Running From the Night (7 page)

“That sounds like considerable effort. Why would I do such a thing?”

Daniel looked thunderstruck, but Jelani had been down this path with her already. “Is there something we can work out with you?”

“No, I think not.”

“Then why come here? Why go to the trouble of finding us?”

“Oh, that was no trouble. My friends are everywhere.”

“Would you at least give us something to help us get rid of this guy?” Jelani asked. “At least that much?”

She looked at him, and it was an assessing look that made him even more uncomfortable than he already was. “Jacob is barely older than a fledgling. To a human he would seem strong and fast, but he is nearly as vulnerable as a human.” She smiled. “And it is time for me to take my leave of you two handsome little creatures.” Daniel and Jelani responded in unison.

“Little?”

“Creatures?”

They noticed she was looking up, and they followed her gaze to see a tall figure standing atop a building, at least fifty feet above them. He might have been a statue wearing a cloak that blew in the ocean breeze.

“Who’s that,” Daniel asked, “your guardian?”

“He could be thought of in such a way, I suppose. But he is also my brother.”

Daniel cast her a dubious look, obviously taking note of the ethnic differences that were apparent, even from the distance they stood. “If you say so.”

She looked at the two of them and smiled sweetly. “Perhaps you both should have a seat.” She indicated a bench a few feet away. The two men found themselves compelled to obey. There was no question about it, no possibility that they could disagree or disobey her wishes. They went and sat down. Jelani felt his heart racing, and he glanced at Daniel to see a look of fear on his face that mirrored how he felt.

“Now, now, boys. Do try to control those little racing hearts of yours. All that rapidly pumping blood would attract any vampire nearby. The gull does not call to the eagle.”

She leaned over them, smiling that slanted, hypnotic smile. Despite the towering shadow that was her brother, suddenly looming over her left shoulder, they were completely enveloped in that smile, those eyes, the power that had taken hold and held them fast.

“I think the two of you would do well to have a quick nap to absorb this wealth of information I’ve shared with you, don’t you?” They didn’t respond, but she probably hadn’t expected them to. “It’s been interesting watching you survive your little ordeal. I hope you can survive another night. The odds are against you, but you’ve been resilient and resourceful.”

She leaned in close, her breath sweet and cool in their faces. “I suppose I owe you my name, don’t I?” She leaned in closer, placing her face between their ears. “Saaaaayaaaaa.” The word drifted on the air, a lover’s whisper that caressed their ears, their minds, their souls. “Bye-bye.”

She kissed Daniel on the forehead and his eyes closed. She moved in front of Jelani and her lips rose to his forehead and lingered for just a moment. Then, her eyes were in front of his, and the world disappeared but for those magical brown orbs that drew him in. “Be smart, little mouse.” She kissed him on the lips. It was a long, lingering kiss, gentle and primal, light and dark, appetizing and satiating. Her full brown lips settled him into a gentle slumber.

O O O

She watched the two sleeping men. Humans were so fragile, so oblivious. She’d never understood how such a fragile animal could not be more intuitive. The tiniest mouse can sense when danger is near. Whether it had the intelligence to survive the threat was another matter.

“How long will you play with them?” the baritone voice of her brother, Kafeel, asked from behind.

She thought about the question for a few minutes, still watching them. “I don’t know.”

“The Hunter or the
shaquora
may decide for you.”

She slid the back of her fingers along the cheek of the Chinese man. He was as cute as the other one. Such strong features. “I don’t know about that.” She touched the cheek of the other one, Jelani, his name was. “There is no such thing as coincidence.” She turned to face her towering brother. “It is not happenstance that these two came to be close friends. Both are survivors, and both are quite capable, even if they are human. They may yet survive this.”

Kafeel’s features never changed. They rarely did. Whether or not he believed her words was not revealed in his face, but she knew her brother—had known him for over two hundred years—he most certainly doubted they would survive till the next sunrise.

***

Chapter Nine

Jelani and Daniel awoke at the same time, and both nearly jumped from the bench when they realized they’d been asleep. They looked up in alarm, then relaxed when they realized it was still light.

