Blood Candy (31 page)

POP – POP – POP – POP.

Rupert howled so loudly and so maddeningly
that Candy had to clasp her ears. Jimmy struggled against his
bonds, yelling for her to get her gun. She picked it up and joined
in with Felicia, sending a hail of holy water balls at the wounded
vampire. Rupert streaked out of the room, screaming and clutching
his face.

“Get me untied!”

Candy tried to untie Jimmy but her hands shook
too much. Felicia rushed over, keeping her gun trained on the door
while Candy fumbled with the knots. Melvin stumbled up to his feet,
his face contorted.

“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted Blake,” he
grunted.

Finally, Candy untied Jimmy from the chair and
helped steady him. The lights went out, covering the room in
complete darkness.

“We have to get out of this house,” Felicia
said.

Candy hadn’t noticed before, but there had
been a hum of machinery in the basement. Now that everything was
silent she heard better the commotion upstairs. A man screamed. It
sounded like he was dying. There came more sounds of breaking glass
and cracking wood from the other side of the ceiling.

“We’re sitting ducks in the dark,” Felicia
said. “Let’s get out of here.”

As soon as she said that, they heard the sound
of chains running across metal and wood coming from the cellar door
they had used to get into the mansion. Someone had locked them in.
Thankfully, Felicia and Melvin had flashlights. Melvin ran to check
on the cellar door while Candy and Felicia helped Jimmy
along.

When Melvin came back to them he said, “We
have to get to those doors upstairs. It shouldn’t be far from the
stairs.”

Felicia nodded. Candy didn’t like the distinct
and sudden lack of noise as they headed through the door towards
the wine cellar. “What happened?” she said. “Where’s the
pack?”

“I don’t know,” Felicia said, her voice
ragged, laced with alarm as she took deep breaths. “I have a bad
feeling about this.”

They slowly made their way into the wine
cellar. Tall racks lined the walls, most of them wooden and filled
with dusty bottles. Melvin pointed his flashlight up the dark
stairwell. The door to the main level hung open. They paused, their
rasping breaths in the stifling cellar the only sound.

“What pack are you talking about?” Jimmy said.
He was confident he could walk on his own, though he was still very
weak. “Did Tinch get help?”

“Yes. The Alpha,” Melvin whispered.

“The Alpha? He’s here?” Jimmy looked back up
the stairs. “What’s going on, then?”

“There were a lot of vampires and guards with
guns,” Candy said.

“They probably retreated into the yard where
they have more room,” Felicia said.

“We need to get out of here,” Melvin said.
“Rupert could be anywhere.”

He lowered his flashlight, handed it to Jimmy,
and then moved forward onto the first step. He crept up the stairs,
taking it one step at a time. Candy did her best to keep her
breathing calm and easy. When Melvin reached the top he took a
quick glance through the door and then he waved everyone up. When
they reached the top, Felicia quickly pointed her flashlight
through a kitchen before she muffled it with her hand.

“Which way?” she said.

Candy had been here before, at least near
here. She put her hand on Felicia’s shoulder to stop her. Yes, in
the dream with Rupert they had been in a hallway on the other side.
That was where she saw the glass doors to the backyard.

“There’s a hallway ahead,” Candy whispered.
“The doors are in a room to the right.”

Candy took cautious steps next to Jimmy. He
had his flashlight turned off and the only thing she had to guide
her was the faint traces of moonlight against stainless steel
appliances. Still, all was eerily silent. Jimmy flicked his
flashlight on again to get a bearing of where they were. Candy
screamed at the bloody mess of what had once been a vampire on the
floor. Jimmy clasped his hand over her mouth and pulled her into
his arms.

“Keep moving,” Melvin said. The dark hallway
loomed ahead.

Felicia yelled out in pain as her flashlight
went spinning across the tiled floor, briefly revealing a pair of
feet before it winked out with a crunch. Jimmy held his hand in
front of Candy. Their panicked breaths filled the room along with
Felicia’s whimpering. Jimmy pointed his flashlight at the wounded
hand she was clutching; there were three deep, bleeding gouges on
the back. Someone was out there in the darkness.

