B00724AICC EBOK (11 page)

The kidnappers always called from a phone booth and the police appeared to be either incompetent or simply incapable of catching the criminals. The perpetrators refused to believe that the five million was beyond their means. And now the very first hour of eight was at hand and time was an enemy that approached as an executioner. How would it be possible for them to endure seven a week? They were almost insane with grief. Seconds were like punches to the solar plexus. The thought of their only child being violated was beyond the point of psychological suffering and mental destruction as their minds might never recover from the scenes that stomped in their heads.

Ted wrung his hands with such force that his knuckles ached. He considered placing the loaded Walter P99 semi-automatic gun in the top drawer to his head, but his mind shifted to the terrible images of his daughter being assaulted. Besides, he couldn’t do that to his wife even though he desperately wanted to take himself out of his misery. He was aware of his own heartbeat and with the heightened stress its skipping of beats; the organ pounded louder than it ever had. He felt as if he was falling off a cliff but might never hit the bottom.

The cable wind and weight driven grandfather clock in golden oak finish behind him was driving him mad as it approached a quarter to eight. The door on the expensive timepiece was accented with bevelled glass. Ted’s nervousness made him glance repeatedly at the purveyor of time, the announcer of doom, so much that it made him look a little insane. The rounded clock face with a brass baisel almost seemed to taunt him with each passing second. Tick after torturous tock. And the FBI within were of no comfort as the hour drew near; they were as intruders even though they were trying hard to apprehend the kidnappers. They were only interested in results not false statements that they would be apprehended.

The phone’s silence only added to their anguish.

As the hour approached ten to eight Sheila started to cry and was inconsolable. She collapsed in the corner and as she suffered the torment that only a mother could grieve, and after Ted’s effort of consoling was harshly rebuked, he went back to his desk and placed his hand on the loaded gun inside the drawer; he didn’t have what it took to blow his own brains out. But would that courage be attainable upon the eight hour?

“
For God sake do something!” Sheila screamed with such ferociousness that an FBI agent ran up the stairs with his hand on his weapon. Hearts fell into the abyss and sank further into despair. The evening had been transformed into a waking nightmare of hatred and sorrow. It appeared that nothing could be done to make the situation better.

The clock approached five to the hour.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

DRACULA SAT ON the steel meshed bench in front of the Champlain Place Mall for almost a week. The clouds cycled through the summer sky. People invariably came and went, with some asking Dracula if he was okay as it looked as if he hadn’t moved from one shopping spree to another. In fact he hadn’t moved a muscle. Men and women smoked under the no smoking signs. The Lewisville bus came and went, and the Express busses came and went, and Drac sat and stared off into the recesses of his own mind. Bus drivers got out and smoked under the no smoking sign and hacked as if they were going to expel a ball of cancer.

He returned somewhat to conscious thought and stared across the parking lot and across Paul Street at the Canadian Tire sign, and at the Deluxe Fish and Chips restaurant, where a family of four was entering. He stared at the Wendy’s restaurant to his left with its parking lot full of cars, and at the Burger King to his right. Seagulls jumped in the parking lot, battling for French fries. An old man with a walker ran as best he could to catch the Express. And then the Master noticed a biter to his right, making his way through the lot. His purple aura was so faint that he instantly knew that the fellow had probably been turned sometime during the last three months. He looked as miserable as Dracula felt.

“
Poor fellow,” said Dracula to himself. He knew that he was inadvertently drawing him to the area, like a magnet to steel.

Udolf was an Old English name that meant prosperous wolf, but the newly created vampire didn’t look at all successful as he staggered around the cars in the parking lot. He was five inches under six feet and his condition and dirty clothes were that of a vagabond. Udol was obviously inebriated as he made his way to the front of the mall. It took a hell of a lot for a vampire to be in such a condition, six or seven bottles of tequila might do it, dependent upon the particular biter’s tolerance for booze. He pulled down his zipper and commenced to urinate against the mall.

An RCMP police cruiser pulled up behind the Lewisville bus and two officers emerged and hollered at Udolf. Dracula knew what was going to happen next. The biter may have been drunk but he would most likely dispatch both of the officers when they showed aggression towards him. His drinking was his way of dealing with his new state, which had been forced onto him. He turned and looked at the officers that were approaching but continued to empty his bladder.

“
Hey, stop that,” said the first officer. “Would you do that to your mother’s residence?”

Udolf thought on it. “My mother died last week. She wouldn’t care.”

Dracula got up and approached all three of them. Udolf felt the heat from the master as if standing next to a burning building; he turned to observe him but continued to urinate. The RCMP officers glanced at Dracula and that was all he needed. The officers approached the exterior of the mall, pulled down their zippers simultaneously and also commenced to empty their bladders. And then he released them back to their own consciousness in mid-stream. Embarrassed and demoralized the constabularies made their way back to the vehicle and drove off without saying another word. And the 911 calls flowed into the station.

Dracula returned to the bench as Piers Anthony exited the mall and approached him. He finally looked up at the author. “What do you want?”

Piers smiled and showed his teeth. “Is that anyway to treat one of your loyal subjects?”

“
Loyal? Ha!”

“
At least you’re not still hanging from the chandelier.”

“
Shouldn’t you be writing?”

“
You look like you could use a hug.”

“
What did you just say?”

Piers scratched his white facial hair and took a seat on the bench. “I said nothing. You’re aware of that girl they’re supposedly torturing every night at eight?”

Dracula slowly turned his head and looked into the author’s eyes. “And?”

