Vampire Thirst (26 page)

“How fucking special we are.”

“Yes, we are. You are. You proved that my theory was right. Because of you, I developed my newest invention, which will take humanity to the next phase of evolution.” He walked to one of the metal cabinets on the side wall and took out a metal case. He flicked the lid open.  Two rows of bullets were displayed in front of Sam. They were filled with a crystal liquid that swirled and glittered. “This is the future, Angel.”

“Acid bullets are the future?”

He rolled his eyes, as if annoyed by her stupid question. “My bullets are not acid, Angel. They are made of pure energy.”

Sam’s jaw dropped.
Holy. Apa. Dobrý.
He had created portable, mini H-bombs! That’s why the bullets had consumed Zoricah from inside out when she got hit back in New York! It was only after Tardieh forced her to drink his blood that the substance had been contained.

Sam crossed her arms over her chest and tried her best to look unimpressed. “This is hardly ground-breaking, Burvis. Edward Teller developed a much bigger version back in World War II.”

“But the world got too scared back then. Our leaders are weak. They fight to stop the production of weapons of mass destruction, but you see, they are missing the point. After the H-bomb, other weapons were created, much more destructive ones, and not much fuss was made about them. Why? Because ongoing slaughter is statistics, not genocide.”

What the fuck?

Ice settled in the pit of Sam’s stomach. “What are you planning to do with these bullets, Doctor?”

“Well, humans are always looking for new weapons for their never-ending wars, aren’t they?”

Mighty Soartas.
“You can’t release these on the market! Imagine what would happen if mercenaries get hold of them!”

“Exactly, Angel. In no time, my bullets will flood the world. The weak will be annihilated and the strong ones will strive, like you and me. Then a new era will begin.”

Sam was speechless. Darwin was probably having a fit in his grave.

Suddenly their mission in New York made sense. The coin dropped. “Yerik was also trying to create a new super-race.”

Burvis huffed. “That blood-sucking moron had no idea what he was doing. Why would we leave to mother nature such an important task?”

Why indeed. Time to stop Dr. Frankenstein.

“WOW, I have to say, Doctor. I’m truly impressed.” Sam said, feigning interest. “How many of these did you manage to produce?”

Burvis placed the box back in the cupboard. “Well, my dear,” he turned back around and glared at her under brown lashes. His unnaturally thick neck looked even creepier from that angle. “You will soon find out.”

The hairs on the back of Sam’s neck lifted. Something was wrong.

Two massive arms grabbed her from behind, whooshing the air out of her lungs. Sam kicked her attacker on the ankle and tried to set herself free, but the razbian was too tall. She couldn’t get leverage to flip backwards either. Damn it!

As quickly as the arms came, they went. The guard let out a short yelp as he was thrown across the room.

Sam turned around. Her heart skipped a beat. Hikuro stood just a few steps away. He still looked drained, but his regal posture was back; his eyes flared. Sam’s heart filled with hope.

Two other razbians entered the room and went flying at him. He didn’t crush them at the same speed he usually would, but he held his ground like a true samurai.

Sam didn’t have time to celebrate though. She heard a noise behind her and turned around, just in time to dodge Burvis’ attack. His sharp combat knife ripped through her shoulder. Blood gushed out of the ugly cut. Ignoring the piercing pain, Sam spun sideways and blocked his second attack with her right forearm. Then she kicked his knee cap as hard as she could. Burvis fell to the ground, but on the way he managed to pull her leg. Sam lost her balance and also went down. Still on the floor, Burvis lifted his elbow and aimed at her face, but she rolled to the side just in time to avoid the impact. She quickly stood up, and so did he.

This was it. The face-to-face she had yearned for, for over forty years. She knew it. He knew it.

Burvis didn’t wait. He took two steps forward and threw a punch destined to crack her cheekbones, but Sam was ready and bent backwards. His fist found just air. She twirled her torso and struck Burvis right in the crotch. He bowed forward, obviously feeling the impact.
No babies for you, prick. That’s my contribution to the world.
Sam spun in the air and kicked his exposed jaw at a perfect angle. Dr. Burvis’ head snapped sideways, followed by his body.

