Chapter 4
Six hours later the sun shone on a bright, new morning. Zan picked his way through the littered apartment and pulled open the heavy velvet curtains. The sunlight was an unwelcome visitor here, and made Zan an even more unwelcome intruder. "Rise and shine. This is your...9:15 wake up call." He rapped on the simple pine box that stood on sawhorses in the middle of the bedroom floor. This was definitely not the abode of a vampire with any sense of style.
"Goog off, asshole." Croaked the voice from inside the makeshift casket. Zan walked over to the computer on the desktop on the far side of the small room and hit the spacebar so he didn't have to look at the blood doll screensaver anymore. From his jacket pocket he pulled a box roughly the size of a hardback novel. It had a floppy disk attached to one end by a ribbon of wires. He inserted the diskette into the tower and then rebooted the computer.
"Wakey Wakey!" Zan said kicking the box that dominated what passed for the master bedroom.
"Goog off, jackass, it's still daylight. I just got in here." Zan walked back to the little box that was now tearing through the hard drive like a sailor on shoreleave, laying its contents open for his perusal. He watched the report as it appeared on the monitor, and typed in tighter parameters for the search.
"Looks like you've got some stuff on here that the JSPD'd be very interested in Axel. You've been a bad, bad boy." He said as he decided not to sit on the oddly stained desk chair, and pushed it aside.
"You're yanking my chain, meat. That comp's got some sweet ice, now get out or I'll make a snack outta you."
"Axel, if you're going to send people naked pictures of yourself, could you have at least tried to take flattering ones? Yuck. Look at that! I figured it'd shrivel up once you died, but hell, you must not have had anything to start with." That last comment had the desired effect, the erstwhile coffin banged open and a pudgy vampire clad only in a well-worn t-shirt lept out and recoiled from the light streaming in through the windows.
"OW! Asshole!" Axel scurried to find the nearest patch of shadow, squinting against the light. He found his tormentor standing in front of his desk and could see rows of text streaming down his monitor. "How did you break my ice? Who the hell do you think you are?!"
"Right now I'm the guy you’re going to spill your guts to. We can do it figuratively, or literally, and because I'm in a generous mood this morning you get to choose. Aren't I a nice guy?" Aqua leaned back on the desk letting Axel see enough of the monitor to know for certain that he was in, and had access to all of the information.
"Get away from my comp. I'm warning you!"
"Why would Asche want to sink his fingers into a nightclub?"
"What?"
"Fallen Angels. Why's Asche interested in it?"
"Up yours! You can just goog off if you think I'm going to talk about his business." Axel flipped Zan off and clung to the shadows. The detective nodded quietly and then yanked the nearest curtain down, sending even more burning light into the room. Dust particles danced in the golden shaft. "Hey! Hey! Knock that off!"
"Sing birdie, sing." Zan slipped his hand in his pocket and grabbed the revolver he found there. "Asche. Fallen Angels. Ring any bells?" Axel reviewed his options. It was early morning; there was no way to wait this guy out. The temperature in the room was rising, and he wouldn't be able to be safe in the shadows for much longer. If he tried to attack, he would have to go through the light to get to this goog, and in his weakened state he might not be able to fend off the creep. All in all, his options stank. He hissed a warning. Zan shook his head. "I guess I've just spent too much time around real vampires to be impressed by you, sorry. Kelegar would have fed me my liver by now. He would have walked calmly across the room and left me looking like I lost an argument with a train. You're one sorry excuse for a kindred."
"Asshole."
"Your vocabulary sucks too. No wonder you hold up in here luring posers out of chat rooms. Asche has never been known for recruiting the best or brightest."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jayna answered the phone on the third ring. "Hmmmm... Whatever number you were trying to reach, this isn't it."
"Did I wake you baby?"
"Yea." She groaned, "What time is it?"
"Little after noon. Listen, I've got a good lead. David used to own Fallen Angels. I've got a couple of pictures of him taken inside the place. Asche'd been leaning on him for years, but couldn't get anything more than a little protection money for all of his trouble."
"So? That doesn't sound like reason enough to return from the dead"
"It gets better. David's ex-fiancé Leah is Leo Shelby's daughter. Mean anything to you?"
"No. You know I don't pay any more attention to the politics around here than I have to. Should it?"
"Leo Shelby's a BIG fish. Thousands in bribes and payoffs pass through his hands every day. This guy's one of the big Meta registration blowhards too."
"Lovely"
"Yea and guess who made out like a fat cat when the tower bombing blew David out of his life and into ours?"
"Leo?"
"Ding! Give the lady a prize."
"So Leo makes out blowing up his daughter's fiancé? He must have really hated him."
"Yea the guy's a wizard at multitasking." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Gets better still, guess who Asche's current squeeze is.""Got me."
"Leah."
"Oh lovely. This guy gave his daughter to an up-and-coming vampire? What sleaze."
"Sure looks like it."
"Wait a minute. Could she be a hostage, to make sure that Leo dances to Asches' tune?"
"That's an interesting thought, but right now Leah's the only clear connection between the two."
"Well, when you eliminate all possibilities..."
"The only thing remaining, no matter how unlikely, must be the truth. I know."
"If Leo had the building blown up, why isn't David after him? I would think that would be his purpose. I don't get the Asche connection at all." She sat up in bed and tried to make some sense out of what she was hearing. "We need to talk to Mike."