“
And, ah, I’ve talked to the family and they’ve agreed to meet with you.”

“
What! Do you want to be turned into dust? Do you want me to place your skeletal remains on this bench and get a passer-by to place his hat on it?”

“
Master, I ask for your forgiveness.”

“
Just because you owe me another Xanth book do you believe that I won’t in fact destroy you?”

Piers shrugged. “Something like that.”

“
You gave them my word that I would meet with them.”

Piers hesitated. “Something like that.”

“
You speak for me now do you?”

“
Definitely not.”

“
And what would you have me do?”

“
Get the girl’s scent. Save her and kill them. Could be fun.”

Dracula considered it and nodded the slightest nod. “I suppose that it could be a little interesting. It could be better than sitting on a bench for a week.”

“
There now, what would you do without me?”

Dracula looked forward across the parking lot as Udolf approached and looked down at him. He then sat beside the Master on the bench and furrowed his eyebrows in puzzlement. “Continue to aggravate me and we’re going to discover what I would do without you.

And then the stench of alcohol and garbage permeated the air.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

AT THE MANHATTAN MALL at Broadway and 33
^rd
Street, the police had the area cordoned off as a vampire had killed two senior male shoppers and drained them of their blood. Their bodies remained on the floor near JCPENNY’S, by the entrance to the store. Their lifeless and bloody corpses were a testament to the brutal nature of at least half the vampires without Dracula’s influence in the world. The fact that regular law enforcement was ineffectual against most of the biters didn’t go down easy with anyone. Many officers had relinquished their jobs lest they be sacrificial animals to the slaughter. Some reports of biters in the area either went unanswered by the police or with such a delay that whatever had been transpiring was over and done with when they finally arrived on scene.

It was becoming a world where no human felt safe, especially at night. They were unable to get proper rest at night, so most slept during the day and applied their nastiness after sunset, under the shield of darkness.

Since Victor refused to flee the area it was at first assumed that the biter was suicidal, but he continued to dodge all the wooden tipped bullets that were fired at him. He had a boyish face and looked to be in his mid-twenties. Dressed in army camouflage pants and top, he repeatedly laughed and cackled as he ignored all police questions and commands to surrender. He blurred back and forth in a small ten foot area, but firing rounds at the biter was a risky undertaking as Victor dodged everything.

A police rifle was aimed at the back of his head and fired off a shot, but he avoided it and laughed as the bullet went through one of the mall windows. The looks that he gave the officers were disturbing as all feared that they would not make it home safe. After each miss he did a little dance and taunted the men in blue.

“
Hey!” someone screamed from inside JCPENNY’S. “There are people in here!”

Victor blurred and tore out the officer’s throat so fast that the others didn’t have time to react. More bullets were dodged. It was obvious that the vampire could flee but still chose not to as he seemed to relish the confrontation. It was also clear that he could most likely dispatch all the officers at his leisure. Would the NYPD get to return home to their loved ones, or was this the end of the line for most, if not all of them. One senior officer quit on the spot and went directly to see his newborn grandchild.

A half hour into the confrontation Victor finally let his voice be heard. He sounded more like a boy than a man. His pain and exasperation spewed forth with spittle and contempt. “Look at me now! Last week I awoke from a deep sleep having been turned into this in my own home. I thought those bastards had to ask permission to enter! Turned into a monster as I slept. That’s just not right! No one is safe anymore. No one! Everything is so loud it’s driving me crazy. I can smell your blood from miles away!”

“
You gave nobody permission to enter?” asked one of the dozen officers.

Victor thought on it and then realized what he had done. “The cable guy asked permission to enter that same morning. How could I have been so stupid! No wonder he didn’t know what the hell he was doing!”

“
We understand that some people can’t take being turned into vampires, but you’ve killed people and you need to give yourself up.”

A German shepherd police dog that had been brought in was of no help whatsoever. The male shook in the corner as all it wanted to do was to run away from the biter. One look at the perp was all that it had been able to accomplish. It could feel the wild nature of the creature and wanted desperately to run. The dog’s instinct would not permit it to attack the highly evolved predator. Kuma would have to be retired after this night as the dog would never be the same.

Victor paced back and forth and made everyone nervous. The sudden moments of immobility to the point where only his blue eyes moved was frightening, and it was opposite to the maddening speed that he could attain. “That just it. I can’t surrender. Call it instinct or insanity. I have almost no control over my own actions. Do you understand! I just wanted to go shopping.”

“
Where the fuck is that red sheriff!” one officer said to another.

Another Irish officer glanced at his watch. “Well, lads, it just about time for my coffee intake. Since we can’t stop him is there any point in being here?”

The NYPD officers were all thinking the same thing that if they couldn’t take down the guy why sit there and wait to be slaughtered. New York’s finest was no match for the monster that stood before them; he was torn and burning up from the inside, the initial fever that plagued most of the newly turned vampires was incessant in his newly formed system. Only a biter could endure such a high fever. As a human his mind had been fragile but now reality was quickly fading.

Alexander sat on the black leather sectional sofa drinking an earthenware beer stein full of blood and watching his Sony big screen television. Engaging the hinge, lid and thumb-lift he took a large gulp of fresh blood supplied from a local blood bank. He was watching an old Batman movie with Val Kilmer, Batman Forever. The German shepherd had become restless as he had started to dose off. She stood and paced the living room, and he unfortunately knew what that meant. It was obvious that Tessy was more than a little psychic.