have to kick it.”

Michael smiled. “So you think my ass is what?”

“
Never mind.”

“
You should see it naked. It’s all hairy and muscular.”

“
I know that you are trying to be funny but that’s not an image I want to imagine.”

Uncomfortable silence and then it just slipped out. “Do you think that we have some chemistry going? I feel that we could have something.”

Lauren turned her head slowly toward him. “You follow me around like a lost puppy. We’ve hardly even talked, and now you think we have chemistry? I don’t like my men to be delusional.”

Michael was becoming frustrated and decided to just blurt it out. “Really, I thought delusional was your thing? Wait, that didn’t come out right. Look, I find it really hard to talk to you.”

“
I know rabbit.”

“
Please don’t call me that.”

“
If you stick around here and you get cut in two, then don’t blame me.”

“
What are we talking about here? Normal bad guys or bad vampires?”

Lauren glanced at her watch. “Get out of here before I have to make you leave. You won’t like it. It’ll change your opinion of me.”

Michael showed her his exaggerated sad face. Lauren had to laugh.

“
All right, stay. But you run when they show up.”

“
That wouldn’t be very manly.”

“
Then you can be bones Michael, it’s up to you.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

KEITH CONLEY WAS A KILLER even before he had paid an unsavoury vampire the sum of fifteen thousand dollars to turn him into a biter, travelling all over the world. He had become a mass murderer, though at first it was strictly unsuspecting women. Sometimes he wined and dined them, but his thirst for blood usually didn’t allow him to get beyond the first date. He would say that he was bringing them home to meet his mother, and that she was old and loved to meet people. But Keith would always find a wooded area and drain them of every last once of blood.

As his tastes evolved he now had no scruples about killing men or women.

He was a portly fellow with average looks, and lots of money to entice the ladies. Keith had suffered heart problems before being turned into a biter. Instead of waiting for a heart transplant that would might have never come, he took the immortal vampire route to be able to ply his malevolent ways far into the future. He was affable until it was time for the kill. He had an evil smile that he didn’t show until it was too late. He had practiced his evil looks in the mirror multiple times. It was a knowingly wicked grin originating from scenes that regularly danced in his head of torture and suffering. He was a narcissistic fellow of the asshole variety.

Keith had dark hair with patches of gray interspersed throughout as he had just turned fifty-one when he had been transformed into a genuine monster. His green eyes always watched attractive women with the eagerness of a hungry predator. When he got the women in an area where their screams of horror couldn’t be heard by anyone, he would rip off their right arm and thoroughly enjoy their last moments of suffering, lapping at the squirting blood. He was devoid of conscience and had sufficient maliciousness for a dozen miscreants. Keith was worse than a rebel without a cause; his reason for being was to inflict as much pain on the world as possible.

It was about sixty-five miles north of Utica New York, near Blue Mountain Lake that Keith had discovered two gorgeous twenty-year-olds, a blonde and a brunette tenting in a small popup tent. He followed them surreptitious into the deeper woods where they camped away from eyes that would follow them wherever they went, their beauty sometimes being the origin of unwanted attention. They were in a sap green self-erecting pop up tent which was able to be set up in only three seconds with its spring steel frame, and had fine mesh screening to keep the bugs out. It slept three comfortably, but the two beauties were alone and into sexual experimentation.

Surrounded by the forest and just out of view of the tent, Keith listened to the giggles and the moans. The crescent moon hung high over a cloudless sky. He could observe their naked silhouettes as they stood and stroked one another under the illumination of the flashlight. It was such pulchritude in motion with the exquisiteness of the female form that he thought that he could taste them; his mouth commenced to water. The blonde on the left wore a light perfume and the brunette with only a fruity underarm deodorant.

Keith Conley knew that he had not one, but two red sheriffs on his trail. He could sense them in the far distance but approaching nonetheless. He knew them from a close encounter earlier in the month, but the funny thing was that he was faster than most biters even though he was a large ball of blubber. He researched them on the Internet and knew that the sheriffs were brothers, Devin and Daniel. They were tall and blonde and looked to be in their early thirties, though they were in fact approaching a hundred.

