The Vampire Evolution Trilogy (Book 2): Rule of Vampire Page 18

  “Why did you leave?” he asked gruffly. “Why?”

  She laughed a little into his neck, then raised her head and smiled at him. “I didn’t have a lot of choice, what with the bullets whizzing past my head and all.”

  “You should’ve come back. I waited for you.”

  She didn’t answer right away, just clasped him more tightly. He stiffened in her grasp as the pain returned, but he managed to ignore it.

  “I’m a vampire,” she said finally.

  “I don’t care,” he replied. It was a flat statement, but it put an end to both of their doubts.

  “Never again,” she said. “I’ll never leave you again.”

  #

  Jamie knew something was wrong as soon as she hugged Robert. He felt––and looked––as if he’d lost ten pounds in a week. His skin had a gray pallor and his jaw seemed permanently clenched. She didn’t know if it was a vampire ability, a woman’s intuition, or a lover’s empathy, but she could almost sense the tumor in his stomach growing.

  “Robert,” she said softly. “You should be in the hospital.”

  “Not unless you go with me,” he said.

  “You know I can’t.” She steered him over to a chair. He sat down heavily.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he said. “It’s as if finding you has been such a relief that all my strength has left me.”

  He’s been living for the search, she thought. It gave him strength. “I’m here now,” she said. “You don’t need to do anything but stay with me.”

  Robert grimaced and clutched his side.

  “Where are your pain pills?” she asked.

  “I left them at the house,” he said through gritted teeth. “They make me sleepy. I didn’t want to be tempted. Oh!” He cried out the last word and closed his eyes.

  He was leaning over in his chair, the gray tone of his skin had turned to white, and he seemed to be having trouble staying conscious. Jamie grabbed him as he teetered over and carried him to her blankets. She rolled poor Marc out of the way, murmuring, “Sorry.”

  Robert fell asleep or passed out; she wasn’t sure which. Either way, the lines of pain etched into his brow faded. Jamie let him slumber. She couldn’t bear to see him this way. He needed medication, and she knew exactly where his pain pills were. It was getting darker outside, and she thought she could get to his house and back again in just a few minutes, before he woke up.

  After that, they’d never have to leave the hideaway again. They’d face the end together, in peace.

  In the back of her mind, she began to wonder if the pain pills might make him more amenable to the proposal she planned to make. She understood him, and she knew that he’d reject being Turned, so she’d have to find every advantage she could to change his mind.

  As she was thinking of leaving, Marc sat bolt upright. “What happened?” he asked.

  Jamie knelt next to him. “I have to explain some things to you, Marc.”

  “I need to get back to the thrift store,” he said, looking around wildly. His eyes took in Robert’s motionless form, and he frowned as if suddenly remembering his aborted attack. “It’s my shift…” He trailed off.

  “You’re never working there again, Marc,” Jamie said.

  “What do you mean?”

  She took a deep breath. Might as well just tell him. In a torrent of words, she explained to him what he was and what that meant.

  It was clear he believed her, but he couldn’t accept it right away. “Can’t I just keep doing the things I was doing?” he asked imploringly. “Can’t I just work night shifts or something?”

  “Not unless you want to end up eating your customers,” Jamie said.

  Marc licked his lips, reminded that he was hungry.

  “We need to get you some meat,” she said. “Will you promise to do as I say?” She knew the wild feelings that were coursing through his body, overriding his brain, his willpower; instincts so strong that he couldn’t control them. She knew because not so long ago, she’d felt them herself.

  It was because of these savage instincts that she couldn’t leave him with Robert. She’d take him with her; they’d drop by the Burger King and hope the pimply-faced girl was working, then zoom over to Robert’s house and get his pain medication. With any luck, they’d be back before he woke up.

  Just in case, she left him a note. She didn’t want him waking up and thinking she’d abandoned him again.

  #

  The pimply-faced girl wasn’t there, but she’d apparently told a couple of her co-workers about their arrangement, because they brought Jamie a bag of uncooked patties.

  “Will you take a twenty?” Jamie asked, intending the grab the bag if they said no. “It’s all I have left.”

  One of the boys grumbled but took the cash. “Next time, bring fifty.”

  “Sure.”

  Marc could smell the raw meat coming and he almost snatched it out of her hands, but she led him to the beach before she let him gorge himself.

  After that, they made it to Robert’s house without incident, going through alleyways, down back roads, and across vacant lots. It was amazing how many main streets you could avoid if you tried.

  The bottles of pills were on the bathroom counter. They were nearly full, as if Robert hadn’t touched them. The doctor had prescribed some pretty powerful medication, Jamie noticed––and he’d done it a month ago. How much worse was Robert’s pain now? How did he manage to function?

  She shook her head. Putting all the bottles in a plastic bag, she prepared to leave. She’d left Marc outside by the back door as lookout.

  When she got outside, he wasn’t there.

  Jamie frowned. That’s great, she thought. Just what I need. If she had to, she’d leave the baby vampire here, and he’d have to fend for himself.

  As the door closed behind her, half a dozen shapes moved out of the shadows. Two of the vampires were holding Marc by the arms. He was snarling and struggling, but they had him firmly in their control.