“Put to sleep by a kiss,” Daniel said, still staring at the sky.

“I can think of worse ways to be put to sleep,” Jelani replied.

“No argument here.” Daniel glanced at his roommate. “We need to start thinking fast. It’s only midday, but night can’t come slow enough for me.”

Jelani nodded, thinking. “What if we went to the police after all? Told them someone was trying to kill us?”

“That’s an option, but remember what Saaya said …” he trailed off and they looked at each other. “That’s her name, isn’t it? Saaya.”

“That’s not the way I remember her saying it, but somehow, I know that’s the way it’s pronounced.”

“Unless you can make your voice float on the air like that,” Daniel said.

“So, what were you saying about what she said?”

Daniel leaned forward. “She said that vamp …” he looked around, but there was no one nearby. Still, he lowered his voice. “She said that vampires were tightly interwoven into our society. Or something like that.”

Jelani read his expression. “So you think there might be vampires in the police?”

“If you were trying to keep your existence a secret, and you survived by feeding off people, wouldn’t you want to be in a position to cover it up? Who better to tamper with evidence than a vampire cop?”

Jelani threw his hand up and let it drop. He always did that when he was resigned about something. “Well, for now we’ll rule out going to the cops. What then? We can’t stay here forever. I still haven’t ruled out getting the hell outta dodge and catching a flight to someplace warm and sunny. Even if that Hunter is after us at least it would buy us time while he deals with that Jacob guy.”

“I wish we could have gotten more info out of Saaya,” Daniel said, thinking of the frustrating woman. “It’s like this is some game to her. And what was that about her not being wholly a vampire? What else could she be?”

Jelani looked up at the sky. “Well, gray or not, it’s daylight right now so she can’t be a vampire.”

“And she said vampires aren’t dead,” Daniel replied. “Or undead. That pretty much throws out a major part of the stories about them. If vampires are living things, in a sense, then what if they can walk in the day?”

Jelani shook his head. “Then Jacob would have been on us earlier. No. He definitely is avoiding the sun, so there is at least something for us to work with. I think I’ve made up my mind. Whether it’s him or that Hunter, one of them or both are going to come after us. We need to deal with it. One way or another one of them will find us, so we’ll live or die.”

Daniel ran his hands through his hair. “We probably stand an equal chance of surviving here versus trying to scratch out a living in the Amazon anyway.” They both shared a laugh that held little mirth.

“So what’s it going to be, then?” Jelani said.

Daniel ran a hand over his face and looked up. “You’re knife is long enough to drive through his chest if you got the chance. From what you told me about that night the Hunter appeared, that could probably do the trick. Also, I think we should get our hands on some silver, just in case.”

Jelani nodded thoughtfully. “She also said that since he was barely more than a fledgling, he was susceptible to most of the weaknesses of a human.”

“Guns?”

“Don’t do guns.”

“You wanna live?”

“Never shot one in my life. By the time I managed to shoot it, he’d probably be all over me anyway.”

Daniel raised his hands and let them drop to his sides. Yet another habit he’d picked up from his roommate. “What does that leave us, then? Knives, swords? You really want to try your luck with that? I know I don’t have to tell you how fast and strong the bastard is. You think either one of us could get a sword or knife in him before he rips us apart?”

“We could wear garlic necklaces and hope.”

Daniel stood from the bench and stretched. “Right. You do that.”

“I feel like the clock is ticking against us, here. We need to come up with something fast, man. Sundown is less than five hours away.”

A few raindrops spattered on Jelani’s shaved head. Then a few more. “And now the rain,” he said.

“Let’s go back in the library,” Daniel suggested.

Once they were back in the library, the two friends thumbed through the books they had been studying before Saaya’s appearance.

“I’m not coming up with anything more than we already had,” Jelani said, closing the book in front of him and running a hand over his head. “The only things I know for sure is that I don’t want to go back home, and knives and silver sound like a good idea.”

Daniel thought for a moment. “Why don’t we rent a hotel room out here and stay the night. Hopefully neither one of them has picked up our trail and we’ll have a little time to figure this out.”

