Shrouds of Darkness (33 page)

The man who took the brunt of my grenade’s blast is rising too slowly to stop me from giving the same to him but he tries. From a nearly prone position he lets loose with one more burst that grazes my right side before I drop him for good as well.

Another young vampire is slowly getting to his feet, having been in the absolutely worst place to be in when I triggered the claymores. He has a loose grip on his sword as he looks at me then at the carnage around him and decides he wants no more to do with this. He drops his sword and raises his hands.

“I’m done, please don’t kill me,” he pleads, spitting flecks of blood.

“Sorry, kid, you joined a high-stakes game. You’re either all in or all out. There’s no folding,” I inform him and put the last bullet in Shalonda’s chamber right between his eyes.

The young black woman has managed to close her gruesome wound and stop the worst of her bleeding. She takes one last look at me and sprints through the outside door in a spray of glass and wood. I watch her for a second as she recedes into the darkness and safely assume she is not going to come back. Only then do I go about ensuring that none of my enemies can get back up again.

Wyatt and his remaining two soldiers are just getting up and shaking off the dust, loose pages of books, and bits of wood that were blasted about the now ruined library.

The Asian girl looks around in disbelief then at me with eyes filled with wonder. “My God, the stories about you were true.”

“Oh yeah, baby, I’m larger than life,” I reply with all the confidence and arrogance I can put in my voice. Image is everything after all.

“You know you’re still going to have to fight him,” Wyatt tells me.

“Yeah,” I reply. “You know you’re done no matter how this turns out, right?”

Wyatt nods. “I had a feeling my days were numbered no matter what happened this night. The problem with being on the fence is the first time you slip you land on your nuts. Do you really think you can beat him? You know you’ve lost the element of surprise and he’s waiting for you.”

“I’ll be honest, in a straight up, toe to toe fight; the smart money bets against me. What about you, what are you going to do now? I don’t suppose you all are ready to throw in with me?”

“I’m sorry, Leo, I still can’t. I’ll take these two back to the tower and plead for their mercy. They are young and were following the orders of their maker. I know my life is forfeit, but maybe I can get some clemency for them on the off-chance you actually succeed.”

I nod and Wyatt leads his charges through the shattered remnants of the outside doorway. I pick my way through the debris and step over the bodies as I exit the library and enter the marbled hall of the mansion. The moment I do, a voice comes over a speaker presumably hidden somewhere in the wall or ceiling.

“Ah, I wondered whom I would see emerging from the battlefield. As disappointed as I am, I cannot say I am terribly surprised. You always have been a massive pain the ass, Leonard,” the disembodied voice says to me.

I look around and see the camera at the end of the hall. “If you thought I was a pain in the ass before, wait until you see what I do with this sword when I find you. Now do I have to start blowing holes in the wall while we play hide and seek or do you want to tell me where you are so we can get this over with?”

“I think you have done quite enough damage to my home for one night. I am in the study. Take the next hallway to your left. It is through the double doors at the end.”

 I reload my pistol as I make my way carefully down the hall. I don’t expect any subterfuge, but I haven’t lived this long by being careless. The doors at the end of the hall are actually open, probably as a sign that certain courtesies will be extended.

I can smell the blood but I am still a bit surprised when I walk into the study and see a dead woman on the floor and another huddled in the corner. I imagine he dined on the first to ensure he is at the top of his game and the second to help take care of any injuries he will undoubtedly suffer in our inevitable battle.

“I know I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re here, but still, you are supposed to be at Vincent’s house, not mine,” Percy says and takes a sip of what I think is scotch.

I reply, “You certainly went to great lengths to make me think that.”

“Not great enough apparently. Where did I misstep?”

“I won’t lie to you, Percy, you didn’t make it easy. I was ready to pounce on Vincent but one thing kept nagging me. Too many times security came into play. Vtech security, my own security system, someone tracking Marvin’s computer activities. A big tipoff was that email Vincent allegedly sent to the security guard to get the Cure out of the lab. It was too sloppy. Vincent would never make such a tactical mistake. Then you practically gave Marvin the keys to Vtech’s security system and I know you aren’t that sloppy either.”

Percy takes another sip of his whiskey. “Hm, yes, your pet negro did prove to be significantly more capable than I had expected. Another obvious error on my part, letting old prejudices cloud my judgment. It’s hard adapting to new ways when your roots go so very deep. Forgive my manners. Care for some scotch? It’s quite well-aged. My own father started the brew and I continued to age it in the cask made from an oak tree cut from our plantation. I know, technically it’s not scotch since it spent most of its life in Georgia, but it’s all same. It’s a shame I can’t properly enjoy it given my nature. I truly would like to get good and drunk after this.”

“So is this what this has all been about, restoring what you think are the ‘good old days’?” I ask.

“My feelings are truly hurt if you think my motives are so shallow.” He pauses a moment for thought. “Then again, I suppose there is a grain of truth to it though it is really a lesser goal.”

“So you want Vincent’s position so you can railroad your city-wide security camera initiative through the Council, netting you a fat government contract that you desperately need after losing almost everything after that debacle a while back.”

