Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (6 page)

    It came out of nowhere and made the cat’s ears twitch.
A scream from somewhere in the area forced Zacharia to stand and take notice, so
meone was in distress but where?
It startled him to attention.
Then another shriek found its way to his ears
, it sounded female.
The living room window was open to the outside and Moon Diamond jumped onto the window sill and listened. The Master was away for a few
days; the cat had taught itself how to us
e the electric can opener and because of it
was self-sufficient.
And the bags of blood in the fridge were also easy enough to get at.

    “Meow.”

  
Another distressful shriek and the feline jumped
out of the window and down on the lawn. It waited for another scream so that it could orient on it, suddenly it
took off on the run, crossing the Mill Road and turning left
it wasn’t long before he discovered
Jerome
with his face against the living room window, licking it. It was obvious that the vampire was in th
e process of terrorizing humans.
Moon Diamond climbed up the
creep’s
leg, all the way
to his left shoulder and took a bite out of it.
Climbing that vampire was fun for
the cat but extremely painful for
the biter.

    “Aaaahhhhh!” Jerome fell off the window and tore the cat from his shoulder
along w
ith some of his
skin
when he tried to smash the cat on the ground, but he blurred so fast that he
was
a
bruptly standing in front of Jerome and
to his left
. He attem
pted to stomp the life out of the cat
four times, creating a loud thud with every stomp, but Zacharia easily avoided him.
They stared at one another with contempt.
“What the shit are you!”

     “Meow, meow MEOW
meow meow?” the cat mocked. The Siamese strutted w
ith confidence, lifting its right
paw, indicating for Jerome to bring it on.
The animal did a little dance to add to the insult.
Finally, there
was something for Zacharia to enjoy.
Nothing made a person feel more alive than the risk of death in battle.

    The vampire rushed and tried to viciously kick the feline to death, only his foot arrived into the empty space where the cat had been
, with the momentum of the blow taking him off his feet onto his behind
.
The Siamese laughed at his indignity.
It stuck it
s
tongue out at the bloodsucker.
Jerome was now beyond angry, he was furious.
Moon Diamond
scratched down into the lawn digging in
the dirt, so that when his claws dug into his opponent it would be that much more painful
.
He could smell the chemicals that had been sprayed on the lawn.

    Margery gestured for the others to approach the window and watch. “The vampire’s fighting the most beautiful cat, and believe it or not the cat’s winning! Come and see.
Hurry up!
”
They thought that she had gone over the edge until they saw it.

    Moon Diamond launched itself into his beard and his claws sunk deep into his neck, dirt and pesticide from the lawn was dislodged into Jerome’s skin.
The cat’s fangs
sunk into his chin and dug in causing him excruciating pain.
The vampire
screamed and rolled onto the lawn faster than any human could.
It burned like iodine on a
wound, and when they healed they continued to cause caustic pain. The feline reached the top of his head and dug out several chucks of skin and hair and commenced to lap at the blood.
He tried hard to tear the cat from his head but couldn’t
.
He ran his head and the cat into the side of the house, knocking the cat
off,
screaming and dancing and jumping
he
blurred off into the night. Claps of
approval
originated
from inside the house
. The Siamese bowed to indicate that he had heard their applause and then
also
ran off into the night, quite satisfied that he h
ad accomplished a good deed, continuing
to hear
Jerome’s
screams
and curses
far off into the forest
.

CHAPTER FOUR

    B
ERNARD AND ANTHONY HAD SET UP THE GUN and tripod
in a perfect place, two parallel streets over from Jenny’s house in a small wooded area
on a dead end street
.
It supplied sufficient cover for the task at hand and as soon as the deed was done they would flee
with the girl’s head in the bag
.
Their hearts weren’t into the job but it w
as either her head in the bag or
theirs, so the decision was simple.

  
Two beautiful cardinals flew around the space
where they were situated
as if flying around a solid building.
The air smelled of strong Cuban cigar smoke as Anthony puffed away
on his Bolivar
.
Bernard had knocked down a birch tree and now had a perfect line
of sight
past a brown garage on one street and in between a house and a swing set on the other.
They sat on the ground and told each other stories of past conquests and battles that had almost ended up with them being bones.
It was a way to pass the time as they awaited the perfect shot.

    “So I was just getting ready to kill this guy and drink him, right at the p
oint where I was ready to jump on him
I got a tap on the shoulder. It was a
red
sheriff wanting a light for his
Treasurer
cigarette. I didn’t sense him at all, but sheriffs use magic like everyone else. I would have been bones for sure.
I had a nightmare about it once.
Right after I gave him a light he pulled his sword and cut my head off.
”

    Bernard nodded. “Aw yeah. Probably wouldn’t be here with me right now.
Probably be some other loser.
”

    “Hey
, that’
s not funny
.”

    “Aw yeah. Wasn’t meant to be.”

  
The sky was multiple shades of gray and threatened to rain, but so far it had been an idle threat
, not a single drop had fallen
.
There was a small engine plane
buzzing
up there somewhere but the clouds concealed it.
Bernard was a short f
ellow, just over five feet tall; he wanted to be anywhere else but his current location.
He would prefer just about any other job than this one.
Anthony was average height with shoulder length black hair and a gruff
face.
His conscience was not a robust thing, but rather a sickly entity barely able to lift its head
, and whenever it did so was usually knocked back down
.
However in this situation his conscience
was attempting to rise
, like a down and out boxer trying hard to get up
.

   
The
Winchester Model 70 extreme weather rifle with scope
had a clear view of Jenny sitting on a lawn chair in the front yard
facing her mother
, but killing a little girl didn’t exactly sit well with either of them.
She was sideways to them and he was waiting for a better angle.
Bernard took a discolored cloth out of his pocket and polished its stock, and Anthony shook his head at the act.
But to Bernard it was simply a slight distraction.
It was as if he was polishing time itself, to make it glide pass a little easier.

    “Bernard, what are you going to do with all that money?”

    “Gonna give some to charity.”

    “Yeah right.”

    “Aw yeah. My father was blind so I’m gonna give some to the institute.”

   
Bernard had to chuckle.
“
You belong in an institute.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Sharpton would track us down I think I would just get the hell out of here.
That’
s one vampire that I do not like.
Notice how vampires go missing around him? Like when Arvel went to Italy. Italy my ass.
Not everyone is as stupid as he thinks.
”

    “Aw yeah.
If I told him you said that you wouldn’t live very long. Don’t worry I’m no rat.
”
Bernard was anxiou
s to get it over with and get out of the area
.
He could sense some of Jenny’s energy but wasn’t sure what he was detecting
, or where it was originating from
. It did make him a little edgy but decided not to bring it up.
They didn’t need to be unnerved.
Some things were best left unsaid.
No choice but to complete the task and so they were going to and that was it.