“What about your work?”

“I called in and told them I’d need a few days for some important personal matters.”

“Okay.” Jelani looked out the window. It was getting darker. An icy blade of fear pierced his chest at the sight. “Come on, let’s get to a hotel.” He pulled out his wallet and frowned at the credit cards. “I really don’t want to use plastic. It’s traceable.”

“Lucky I pulled some cash on my way to meet you,” Daniel said.

“Smart man,” his roommate replied, slapping him on the back.

O O O

Sitting at the small table in their twelfth floor hotel room overlooking the shopping strip across the street, Jelani and Daniel were finishing a dinner that consisted of Korean barbeque from the business right next door to the Four Points by Sheraton. Jelani had stayed at this very hotel when first he’d vacationed to the beautiful rainforest that encompassed the city that was Vancouver. They had the lights dimmed and the curtains were only partially open. Not that they expected to see their pursuers, should they have found them.

On one of the twin beds, Daniel’s phone made a bubbling sound. He wiped his hands and stood, going to the bathroom to rinse off the sticky sauce, then check his phone.

“Text message from Wen,” he said.

Jelani sighed. “Man I’m sorry you’re spending the night here with me instead of your girl.”

Daniel shrugged. “Shit happens, eh?”

“True.” Jelani peeked out the window. “So, assuming no one comes for us tonight, what are we going to do tomorrow? I doubt much more time is going to pass before one or both of them—” the lights went out in their room. “—finds us,” he finished.

“Son of a bitch,” the disembodied voice of Daniel whispered from a few feet away. “You got your knife handy?”

“Yes. You?” Jelani heard a zipper being pulled open.

“Got it. I’m glad more than ever that we went to the sword and knife shop in Aberdeen before we came here.”

They moved closer to each other and lowered their voices more. “He can only come through the glass over there, or the door,” Daniel said. “He comes through the glass, we’re out the door. He comes through the door, we’re on him.”

“He’ll know we’re ready,” Jelani said.

“Nothing we can do about it.”

They waited in the darkness, occasionally checking the time with their phones. Ten minutes went by, then twenty, then half an hour passed. After nearly an hour had gone by, Daniel whispered through the darkness.

“Do you think maybe the power just went out?”

“Hotels have backup generators, and someone from the front desk would have called or come by to notify us.” Jelani moved over to the nightstand and picked up the receiver. “Dead.” He moved back to his position beside Daniel near the door.

“We could wait him out,” Daniel said.

“Till daylight comes?” Despite the darkness of the room, Jelani shook his head.

“Right.” Daniel said grudgingly. “Maybe we should have a look outside.”

“Alright. I’m right here behind you. Just don’t stick your head out and get it chopped off.”

“Funny.” Daniel reached for the handle, then stopped.

Jelani could tell by his friend’s hesitation that his instincts were probably screaming at him. He felt much the same.

Daniel tapped Jelani on the chest and signaled for him to press himself against the wall. Slowly, he crept closer and placed his head next to the peephole in the door. He quickly looked through the hole and pulled his face away. Jelani couldn’t imagine Daniel could have seen anything with that quick glance, but the motion saved his life.

A needle shot through the peephole, passed through the room, through the curtain, and cleanly through glass, leaving a tiny hole. Cold air whistled into the room.

The door burst open and Daniel, holding his knife in a reverse grip, slashed out. The shadowy attacker easily ducked the attack and slapped him aside, just as Jelani slashed him across the side of the face.

The attacker never made a sound, but grabbed him by the throat and squeezed. Jelani thought his neck was about to snap, but Daniel was there, driving his knife into the vampire’s neck. This time he cried out and dropped Jelani, who had just enough strength to cut the vampire across the back of the leg, severing the hamstring. The vampire fell beside him just as Daniel was pulling him to his feet.

In the darkness they heard a snarl that sounded like it had come from an animal. A hand clamped around Jelani’s ankle with crushing force. He dropped to the ground and curled his body around, stabbing the vampire through the wrist, and when the hand retracted with a strangled cry of pain, he kicked the attacker in head with all his strength.

