C.O.T.V.H. (Book 3): Extermination (10 page)

Henry laughed.  It had been a while but he'd always like Luceno, the man didn't have time for bullshit but still managed to have a good sense of humor.  "How's the wife and kids doing?" Luceno asked.

"Well the wife and I got divorced some years back.  She's remarried living down in Florida.  The kids are all grown now.  I've got two grandkids if you can believe that."

"No shit?" Luceno said with a warm smile. "Man, time flies doesn't it?"

"You're telling me.  Seems like just yesterday I was that young punk deputy over there stopping cars.  Now I'm old, fat, and just plain worn out."

That brought a big laugh from Luceno.  Henry hated to break the good mood but he had to get down to business.  “So what do we have, Walt?”

“Well Henry, it’s about what you were expecting to find.  But you already knew that, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

Walt walked over to a big white sheet covering the ground not far from the house.  He lifted it to reveal a small skeleton beneath.  “Charred headless skeleton outside of the fire. Looks like a young child.  Haven’t found the head yet.”

And you never will
, Henry thought to himself.

“Another skeleton found inside, probably a man.  Again headless, but this one had a metal stake driven right through his chest.  Stuck up right through the ribcage.  I’m thinking, vampire,” he said, straight faced then burst out laughing.

“Yeah,” Henry smiled politely. 
Man if you only knew.
  “That’s a good one, Walt.”

“We found half of one the victims’ skull on the other side of the house lying in some burnt grass.  No flesh on it to speak of.  Same with the bodies; flesh, muscles, organs, all completely burned off both bodies, nothing left but the bones.  Which of course we both know is damn near impossible, unless you’ve got one hell of an accelerant, jet fuel maybe.”

“Possible, but doubtful,” Henry frowned. 
I hate keeping up this charade.

“Yeah, there’s never been any trace of it used in the past,” Luceno shrugged.  “Pretty much the same M.O. as usual.  I’d say it’s our serial killer.”

“So that’s it huh?  Two bodies?”

“Well . . . actually no.  We found something a little different this time, six completely intact bodies on the other side of the house.  They’re charred but otherwise in pretty much the condition you’d expect to find in a fire.  We’ll know more once I do some autopsies.”

“Completely intact you say?” Henry said, nudging a piece of wood with his foot. “Well that’s new.”

“This shit’s got to stop Henry.  I’ve been doing this for damn near thirty years and I’ve processed over a dozen of these crime scenes all the way from Dallas to El Paso to Corpus Christi.  I came to Midland to get away from crap like this.  I can’t believe you guys haven’t caught this guy yet.”

“Excuse me,” a voice piped up from behind, “Luceno, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Luceno rolled his eyes, “The good Sheriff beckons.  Excuse me Henry.  I’ll be right back.”

Henry nodded crossing his arms, "Take your time."  He glanced around the smoking ruins, trying to work up the nerve to make a phone call he'd been praying all afternoon not to have to make.  The news had not been good.  Not good at all.

Reaching into his pocket he picked up his cell phone and pulled the antenna out of the top then punched in the number.  He prodded a large piece of wood with his boot while waiting for someone to answer.  Finally Cort Bishop answered.

"Cort, it's Henry.  Look, I've got some bad news.” He let out a deep breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.  “John's not here, it’s still early to tell but it doesn’t look like the Maker is either."

He grew silent listening to nothing but deep breathing on the other end.

"Henry finally broke the silence, "John was a good man Cort.  I owed him my life in more ways than just one. Just tell me what I can do to help and I'll do it.  Anything at all."

The connection grew fuzzy and Henry could barely make out what Cort said next. But he heard what he needed to hear. "Lonesome Heart, New Mexico."  Then the phone went to complete static.

About this time Sheriff Wheeler came stumbling through the rubble, Walt Luceno following close behind.  "Captain Anderson," Wheeler said, stretching out his hand to shake.

Against his better judgment Henry shook it.  "Sheriff Wheeler."

“So what brings you way out here?"

"Got a tip that this might be related to a serial killer case I'm working on."

"Really?   Well I'm sorry but it seems to me you made the long drive for nothing.  Looks like it's just a run of the mill Meth Lab explosion.  Nothing that would interest a famous Texas Ranger like yourself.  Besides, no offense but this is my jurisdiction."

Henry laughed.  “Unless I’m mistaken we’re still in the great state of Texas aren’t we?”