Keith approached the front of the tent and listened as their hearts and breathing accelerated; he actually licked his lips and moaned as he mocked them. His pupils widened at the thought of the feast to come; he could smell the fresh blood being pumped through their veins. The excitement was almost overwhelming at such proximity. And he was as dangerous as a grizzly bear with a cub.

The blond stopped and listened intently. “Did you hear that?” Carol asked.

Kelly was immediately frightened and whispered. “Get the gun!”

Carol desperately searched for the 5-shot Taurus 405 revolver equipped with wooden tipped bullets, but the gun was concealed under her red laced bra and panties. Being in panic mode it made it that much more difficult to locate. Keith blurred into the tent and knocked both girls to the ground. Screams cut through the night but were quickly silenced. He ate flesh from the both of them as they went into shock, and in less than a second later blood was spurting on the inside walls as he feasted on the young and tasty flesh.

Devin and Daniel blurred into the Blue Mountain Lake area and could scent the fresh blood on the night air. They could also detect the stench of Keith in the area, which meant that he hadn’t yet run away into the dark like the coward that he was. Preying on humans was easy and disgusting to the brothers, and they couldn’t wait to kill the fat bastard. His wanted posters were all over the world, and yet his velocity helped him to elude capture.

Daniel stood akimbo with his right hand touching his samurai sword under his trench coat. “Why the hell are we waiting?”

Devin sighed. “He’s faster than we are. Alexander’s bringing his vamp dog in and she’ll get him.”

Daniel paced back and forth several times. “Why isn’t he running? He has to know we’re here.”

“
He knows he’s faster.”

Alexander and his German shepherd Tessy blurred beside the brothers. It had already been a long night for Alexander as he had just battled and dispatched another vampire miscreant. “What do we have?”

Devin looked down at the beautiful dog and was impressed. “It’s that Keith son-of-a-bitch.”

Alexander scented the air. “Yeah, I can smell him now, and his poor victims. Tessy, scent.”

The dog blurred and they followed her as best they could. Their path through the forest had to be attained in increments lest they smash themselves into the trees. Alexander had to call her back several times to enable them to keep up with her, but finally the shepherd led them to the tent where the grisly scene was waiting for them. All that was remaining of the girls was a pile of bones with about forty percent of their skin remaining, and a disturbing stench. Tessy sniffed the area and pulled out Keith’s scent as she growled menacingly.

“
Get him!”

The dog took off and accidentally knocked down a fir tree in her haste to apprehend. The three sheriffs followed for almost two miles when she abruptly stopped and barked a warning. Her barks were fast and furious to indicate that danger awaited them.

“
What the hell?” said Devin. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

Alexander knew from experience that something sinister was up. The wind blew through the trees and changed direction, making his stench less tangible. “Something is wrong. She’s warning us.”

Daniel shook his head disapprovingly. “We can’t let him get away again! Let’s go!”

“
Just give me a minute. Listen to your instincts. Don’t you sense the danger?” Alexander watched the dog sit, which was the sign for her master to wait.

Daniel would not be put off or delayed any longer. He simply had to pay for his murderous ways. “I’m going.” He took off at a great speed and disappeared into the distant trees. Silence engulfed the area as they listened to him sideswiping several outlying trees. More silence and then a terrible death scream.

The two remaining red sheriffs were led by the dog through the area and around an enormous hole that Keith had dug. It was a hundred yards square filled with sharpened pine trees. The dog again barked in warning as they approached a part of mesh that had been covered with branches and twigs, but now collapsed. Inside the hole was Daniel’s skeleton and his trench coat pierced full of holes. One of the poles had gone through the center of the sheriff’s heart, had it not Keith would have jumped down and decapitated him.

Devin’s scream was heart wrenching. “No!”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

AS THE HOUR OF EIGHT in the evening approached, Ted and Sheila Fisher were in such an anguished state that they could barely function. The day had been absolutely torturous. Add to that the lack of sleep and the inability to eat made for two souls that would rather be dead than to face the situation. Ted sat in his study surrounded by walls of books; he sat behind his solid oak desk talking to himself as his wife paced outside his door. He was supposed to be able to protect his family but could do nothing. The threat was that they would rape Shenna at eight o’clock commencing on this night. They had managed to gather the two million in cash as they had requested, but then they got greedy and raised the amount to five million dollars, and that was an impossible sum.