Time to finish it.

Sam got ready to strike her final blow. But the Soartas had something else in mind for her. A shot rang through the enclosed room. The glittering bullet zinged past, narrowly missing her head, and hit the cabinet in front of her.

The steel cabinet.

Instead of going through, the bullet bounced off and pierced her chest just below her heart. The impact made her stumble backwards. She steadied herself and looked down. Sparkling white light oozed out of a wound that seemed to grow by the second.

“Sam!” Hikuro’s strained voice echoed in the room.

She wanted to tell him she was OK, that it was nothing. But her mouth didn’t obey. Her throat got suddenly too dry, her vision went blurry, her knees weak. Unable to support her weight, Sam plummeted to the ground. Her head hit the floor hard.

She had been wrong. After the initial numbness, along came the convulsions. Her whole body shook. The electric charge was making its way through her veins, killing every ounce of humanity she had left in her. She was dying.

Through the blurriness and convulsions, she forced her mind to keep active. It was hard. There was too much pain, too much, but she had to try. She owed it to herself. She owed it to Hikuro. She heard someone scream, then an explosion. The room shook, in keeping with her own flapping body. Several feet stormed along the corridor. Just before darkness enveloped her mind, she heard familiar war cries echo in the distance.

The cavalry had arrived.

Chapter 5

Apa Sâmbetei looked much different from what she had imagined. There was no eerie feeling, no sense of levitation, just the annoying fog that made her trip on the rocky ground. What was even weirder – she could still hear the fight going on back at Dr. Burvis’ lab.

“That’s because it’s not your time to go, Sam.”

Sam turned around and found a teenage girl with wavy blond hair. Her blue eyes penetrated Sam’s inmã.

“Who are you?”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re not meant to be here,” the girl responded with typical teenage arrogance.

“What do you mean? I died, didn’t I?”

“Did you?”

Sam frowned. This girl was starting to piss her off. Just the way she used to purposely annoy all adults she encountered when she was…well, just about that girl’s age.

“Wait a minute…who did you say you were?”

“I didn’t.”

Sam crossed her arms over her chest and lifted an eyebrow. “You can’t be me, because I’m here.”

“Are you?”

“Yes, I am.” Bloody Hiad. She had never been that annoying, had she? “Look, just step aside so I can cross the first river and be at peace.”

“OK.”

The girl hopped to the side and leaned on an invisible rock.

Sam took a few steps, tested the ground. Good to go. Time to make her journey into Apa Sâmbetei. She swallowed dry. Would the pain in her heart ever fade away? She remembered Zoricah and Yara and… Hikuro. Dear Hikuro. Tears came to her eyes. She had so much more to live with him, with her friends. But now, there was nothing else she could do. And that sucked. Did every inmã feel as
cheated on
as she did when they died?

She left the girl behind and walked off.

After a while – how long had it been? – she came across a place that looked awfully familiar.

“I must be the first loser to get lost in freakin’ Apa Sâmbetei.”

“Hey, there’s no reason to use foul language, missy,” the blond girl chided her from the same invisible rock as before.

“Oh, not you again.” Sam couldn’t believe it. There was her annoying little self, like a mini-me who didn’t take a hint.

“And, you’re wrong.”

Sam took a deep breath and took the bait. “Wrong about what? Me being a loser or getting lost in Apa Sâmbetei?”

“You know what your problem is?”

“I’m dead?”

“No,” the girl replied with a chuckle. “You know what you can do, you just don’t believe you can do it. So, you don’t.”

“Oh, mighty Soartas, do I really need a lesson from a 12 year old?” Sam was tired and really, truly sad.

“Why are you sad?”

Sam glanced at the girl. “Did I say that out loud?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

Sam took another deep breath and counted to three. “I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do.”

That pretentious little bitch was really getting on her nerves. “Fine. I’m sad because…” She paused.

Goldilocks lifted her brows.

“Because I proved I’m a failure.”

Suddenly the air got thicker. The girl lost her jesting flair. She lowered her chin and glared at Sam. “You are the reason
I am
here.”

“What?”

“Because of
you
, I got trapped in this plane.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The girl stepped down from the invisible boulder. Sam took a step back. Oh, crap.