Seconds later they were out the door, first stumbling, then finally racing down the darkened hallway. They heard an inhuman growl, and then the vampire was on them again. Jelani was knocked into the wall and Daniel was forced to the floor. Jelani fought off the dizziness and looked behind him to see Daniel clasping the wrists of hands that sought to close around his throat. In the darkness, he could just make out the narrow-eyed smirk of the blond vampire.

The smirk was replaced by openmouthed anguish, when Jelani drove his knife into the vampire’s neck. Up and down his hand flashed, each time driving knife home. The vampire cried out and shrugged him off, sending him flying into the wall again.

While Jelani struggled to right himself, Daniel brought his knife to bear and stabbed the vampire in the throat, then drove his knee into the man’s midsection. The latter had no effect, but the vampire had been sufficiently wounded enough to be toppled over.

Daniel yanked Jelani to his feet, and they were through the door to the stairwell, and down the twisting steps, using the rails to take the steps five at a time. They heard the door slam open and the vampire’s voice echoed through the hall.

“I’m going to rip you both apart!”

They said nothing, just continued down the steps. Finally, they reached the bottom, and the vampire dropped right in front of them. He had dropped the entire distance down the gap in the middle of the stairs!

Jelani swiped his knife out and missed. Daniel swiped and also missed. At the bottom of the stairwell, the three combatants fought a silent battle, two for survival, one for hunger. “The blood is much sweeter and thinner after a fight,” Jacob said conversationally as he ducked and dodged. He slapped Daniel into the far wall as though he weighed nothing, then caught Jelani’s wrist and bent it back. Jelani was forced to bend backward, leaving his body exposed. The vampire opened his mouth wide, fangs elongating, and with a throaty hiss of triumph, brought his head down to Jelani’s throat. Or tried to.

Daniel was there. Despite the powerful blow, and the impact with the wall, he’d never let go of his knife. That was one of the primary lessons of their training. Never let go of your weapon. If you should die, you die with your weapon in your hand.

Daniel drove his weapon into Jacob’s kidney, then retracted and drove it into his upper back. The vampire cried out in pain and let Jelani go.

As soon as his wrist was released, Jelani reversed the grip on his knife and whipped it around, turning his body with the motion. He swiped the blade downward, cutting the blond vampire across the throat.

He didn’t stop, but finished the turn, and then they were out of the stairwell, passing through the lobby and out the side door of the hallway and into the night. Neither of them spoke as they sprinted across the parking lot and across the street. They turned left and ran toward Third Street. Behind them, they heard the hotel bang open and an unearthly screech pierced the quiet of the evening.

They ran on, hoping against hope that they would find a group of people somewhere to blend in with. They didn’t make it. The vampire was on them, bearing both to the ground in a painful, skidding tackle. But they had been holding their weapons, and both men, from either side of the vampire, stabbed backward into his legs. The effect was minimal, but enough for them to twist their bodies around and kick him in the midsection. Once Jelani and Daniel had their feet under them, they were on the monster, attacking with every bit of skill at their disposal. They may as well have been attacking air.

Daniel was punched in the stomach and immediately dropped to the ground, gasping wide-mouthed for air. Jelani scored a swipe across the neck, but traded the blow for a slap in the shoulder that sent him flying more than ten feet away. He hit the ground rolling, then struggled painfully to rise. More than a dozen feet away, he saw the vampire lifting Daniel with one hand by the wrist of the hand holding his seven-inch knife.

His friend cried out in pain, and a second later, the knife clanged on the sidewalk. Jelani knew what was coming next. He held his knife by the tip and drew back, just as the vampire was leaning in to Daniel’s neck. His eyes widened when Daniel was suddenly flying toward him.

His friend’s one hundred eighty pounds might have been two hundred fifty from the force of the impact, and both men went sprawling to the ground. Through pain and blurred vision illuminated dully by the streetlights glowering down on him, Jelani lay on his back, unable to move. He saw the blurred figure of Jacob sauntering toward them. He appeared casual, but there was a limp to his step. Jelani looked to his side, where Daniel lay unmoving.