“Yes sir but . . .”

“Then we’re in
my
jurisdiction,” Henry smiled.  “Aren’t we?”

“I guess so,” Wheeler frowned, “but like I said, this is just a run of the mill Meth Lab.”

"That a fact?" Henry asked, unable to hide his contempt for the man.  "Well I guess I'll just get out of your hair then and let you get back to your interviews.  Good evening then."

With that Henry headed for his Suburban.  Luceno came jogging up behind him. "Henry hold up!"  Henry stopped in his tracks.  "Henry, you know damn well that this isn't some Meth Lab."

"Yeah I know it.”

"Then why the hell are you letting him get away with this?  He'll probably just bust a couple of Mexicans tomorrow and blame them for the murders.  Claim it was some sort of drug cartel hit!"

"Look Walt, I'm sorry.  Something really big has come up.  I've got to go."

"You know more than you're letting on don't you, Henry?"

Henry shook his head unwilling to meet the man’s eyes, "What I know would change your life forever.  Believe me you're better off not knowing.  Take care of yourself, Walt."

"Yeah Anderson.  You too," he said his voice filled with disgust.

Henry started his suburban and pulled away from the scene.  He felt terrible about not telling Walt the truth.  He was a good man and didn’t deserve to be kept in the dark.  But Henry knew he was better off not becoming a part of a world where Vampires prowled the night.  When he reached the highway he pulled over and stepped out of the suburban. He opened the back doors.  Inside laid a large blue gun case and a faded black duffel bag.

Henry unlatched the two latches on the case and pulled out a huge 8in barrel .44 Magnum Colt Anaconda.  He filled all six chambers with the .44 Magnum shells then slammed the back doors shut and walked back around climbing into the driver’s seat.

Henry set the giant pistol on the seat next to him then pulled out his standard issue Sig Sauer .357 and made sure it was fully loaded then put it back in the holster on his hip.  Uncomfortable or not Henry wasn't going anywhere tonight without it strapped to his belt.   Lastly he pulled his backup .38 special out of his middle console and stuck it in the ankle holster on his boot.  Again not very comfortable, but Henry wasn't taking any chances.  Not on this trip. 

Chapter 6

Jake

The Bishop Residence

Lubbock, TX

September 10, 2001 7:45pm

Jake awoke on his bed, lying under a fresh set of clean sheets.  Fluids dripped into his right arm from an IV hanging on a coat rack next to his bed.  He looked down to see that his vest, armor, and shirt were completely gone.  Lightly stained bandages covered the wounds on his chest and right shoulder.

He licked his parched lips.  “Hello?” he rasped.

Cort came in a few seconds later, relief flooding his face.  "Hey Jake.  How are you feeling?"

Jake tried to lift up but immediately fell back.  He felt extremely loopy, like he’d been put on some powerful pain meds.

"Don't move son,” Cort said coming to his side.  “You're not out of the woods yet."

Jake nodded groggily. "Water,” he said touching his lips.

“Here,” Cort lifted a glass with a straw in it from off the nightstand and put it up to his lips.

Jake took a long deep sip then nodded when he was done.  Cort pulled the straw away from his lips, “Grandpa,” Jake said, his eyes rolling in his head. “Grandpa, what happened?”

Cort started to answer but he saw the sudden recognition in Jake's eyes.  He had just remembered.  "He's gone isn't he?" Jake said closing his eyes tight.

“Yes,” Cort just managed to get out.  “Yes, he is.”

Jake draped his left arm over his face, “It's all my fault.  I should have told you about those two girls. I should have . . ." he trailed off.

"It's all right Jake, it‘s all right,” Cort said, pulling an office chair next to the bed and gripping his grandson’s right hand tightly. “Don't you worry about that, the most important thing now is to concentrate on getting you well."

There came a sharp knock at the door and a tall beautiful black woman stepped in.  She had short black hair and a face that looked strikingly familiar to Amber.  "Knock, knock," she said, stepping in with a smile. "How's my patient doing?"

Cort stood up nervously rubbing at the stubble on his left cheek, "Jake you remember Dr. Williams?  Billy Williams' oldest daughter," he said, giving Jake a slight shake of his head.

He didn't tell her,
Jake thought, his stomach tightening.  "Yeah, of course,” Jake swallowed.  “We met briefly at Donnie's funeral."