“Let us pass,” Melvin called out. “There
doesn’t need to be any more bloodshed.”

“Blood I like,” boomed a heavy Russian
accent.

“Oh, shit.”

Jimmy pointed his flashlight into the hallway.
Meatrack stood there, menacing in his immense size and nasty
demeanor. Candy briefly found herself wondering where a man his
size could get a button up shirt and pants that fit. The Russian
took a step forward to block the exit from the kitchen. Melvin and
Felicia trained their guns on him.

“American make grave mistake,” Meatrack said.
“Do not honor debt. I crush you like I crush sissy
Blake.”

Candy let out a hushed whimper, but there was
no time to worry about Blake. She tried to remember anything she
could, but it had all been too dark in the dream. She looked back
into the depths of the kitchen away from the hallway but she
couldn’t see anything.

“The Brits are the dishonorable ones,” Jimmy
said. “They’re the ones who don’t honor boundaries. They’re the
ones who try to take what doesn’t belong to them.”

“Stupid American. You think you win Cold War?”
Meatrack snarled.

No one knew what the hell he was talking
about.

“You have nowhere to run,” Rupert said from
somewhere in the darkness behind them, an edge of tension and
urgency on his voice. “This is your last chance. Candy comes with
me and then we go our separate ways.”

Candy turned and pointed her gun into the
shadows.

“No, this is your last chance,” Melvin said,
not taking his eyes or gun away from Meatrack. “I’m not bowing down
to you motherfuckers anymore. I’m tired of your lies and treachery.
There’s a pack of wolves outside right now. Call off your brainless
muscle and
then
we go our separate ways.”

Meatrack ground his teeth together.

Rupert laughed, the sound emanating from
several points in the darkness before fading away. “My family is in
here while your pack is out there among even more vampires. Who’s
bluffing, I wonder? You can’t win, lycan. You have ten seconds to
hand the girl over.”

Melvin’s hand slowly moved down to one of the
grenades on his belt. Jimmy gave a slight nod. Meatrack, growling
like a dog, noticed as well. Candy felt as if her heart was about
to explode out of her chest. And then, scaring her nearly out of
her mind, a huge white paw darted out from around the corner across
Meatrack’s shoulder, claws catching skin and pulling the Russian
out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

Melvin flung the grenade behind him.
“Go!”

Candy didn’t think. She ran towards the
hallway, towards the sounds of an animal that should have had her
mind reeling with fear, towards Meatrack’s cursing, towards heavy
bodies smashing into walls. The flashlight bobbed up and down as
they ran. Candy caught a glimpse of Meatrack’s head in the mouth of
a polar bear, blood running down sharp teeth. Meatrack pushed
forward, crushing White Paul into a wall, cracking it.

The grenade blasted behind them. A bright
light flashed, illuminating everything for a precious few seconds.
Rupert yelled.

“This way,” Melvin said, turning right, away
from White Paul and Meatrack. He went a few feet down the hall and
then he and Felicia stopped and turned their guns on the Russian.
His clothes were shredded and stained red from the blood running
down his head. Candy didn’t think it was possible, but he now had
the upper hand on White Paul, overpowering the hulking polar bear.
White Paul growled, an almost pathetic sound, and tried to bring
his mouth down on the huge vampire. Meatrack seized him by the
muzzle and clamped it shut.

Melvin aimed. “Send my love to
Russia.”

Melvin and Felicia held down the triggers on
their paintballs guns, the
POP
s mixing with the sound of the
balls breaking against walls, floor and skin. Meatrack bellowed
beneath the deluge of holy water as his body began to slowly
disintegrate into steam. He tried to cover himself with his arms,
his clothing drenched with water and bloody gore. White Paul took
the opportunity to grip down hard on the Russian’s head. He swung
him back and forth like a ragdoll, neck bones and tendons snapping
and popping. With one toss over his shoulder, he sent Meatrack
flying down the other end of the hallway.