  What looked to be a 10-year-old boy stepped forward. “Jamie, I presume?”

  She nodded.

  He smiled at her. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere! The Council of Vampires would very much like to meet you. I’m Hoss, their local representative.”

  “The Council of Vampires?” Jamie said. “What’s that?”

  The kid’s smile faltered, and he cocked his head at her as if puzzled. “You’re not much more than a Wildering, are you? You haven’t heard of the Rules of Vampire?”

  “Vaguely,” Jamie said. She didn’t have time for this. She needed to get back to Robert. He might wake up at any moment. If she had to, she’d flee and outrun this bunch.

  As if he could read her mind, Hoss motioned into the shadows and three more vampires emerged, holding what looked like medieval crossbows, loaded with wooden bolts. A chill went down her spine.

  “You may not know who the Council of Vampires is, but they know about you,” Hoss said. “I’m going to take you to them as a welcoming present.”

  Jamie felt her muscles tense. She wasn’t going anywhere with anyone. Robert was waiting for her.

  Hoss took one of the crossbows and aimed it at her. Then a thoughtful look came over his face, and he turned and shot the bolt into Marc’s side, mere inches from his heart. Marc cried out, and for a moment it looked as if the skin around the bolt had shriveled.

  “I’ll kill both of you if I have to,” Hoss said.

  Jamie sagged. Robert was going to wake up and she wasn’t going to be there. She could only hope he’d realize that something had gone terribly wrong.

  Chapter 37

  By the time Stuart was ready to leave Bend, he had more than twenty followers. He didn’t bother to count them exactly, because he intended to increase their numbers once they were on the road. As darkness fell, his Wilderings descended on a Chevy dealership and took every van they had, one follower per vehicle, and when the vans were gone, the rest of his progen
y drove off in biggest SUVs on the lot. In the backs of some of the vehicles were the three car salesmen who’d been on duty, plus a mechanic, all of them dead but uneaten.

  They drove down Highway 97. They passed through Sunriver and scooped up everyone on the street, then went on to La Pine, where every fast food worker, gas station attendant, and store clerk they could catch was sucked dry and tossed into the backs of the vans. The first batch of Turned awakened around then and started consuming the newly dead.

  They killed and/or ate everyone who could be found in Gilchrist and Gold Hill, and by the time they reached Grants Pass, the vans were full of vampires. They descended on more car lots and scooped up more vans and SUVs, invaded all the neighborhoods lining the highway and filled the new vehicles with bodies, and by the time they reached Cave Junction, these newly Turned were ravenous. They fell upon the little town and ate everyone there but for a lucky few. They drove on, and by this time the invasion force was made up of dozens of SUVs and vans, each of them filled with vampires.

  Stuart got a rush out of watching it all happen. He felt like Genghis Khan. If his father could see him now! His old man had bugged him about making something of his life; too bad he’d never know his son was an organizational genius.

  The vampires left carnage behind them, but no witnesses––and the authorities were at least a town or two behind them the whole time. They stopped under the redwoods of Jedediah Smith state park, and Stuart gave instructions to his original followers about what was to be done once they hit town.

  They made it to Crescent City with plenty of darkness still left in the night, and the vans and SUVs drove to the four corners of the town and spewed their hungry contents out into the peaceful, sleeping neighborhoods.

  After a nightmarish two weeks, the town’s residents had started to relax. There hadn’t been any attacks for days. They still kept their doors locked and guns handy, but they were sleeping soundly again.

  It wouldn’t have mattered what preparations they made. The vampires were too numerous and too hungry. For every Wildering who was shot, five more rushed forward.

  It didn’t matter to Stuart anymore who was Turned and who was eaten. He’d given his progeny instructions to seek shelter before dawn, but inevitably, some of the Wilderings weren’t going to remember to do that and would burn.

  But even there, Stuart was lucky. It was a cloudy, rainy day. The carnage he’d initiated continued on into the morning, then late into the afternoon. The sun peeked out from the clouds just before dusk and ignited vampires all over town, setting buildings on fire and sending roiling smoke into the sky. Stuart heard sirens wailing and guns blasting, and explosions from gas lines and propane tanks caught in the crossfire––or in actual fire.

  Eventually, the humans would bring in reinforcements and would gain the upper hand.

  It didn’t matter. Stuart had, in one night, made up for all the injustices of his youth: all the teachers who had told him he wasn’t trying hard enough, every girl who had led him on, every football player who had pushed him around.

  Stuart had positioned himself in the hills above town in an SUV with tinted windows. This was like the best video game he’d ever played. It was complete warfare. He’d unleashed a ravenous plague on his hometown.

  He sat back to watch it be consumed.

  #

  Callendar and Jeffers were running out of bullets. They’d long since used up their holy water and crossbow bolts. The number of police officers reporting in was diminishing rapidly.

  When the epidemic had first broken out, they’d talked about this: What would happen if it got out of control? But then they seemed to have nipped it in the bud, and they’d thought all that was left to be done was the mopping up.