"That's right," she said, the smile fading from her face. "We met before that, though I doubt you’d remember.  You were a bit out of it after taking a nasty hit to the back of your head.”

“Ah, that’s right,” Jake nodded, remembering the night that vampires had attacked their house.

“I'm glad you're awake,” Pam said checking his IV fluid levels.  “I was really worried there for a while.  You lost a lot of blood and needed a transfusion and a heck of a lot of stitches.   Even so, you're probably going to have some pretty bad scarring.  Vampire inflicted wounds never quite heal right.  So I need you to take it easy for a while, okay? Change the bandages whenever they need it.”  She sighed, “Now, the venom is something else entirely.  I’ve given you a broad spectrum of antibiotics however the poison had already run through your bloodstream doing quite a bit of damage to your organs.” She paused, “I honestly don’t know what the full effects might be.”

“He’ll be fine,” Cort eased out of Pam’s way and stood in the corner.  “We’ve all been scratched a time or two.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Pam conceded, “but this isn’t just a scratch or even a deep cut.  This
thing
cut not only one but
eight
different wounds, deep into the muscle.  I’m more than a little worried about the effects.”

“What are you saying, Doc?” Jake squeezed his eyes shut as a sharp pain shot through his right arm.  “Am I dying?”

Pam frowned, “I don’t want to lie to you, Jake.  There’s no way to know the full extent of damage on your kidneys, heart, lungs, etc., without running some tests.  We need to get you to the hospital where I can keep an eye on you, run some blood tests, even run an MRI.”

“Not gonna happen, Pam,” Cort said.  “Do what you can here.”

“Cort . . .” she started to say.

“You heard me, Pam,” he said harshly.  “He won’t be safe in a hospital.  Just get him to where we can move him.  We’re heading out first thing in the morning.”

Pam scrunched up her brow.  “I really don’t think he’s ready to be moved, Cort.”

“I appreciate that, but we really don’t have a choice.” The phone in the other room rang and Cort excused himself to answer it.  He turned looking back at Jake one last time and shook his head, mouthing the word, “No.”

“Stubborn old fool,” Pam said when he was out of earshot.  She slipped her hands into two latex gloves from a box on Jake’s desk. “He’s just like Billy!  Stubborn!”

“Pam?”  Jake asked balling the sheets up in his fist as a deep burning pain coursed through his legs.  “Please tell me the truth.  How bad am I?”

She looked down at him, “Truthfully, without further tests . . . I don’t know.”

“What are my odds?”

“You woke up so I’d say your odds are good.  Though like I said, I don’t know what the full effects will be.  It could shut your kidneys down entirely.  Stop your heart,” she said solemnly.  “I’m sorry, Jake.  There’s not much else I can do for you here.  The rest is up to you, you just have to fight.”

Jake could see the fear in her eyes.  It was far worse than she was letting on. 
Looks like I got us both killed, Dad. 
“Thank you, Pam,” he nodded gritting his teeth.  “I know you did your best.”

“I’ll give you something for the pain,” she said inserting a syringe filled with a clear fluid into his IV.

“Thank you, that would be
really
great,” Jake said between clenched teeth.

“I'm really sorry about John,” she said withdrawing the needle.  “He was a good man and a good friend."

"Yeah he was," Jake said biting his lip to fight back the pain. 
So was your dad.  Why didn't Grandpa tell you?

"You know, I don't know if you know this but your mom and I were best friends." Pam said hooking up a fresh bag of IV fluids.  “I was there the day you were born.  Technically . . . I’m your godmother.” 

"Really?” Jake said relaxing a bit as the pain meds started to kick in.  “I didn't know that."

"We were all really close once.  But that was a long time ago.  I was even her maid of honor at their wedding."

"I never knew that either."

"John was a good friend of mine too.  He saved my life once.  Did he ever tell you that?"

"No he didn't,” Jake said groggily.  “Was it vampires?"

"Oh no, nothing as supernatural as that.”  Pam gently checked his bandages.  “I’m going to have to change these.  Here Jake, lets lean you forward a bit.”

Jake did his best to sit forward as Pam cut away the large bandage wrapped around his chest and shoulder.  She looked them over and gently patted around the edges with sterile gauze.  “You’re very lucky, Jake.  If that monster had dug in much deeper it could have done some serious damage, maybe even nicked your lung.”  She looked at the dark bruises on his neck.  “How’d you get that?”