Several sets of heavy footfalls resounded in
the kitchen. White Paul looked tired and wounded, but he nodded his
head. Melvin waved him off, and then the bear limped into the
darkness where he had tossed Meatrack.

“Come on! The doors should be up ahead,”
Melvin said.

Again they ran. Rupert yelled behind them,
“Where are you running, love?” Candy and the Misfits came into a
living room. Ahead were the two sets of glass doors she had seen
from the outside and from the dream, with the deck and the pool
beyond. The moon reflected off darkened water, chunks of fleshy
gore and random articles of clothing floating in it. With her hand
still gripped tightly into Jimmy’s, they made a sprint for
it.

Vivian appeared out of nowhere. The insane
British bastard had a bloody claw mark across his white shirt,
though the skin beneath didn’t appear torn. His hands hung down at
his sides, long fingernails silhouetted against the faint moonlight
streaming through the doors. Gavin appeared out of the darkness on
Candy’s left.

Melvin raised his gun. “Get the fuck out of
the way!”

Vivian stuck his chest out, daring Melvin to
shoot while laughing maniacally. The next thing Candy knew, there
was an iron grip squeezing her throat as she was ripped away from
Jimmy. She kicked and tried to scream as someone dragged her back
into the darkness. Rupert whispered next to her ear, “Why do you
have to be such a pain in the ass?”

Candy couldn’t breathe, and what little air
she managed to gasp in came with the strong scent of blood on it.
Jimmy spun around and fixed the beam of his flashlight on her.
Rupert lifted her a couple more inches off the ground.

“Let her go! I’m going to kill you
motherfuckers for what you did to me,” Jimmy said.

Rupert and Vivian laughed. Gavin took the
opportunity to move forward. Felicia spun around and aimed her gun
at him. Vivian made his move, causing both Felicia and Melvin to
hold down on their triggers. Vivian easily dodged the few
paintballs Melvin sprayed at him, and Felicia didn’t fare any
better.

They both ran out of ammo. Candy couldn’t move
let alone try to aim her gun.

“Jig’s up,” Rupert said. “Your little wolf
friends are dead by now. If not, the Magister will be arriving
shortly to finish them. Once he sees the mess you made here, all of
the vampires you killed, he’ll declare war on your whole kind. So
do yourself a favor, donkey. Run away as fast as you can. Run away
knowing I’m having my way with your girl. Run knowing that soon,
very soon, we’ll find you and every other shapeshifter.”

The room fell into silence. Melvin dropped his
gun and took two grenades into his hands, tossing the pins to the
side. “Come any closer and I let these go,” he said. Felicia
dropped her gun and pulled out two stakes from her belt.

“What, and blow everyone up?” Rupert laughed.
“Those aren’t real, as we’ve already seen. Big bang and a loud
flash.”

“No, these are the real deal.” Melvin took a
few steps towards Vivian, who frowned and backed up against the
glass doors.

“They’re not real!” Rupert shouted.

Vivian only looked half convinced. Gavin
stepped out from the shadows towards Felicia.

“I’ve given you all ample opportunities,”
Rupert said. “But now I’m out of patience. Kill them.”

Gavin moved, almost too fast for anyone to
react. Felicia took on some kind of a karate stance she had
probably seen in a movie with both stakes in her hands. She
wouldn’t be a match for the vampire. Candy yelled and kicked, but
it was no use. Rupert was too strong.

Jimmy turned his flashlight on the fight
between Gavin and Felicia. That gave Melvin something to aim at,
and he tossed both grenades up in the air. The grenades landed near
Gavin’s feet as he stepped forward and slapped a stake out of
Felicia’s hand. There were two bangs and then water shot out from
the grenades, drenching both Gavin and Felicia all the way up their
legs. The vampire screamed and flailed, tendrils of steam pouring
out from his pant legs. Felicia struck out with the stake, sinking
it with a sickening wet sound deep into his chest. Gavin, his face
petrified, crumpled into the wall when the bones in his legs
snapped out of the skin. An enormous, flat-panel television fell
onto his head, crushing him in a crash of glass and
blood.