  They put out an emergency call for help, but the backup units had almost reached L.A. by then, and it would take them most of the night to return to Crescent City. Jeffers shouted at them to fly up, but was ignored.

  By late afternoon, it was clear to both agents that by the time backup arrived, there might not be anyone left to save. Callendar spent much of the day on the phone, calling the authorities in nearby towns, but none of them seemed to believe him and most of them were waiting for orders from some higher authority. Jeffers was on the phone, too, trying to convince their superiors in Washington to use their influence on the state police, the National Guard, anyone.

  No one could get through their dense bureaucratic heads how dire the situation was. After they had called and begged and pleaded with everyone they knew or could think off, Jeffers and Callendar looked at each other and realized that, at least for the short term, they were on their own.

  They’d noticed the high fences and gates surrounding the county fairgrounds and decided that they’d make their last stand there. They called a general retreat. The word went out over the radio, police scanners, and shortwaves: seek sanctuary at the fairgrounds. A National Guard Armory was at the center of the cluster of buildings, and it had thick metal doors and no windows. It would be their final stronghold.

  Callendar and Jeffers were surprised by how many people began to show up: both that they’d gotten word in the first place, and that they’d then managed to fight their way through the gauntlet of Wilderings. One of the new arrivals was the quartermaster of the Armory. He unlocked the doors, and they piled guns and ammunition on the ground outside the building. Anyone who felt capable was allowed to pick up a weapon and start using it.

  Callendar shuddered. How many people were going to get killed by friendly fire? How many people approaching what they thought was the safety of the fairgrounds were going to get gunned down by trigger-happy defenders?

  But there wasn’t any choice. By then, the vampires outnumbered the humans, and one on one, they were faster and stronger.

  The guns helped even the score.

  As the light of day faded, the fairgrounds’ floodlights came on. On the other side of the chain-link fence that surrounded the survivors’ refuge, Callendar could see masses of vampires trying to climb over the bodies of the fallen. Only a head shot put them down for long, and even then, they’d lurch back to life after a while, rising to their feet and stumbling forward.

  Callendar looked around and saw a priest standing in the crowd, saying a blessing over a kneeling mass of people. He grabbed the man roughly by the arm, interrupting him in mid-sermon. “Come with me, dammit.”

  He had the priest bless a barrel of water, then directed the devout to grab cups, make their way to the fence, and fling the water at the heaving mass of vampires. It had some effect, though it seemed like trying to empty the ocean one cup at a time.

  Jeffers found some firefighting equipment in one of the outbuildings, and they handed out axes and set some of the survivors to splintering the wooden tables in the main hall so they could make stakes.

  They made Molotov cocktails out of empty soda bottles and started burning the vampires.

  The humans managed to hold off the Wildering horde for hours, but by midnight, the bodies were piled so high that vampires were clambering over them to get over the fence and dropping into the perimeter. They’d run out of ammo by then. All they had was some holy water in red plastic cups and broken splinters of wood.

  Callendar called the retreat. The survivors––a few hundred dirt-smudged, tired and frightened men, women, and children––ran into the Armory. The doors were slammed shut.

  A few minutes later, they heard pounding on the doors, then along the walls. Then they started to feel the building shake and hear the sound of footsteps on the roof.

  Callendar saw the same dismay on his partner’s face that he was feeling.

  They were going to lose.

  #

  An explosion woke Robert up. At first he couldn’t figure out where he was. He looked up through a tangle of branches and saw that it was night. He smelled smoke. There was a flashlight lying next to his arm, and when he turned it on, he saw the note.

  His heart sank. If it had bee
n written not long after he’d fallen asleep, Jamie had been gone for hours. He heard another explosion, and as he oriented himself, he realized it was coming from the direction of the fairgrounds.

  Robert got to his feet and winced at the pain, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been when he’d arrived. The sleep had done him some good. The pain was unpredictable: it was always there as a dull ache, but most of the time it didn’t flare into a sharp throbbing unless he was tired or overexerted himself. He laughed grimly. He couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t been tired or overexerted.

  Even through the thick thatch of branches, he could see flickering, as if everything outside the hideaway was burning. He heard distant screams and shouts.

  He wrote a note for Jamie in turn. Meet me at my house, it said.

  Robert crawled through the tunnel and emerged into a scene from a war movie. Fires were burning everywhere, and in the hellish light, he could see bodies littering the streets. Hastily abandoned cars had been left facing every direction. He saw a running figure, and he followed its movement as it approached what appeared to be a standing woman. He heard a shot and the running figure dropped, then got back to its feet and started stumbling toward the woman, who was now running away.

  Robert got into his cruiser, which was miraculously unscathed. The second he turned on the engine, the scanner started squawking. He listened in growing disbelief to the news. He locked all the doors and looked out into the flickering darkness. Then he unlocked his door, got out, and opened the trunk. He put on his bulletproof vest, cinched it tight, and ratcheted a shell into his shotgun. He opened the glove compartment and removed the extra clips. He put his pistol on the seat next to him and propped up the shotgun.

  Then he pulled out of the parking lot and wove his way through the abandoned vehicles, making his way to the fairgrounds.