Fall of the Mortals (Book 1) (29 page)

“Just stay right by m—”

Suddenly, a large male vampire flew from a dark corner at Hammond like a pouncing tiger. Shaun pulled him out of the way just in time. The male vampire vanished and reappeared in front of Shaun, taking him by the throat and lifting him off the floor.

“How dare you impede me from fresh blood,” said the vampire in a low pitched, menacing voice.

“Run!” Shaun gasped to Hammond.

Hammond took off sprinting down the lobby. The vampire struck Shaun with his other fist. Shaun flew back taking out a glass display case containing Aztec plates on shelves, and several Indian statues holding spears, and collided into a bearing post causing severe damage. The male vampire grinned and turned around watching Hammond trying to escape.

Shaun grabbed a wooden spear from one of the statues and threw it at the male vampire. It flew across the exhibits with miraculous speed piercing him through the back all the way through the chest. The male vampire groaned and fell to his knees. Shaun vanished, reappeared behind the fallen vampire and pulled the spear out, bracing his foot against him. The vampire fell to his face. His skin withered and deteriorated quickly down to his skeleton as if he aged a hundred years in the blink of an eye. His skeleton turned to dust quickly. Shaun was taken back with the gruesome scene.

“Wooden spear,” Shaun mumbled raising his weapon to his face. “Of course.”

Two more female vampires flew through the hole in the ceiling then towards Shaun, screaming at him.

“Hurry! To the basement!” Shaun shouted at Hammond, watching him run towards the elevators at the far end of the lobby.

Shaun held up the blade of the spear. The first female vampire flew down at him and was pierced through her chest. The blade came out her back. Her eyes were large with gnashing teeth as she growled at Shaun. She scratched his face but fell dead to the floor and withered like the male vampire.

The second female grabbed Shaun by an ankle, slung him over her head and slammed him to the marble floor violently, causing his head to crack on the floor. She slung him to the other side of her as if he was rag doll, being incredibly strong. Shaun’s head cracked the lobby floor again. She then threw him across the lobby until he struck against a wall, cracking it and dropping to the floor. 

Shaun stood up and glared at the female vampire, gnashing his fangs at her. She hissed and growled back at him. He flew directly at her like a lightning bolt, picking her up off the floor and carrying her across the vast lobby. The female vampire scratched his face as he came to a prehistoric exhibit. Shaun let her go sending her onto one of the horns of a large wooden mammoth on display. The horn went through her back and stuck out her chest. The female vampire hung on the horns, screaming in a panic, trying to free herself desperately. It was no use. She became weak, let out her final breath and slumped over lifelessly. Her hair and skin deteriorated until she became a skeleton which also turned to dust.

Shaun caught his breath but began to feel weak. He staggered to walk away but an awful tingling numbness came over him he never felt before. He felt lightheaded and horrible inside. He flew across the lobby but the chills were still over him. His forehead began to perspire.
What the hell’s wrong with me?
he thought, flying towards the basement entrance.

In the basement room, Hammond waited behind a locked metal door with a heavy beam across it. He was still frightened and wasn’t sure about Shaun yet. Something pounded on the thick metal basement door. Hammond stayed back and didn’t move.

“Open the door!” Shaun yelled on the other side.

Hammond still didn’t move. He didn’t trust Shaun fully.

“I said open the door!” Shaun shouted again.

Hammond knew he had to trust him. It was the only chance he had for survival. He unlocked the door and opened it for Shaun who barged in past Hammond sweating badly and shaking. Shaun collapsed on the floor lying on his side, breathing heavily, feeling cold and clammy.

“What’s the matter?” asked Hammond, standing over him, not knowing what to do.

“I feel sick,” Shaun responded. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he added with quivering lips.

Hammond looked down at him with a serious face.

“What?” asked Shaun impatiently.

“You killed them didn’t you?” asked Hammond.

“The vamps?” asked Shaun. “Of course! What do you think I did?”

“There’s your problem,” said Hammond.

“Huh?” said Shaun.

“Vampires can only kill other vampires if they are fully on the other side,” Hammond explained, crouching down to Shaun. “You somehow are lost in between worlds. It’s got to be one in a billion.”

“That’s not very reassuring,” said Shaun, still panting.

“No it’s not,” said Hammond.

“Another reason for you to stay low so I don’t have to do this again, okay?” Shaun asked sternly.

“Okay.”

Shaun caught his breath. The horrible feelings began to pass. He picked himself up slowly.

“I think I’m okay,” said Shaun. “By the way, how did you know that?”

“Know what?” asked Hammond.

“About vamps killing other vamps?” asked Shaun.

“Before I got my PhD in history, I studied vampires as a personal interest,” Hammond answered. “I learned much about their strengths and weaknesses. That is, it was hard to decide which ones were myth and which were reality.”

“Tell me about my weaknesses,” said Shaun.

“As you’ve seen, a sharp, wooden object to the heart will kill you,” stated Hammond.

“Yes I’ve noticed,” Shaun responded. “Why is that?”

“There is a purity about wood,” answered Hammond. “Some believe it carries a special power behind it because it was His favorite thing to work with.”

“Who?” asked Shaun.

“Him,” Hammond answered, pointing to a large painting of The Last Supper that hung on the wall in the basement. The painting showed Jesus Christ sitting in the middle of a long dining table with his twelve apostles. 

Shaun floated near the painting and looked it over.

“He was a carpenter you know,” stated Hammond.

Shaun drew closer to the painting. A light flashed and struck Shaun in the face causing him to fly back several feet.

“What was that?” asked Shaun, terrified and still floating in the air.

“I don’t believe it,” said Hammond, amazed, walking towards the painting slowly.

“What?” Shaun hollered.

“The painting rejected you,” stated Hammond.