Real anger clouds his face now. “I lost more than just some contracts. I lost my reputation! Do you think I did not see the other Council members laughing at me behind my back? Well, they will not be laughing for much longer. After I expose Vincent’s weakness for letting the Cure out on the street and allowing rogue vampires and werewolves nearly expose us, they’ll beg me to fix it and I will.”

“You kidnap a werewolf, one least likely to be missed, create some fear of rogue vampires and other fear-mongering situations, all to set yourself up as some kind of savior. I get that. What I don’t get is why you attacked Yuri and the other mob families.”

“Simple economics. This economy is in the toilet and Vincent’s policies are strangling the financial life out of us all. We could be so much more than we are. Do you know the one recession-proof industry in the world?”

“Prostitution?”

Percy gives me a humorous grin. Close; it’s crime. Yet humans control all the major crime syndicates. Once I am elected as the Council leader, I will have influence over not just the top of society but the bottom as well. And once I have the top and bottom firmly in my grasp everything in between will inevitably be mine as well.”

“There is a reason we’re supposed to stay out of crime, Percy, or have you forgotten? The feds are always watching the mobs; you know that. One misstep and you risk exposing what you are and that risks all of us.”

Percy waves off my statement. “Nonsense. I leave men like Yuri and Hanako in charge. I’m a shadow figure and not even they know who I am, only that I am ultimately in charge. They funnel their illicit gains to me, I make them rich, and we’re all happy.”

“It was quite a plan. Too bad I fucked it all up for you, but I think it’s for the best. Had you actually succeeded we all probably would have gotten bit in the ass eventually.”

“I was surprised Vincent called you in. This would have all gone a lot smoother if he hadn’t. I could have brought in the werewolf and declared that menace taken care of and shown the Council that the dogs need to be put on a tighter leash. Then I had you to pin the rogue vampire attacks on. I still will of course, but I wouldn’t be down as many men as I am now.”

“You really think you can still do this don’t you?” I ask.

“I don’t see why not. The rogue, that’s you, broke into my home and killed off several Sheriffs before I was able to put you down. I already have a plethora of evidence that puts you at many of the scenes. Don’t get me wrong, Leo, I always respected you and I would much rather have had you replace that yes-man Wyatt than that idiot Quinn.  His willful ignorance was useful for a while, but I think we both knew it could not be sustained. So that left me with Quinn since I knew your twisted sense of duty would pit you against me. But that’s all moot. You’re here so I’ll do what I have to do. I’ll even drink a toast at your funeral.”

“You still have to kill me,” I remind him.

“A mere detail. I’m older, stronger, and faster than you. I have trained with the sword since I was a boy. I have recently fed, as I am sure you noticed. You don’t have the element of surprise. Sure, you are a great fighter, but your greatest strength was always being a sneaky bastard and you don’t have that this time. So, shall we do this like gentlemen, with swords and no guns or bombs and such?” he asks as he stands and draws what looks like a cavalry saber.

“Of course, Percy, you know me,” I reply as I whip Shalonda up and try to put a bullet in his brain.

Percy is a lot faster than I gave him credit for. He must have been packing away the blood for a while the way he moves. Of course, he isn’t faster than a bullet, but his eye registers my muscle movements and he reacts before I can even pull the trigger.

He dodges left then lunges straight for me, swinging his saber in an incredibly fast arc. I try to intercept it with my own blade but his strength forces my arm to the side. Then, with equal speed and power, he reverses the cut and sends Shalonda flying from my hand. With both arms forced wide from his strikes, I am wide open for the boot he puts into my chest and sends me flying across the room to smash painfully into the wall. I can only hope the loud cracking I hear is from the oak paneling splitting and not my bones.

“Leo, I’m disappointed you.”

I struggle back to my feet, pull out a big survival knife like the one in Rambo, and get into a ready guard position.

“Did you really think I would limit myself in my methods to win a fight? You know me better than that.”

Percy grins at me. “I said I was disappointed, not surprised.”

We circle each other warily in the middle of the study. Well, I’m wary; Percy is just amused which really strikes my ego hard.  I figure my best chance is to launch an all out attack and keep him on the move so he cannot put his full strength into his swings like he did with his opening attack.

I alternately slash high and low then break the pattern at irregular intervals so I don’t get into too much of a routine. When he parries my sword, I bring the big knife around to try to cut him. The more he bleeds the weaker he gets. Of course, he can close off any wounds as easily as I can, but it’s not instant although some of the shallower ones almost seem that way. Still, each cut takes its toll.

Unfortunately, the same goes for me and after less than ten minutes of fighting I am suffering from far more numerous and severe wounds than he is. As we continue our deadly dance around the study, I know that if I don’t do something soon to change the balance of power I am not going to win this fight.

I hop backwards over a table as Percy presses me across the room. The moment my feet touch the carpeted floor, I kick the table at Percy, hoping to hit him and knock him off balance. But he easily leaps up and over and the only casualty is the table itself and another section of paneling.