“
You
ran away when we needed to fight and finish those boys for good,” the girl snarled. “
You
chickened out when that fucking doctor did those crazy experiments on our bodies.”

“He tied me up!”

She was close now. Too close.

 “
You
ran away when Hikuro tried to love you, just because you were too scared of what a future with him could mean.”

 “Well, he…what?”

“You always run, you always chicken out, you always hide behind Zoricah and Yara.”

“No, I don’t…”

“And you could have broken out of those straps in the asylum just like you can break out of here!”

An ugly lump lodged itself in Sam’s throat. “They were too strong for me.”

“You electrocuted a teenage thug with your bare hands, Sam!” the girl shouted. “How could thin leather straps hold you down?”

“Stop!” Sam crouched low and blocked her ears with both hands.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the electric magic in Dr. Burvis’ bullets the very same thing that fuels
your
powers? That miraculously rejuvenates your cells, making you ‘virtually immortal?’” She did the quotation marks with her little fingers. “So how the fuck can it eat you alive?”

“Please, stop! Stop!” Sam couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much. She knew she wasn’t the brightest or the bravest of fighters, but she wasn’t a quitter. All those decades she was under Dr. Burvis’ torture, she had fought with everything she could. He had slowly stolen everything away from her, but he had never killed her soul. Somehow, she took his poison in and transformed it into her very own weapon – and used it to send an invisible message to whoever could hear her.

“And that’s how Zoricah found you.”

Sam looked up and saw through teary eyes a tall woman with long midnight hair. Her almond-shaped eyes had the most amazing amber glow.

“Z?”

She looked so much like Zoricah but different at the same time. She was more regal. Sam knew she could be reduced to ashes if the lady had wished it. But instead of fear, peace flooded Sam’s heart.

“Stop wasting focus, Sam,” the woman whispered.

Suddenly, the wind picked up and a flock of flying iguanas appeared out of nowhere, knocking Sam off balance. Their leathery green and yellow wings flapped above her head, making her dizzy.

When they were finally gone, there was no fog, no rocky ground, no goddess. Sam looked up and saw the only man who had really loved her, fighting with razbians in a sterile-white lab. His determined glare was stained by tears. Dr. Burvis was a few feet away, crouched by Sam’s dying body. She looked down at herself and saw the wound that had already claimed a third of her chest.

It no longer hurt. It no longer scared her.

Chapter 6

“No!” Hikuro shouted. Sam had been hit by the bullet that was meant for him. He had killed two razbians, leaving only one left to fight with. Instead of facing him in battle like a worthy warrior, the fucking coward had drawn out his gun and pulled the trigger. Hikuro ducked down, dodging the bullet. But then, his ears registered a ricocheting sound. Bullet on steal. His heart sank. It all happened too fast. The bullet hit Sam before he could move her out of its course.

Hikuro wanted to run to her side, get her out of there, but first he would rip the head off that fucking razbian. And so he did. Using his own fangs.

Then he turned around and found Dr. Burvis crouched by Sam’s side.

“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Hikuro was about to grab the man by the jugular when four other razbians showed up.

No!
There wasn’t time for this war shit. Sam needed him; she was dying. The contents of the bullet were eating her alive. For the first time in his life, Hikuro didn’t know what to do. His mind raced to visualize every possible scenario. His heart thumped wildly in his chest. The razbians were closing in on him and Sam’s spasms were getting worse.

A bomb exploded somewhere close.
Yes!
Tardieh’s war cry was like sweet music to his ears.

With renewed hope, Hikuro grabbed a razbian’s punch mid-strike, then swirled around while still holding his wrist and kicked a second razbian in the chest. On the same momentum, Hikuro launched the first guard against a third one, making them both crash against a glass cage. In the corner of his eye, he registered that Dr. Burvis had left Sam’s side and was now desperately unloading the boxes of crystal bullets into a duffle bag.

With a quick twist of his hands, Hikuro cracked the neck of the last guard. Even before the lizard’s lifeless body hit the ground, Hikuro had already planted himself in front of Dr. Fucker. “Do you really think I’ll let you get away?”