“It rejected me?” Shaun blared.

“Even an insignificant replica such as this painting must carry an opposing holiness about it,” Hammond added. “It would explain the dramatic effect it had on you.”

“I see,” Shaun stated.

“You must avoid any object, artifact, book, liquid or person that contains any form of holiness,” Hammond cautioned him. “By the way, it reminds me. Don’t go near the ocean.”

“Let me guess? It’s holy water,” Shaun asked, a little scared about his vulnerability.

“Close. It’s sacred according to many religions,” Hammond said. “Because the ocean is the host of so much life, it is hallowed against that which is an abomination. Bottom line, it is acid to vampires.”

“Have you tested it?” asked Shaun.

“No, but I’d bet my life on it.”

“Well, I do know crucifixes, white roses and garlic work,” said Shaun.

“Very good. You’ve studied then?”

“Back at the tower we used an extract from garlic and roses as repellants to guard our windows,” answered Shaun.

“And the crucifix? How did you know it was effective?” asked Hammond.

“I stabbed one in the eye with it.”

“Oh,” Hammond replied.

***

Shaun flew near the tower trying to look through the windows. He hoped to see Harold and the others on level seventy-two before the lights turned off. The bead strands made it difficult to see into the interior. It was like trying to look through blinds that were mostly closed.  Shaun squinted trying to see more and drifted around the round building trying to get a better view of what was happening inside. He was finally able to see Thai who was being taken away from the others at gunpoint by Terry. Shaun kept an eye on them, drifting in the other direction until Terry stopped in the foyer. It looked like Terry was yelling at Thai about something. Shaun flew closer to the building to find out what was going on. He drew close to the side and worked his way to a broken window near Terry and Thai. He could hear them talking. He heard Terry raising his voice at Thai. Shaun put his face just inside the broken window near the thick curtain of bead strands. He felt a burning sensation come over his face from the beads and backed away a little.

“Look, I know you were making some faces at Harold, dude!” Terry yelled at Thai.

“No I wasn’t, man,” Thai pleaded. “I was just sitting there.”

“Don’t act like I’m stupid, China boy!” Terry hollered. “You and Harold have been trying to game up on me ever since Shaun took off!”

“I wasn’t doing anything,” said Thai, trying to be patient. “I swear.”

“You want to play games with me, huh?” Terry said, clenching his teeth and pointing his machine gun at Thai, trying to scare him.

“Terry, man. Look, it’s cool. I’m telling you, I wasn’t doing a damn thing,” said Thai, backing away, frightened.

“You better not. Because I’ll crack your fortune cookie head open if you screw with me,” Terry threatened. “Go sit your ass down in the other room!”

Thai left.

Shaun stared at Terry through the thin bead strands wanting to fly in and to kill him badly. Terry turned and walked to the window. Shaun went lower on the side of the building to hide himself. Terry moved the bead strand with one hand, looking out the window with suspicion. He held his gun with the other hand and looked for any threats. Shaun moved to the other side of the window several feet below the window ledge, watching Terry closely and waiting to see if enough of him would stick out the window to grab. Terry looked out the window for another moment, let down the bead strands and walked away. Shaun shrunk with disappointment. He almost had Terry.

Shaun flew around the tower to the living area where the rest of them were located. He carefully peeked through the bead strands and saw the bikers holding machine guns and sitting down. Harold, Betty and the others were lying down. He noticed Yuri stand up and be escorted to the kitchen by Curtis at gunpoint. Yuri was at the sink on the other side of the kitchen window, washing his hands. Shaun flew to the other side of the tower to the kitchen window. He crept carefully to the window, drawing as close as possible.

Yuri looked up and saw Shaun’s face through the open area of the bead strand. He was startled at first seeing him again in vampire form but the fear soon left him. Shaun put his index finger to his lips gesturing to Yuri to keep quiet. Yuri smiled, glad to see him, but looked back at Curtis nervously, hoping he didn’t see anything. Curtis wasn’t paying attention, he stood at the kitchen door watching everybody in the living area.

“I have a plan,” Shaun whispered.

Yuri made a hard face because he didn’t hear Shaun.

“I have a plan!” Shaun whispered loudly. “I’m going to get you guys out of there.”

Yuri smiled again and gave him a thumbs up.

“Hey Russian dude! You done yet or what?” asked Curtis.

“Yes, yes. Sorry,” answered Yuri, being extra polite. “Just drying my hands.”

“Yeah, whatever,” said Curtis. “Get back in there with the others.”

Yuri glanced at Shaun then left the kitchen. Shaun flew away.

Shaun flew down to the tour bus which was parked a couple blocks south of the tower. He landed on the roof of the bus and looked it over making sure everything was still okay. He remembered his rendezvous with Miranda who disguised herself as Sharon. He couldn’t believe he was now the very thing he had sought to destroy for so long.

“Look, what do we have here?” said a male vampire, flying down to the bus with two other males.

Shaun didn’t respond being caught off-guard. The sight of the three vampires troubled him. They looked like punk rockers each of them with a shaved head and multi-colored Mohawks. They had eyeliner, pierced ears with dangling earrings and looked muscular. The lead vampire was Derek wearing a black leather vest with nothing underneath, exposing his chest.

“What you doin’ on my bus?” asked Derek.

“What?” asked Shaun.

“This is my bus and you’re on it,” said Derek. “I didn’t give you permission to be here.”

“It’s actually my bus. I stole it. It’s mine,” Shaun responded, flaring his eyes.

“Yeah, well me and my boys are going to tear it apart because we just love busting things up,” the lead vampire responded, drifting closer to Shaun, widening his eyes and showing off his fangs, trying to be intimidating.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” said Shaun.

“What did you say?” asked Derek, landing in front of Shaun being a few inches taller than him as well as brawnier.