"I'll be there in about half an hour." Zan turned off his phone and looked at the slightly charred vampire cowering under a makeshift tent. "See ya later Axel. Thanks for the help."
Chapter 5
~ So this is it, huh? Home sweet home? ~
The crow seemed to mock David from the other side of the high metal fence he stood before. It again cawed out a laugh, and then turned its attention to small insects burrowing in the well-manicured lawn.
“You can’t possibly be hungry again.”
~ Hmpf. Why are we here, anyway? ~
“This Asche creature has taken over every other aspect of my life, the club and everything that went along with it, so why not Leah’s home as well?”
~ So he’s here, right? You know what you have to do. ~
“Obviously.” He reached out one pale hand and grasped the wrought iron before him and instantly his muscles began to twitch uncontrollably, and his eyes rolled back in his head.
Across from him the bird cawed in alarm, wings beating the air in shocked surprise. David became still and his eyes snapped forward, focusing on the bird.“Fooled ya.”
~ He’s an idiot, AND a comedian. Just great. Don’t ever do that again, asshole. ~
“Oh, quit complaining. Besides, if you could have seen the look on your face…beak, whatever.” David climbed to the top of the fence with ease, hands impaling themselves on the ornamental spikes lining the top as he vaulted over. As he landed his heavy boots thudded into the damp earth with a sound not unlike a coffin lid slamming shut. His demolished palms healed as he watched, and he held them up for the bird to admire.
~ Just get the job over with! ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The spare key was still hidden in the same place it had always been, so David let himself in through the front door. He made his way through the darkened house slowly, much to the bird’s chagrin, looking around leisurely, taking it all in.
He was surprised to note that all of the furnishings were undisturbed and dusty, as if no one had ever moved in after his death. If Asche was indeed here, as the vision he’d gotten from the now dead vampire had shown, he wasn’t much for using furniture, or cleaning, for that matter.David crossed the living room and moved to the solarium, which had always been one of Leah’s favorite places. She often spent all afternoon in the glass-enclosed room, reading, listening to music, and occasionally tending to the plants that lined the walls. Now this room was even more desolate than the others, with dried leaves littering the floor. They crunched underfoot as he crossed to the chair near the windows, and placed a hand on its dusty back with trepidation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Leah sat, haloed in mid afternoon sunlight, reading a novel.
Her foot swung absentmindedly as she turned the pages, oblivious that he stood in the doorway, watching her and smiling to himself. Finally, he cleared his throat, and she glanced up at him, marking her place and putting the book down on the small end table next to the chair. She smiled broadly.“You’re home early!”
“Really? Should I leave and come back later? I don’t want to ruin my reputation, after all.” David grinned brightly. He remembered why he loved her so much at times like this. No matter what he did, she was always cheerful, bright, and in his eyes, beautiful.
He was lucky enough to have found his own private angel, and he planned on keeping her always, which was what made tonight so important.She stood and crossed the room, pulling him into a tight embrace that ended with a long kiss. “Don’t you dare.” She moved her hands slowly around to his back, and held him there. “I like you right where you are.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, but I made reservations for dinner, and I don’t want to be late.”
He gently tried to pull away from her, but she tightened her embrace.“Reservations? Then I should get all dressed up?” She giggled slightly. “A real restaurant, and not Wong’s? What’s the occasion?” She eyed him curiously.
“I felt like eating Italian cooking.”
“Liar. You hate Italian, I’m the one that loves it.” She moved her hands quickly to search his jacket pockets. Her fingers touched a small box, covered with velvet, and she closed her hand around it before he could react. “What’s this?” She asked, pulling her hand from his pocket.
“Hey, that’s cheating!” He exclaimed, trying to get the tiny box away from her, and failing miserably as she danced away from him. She stopped by the main window and opened the hinged lid, then gasped in surprise as the golden sunlight caught the diamond inside, making it sparkle brightly.
“You got the ring?” She whispered, hesitantly, looking over to David as if for an answer.
He nodded, silently.
“You got the RING!” She squealed, launching herself at him, arms wrapping around him and pulling him close in a quick embrace. “And I ruined the surprise, didn’t I?
“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘ruined’…” He dropped to one knee before her. “I think the evening’s still salvageable, after all. Will you marry me?”
“What kind of silly, silly question is that?” She asked, eyes filling with tears. She looked down at David, who was in turn looking up at her expectantly. “Of course I will.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ Any time you want to come out of your little reverie… ~ The bird cackled.
David lurched forward heavily, all resistance gone from his muscles. The chair tumbled over to the floor, taking him with it, and as he stared at the ceiling, he blinked back tears.
After a few seconds he recovered, and pushed himself off of the floor, taking care not to touch the chair again.~ Poor, poor little baby, did you see something you didn’t like? ~
“Shut up. Just shut the hell up.”
~ You’re the one making all the noise, enough to wake the dead, as it were. ~
David felt steely hands grip his throat before he ever knew someone was in the room with him. Needle-like fangs punctured his throat over his jugular, but didn’t stay imbedded there long. The hands and teeth holding him vanished as quickly as they had appeared, and from across the room there was a long stream of obscenities followed by a dry retching sound. He guessed that the vampire who had just attempted to drain him had never before encountered the blood of a man who had been dead for over a year. Apparently unlike wine, blood did not improve with age.
David pulled the sword and crossed the room quickly, hoping to surprise the vampire.
He didn’t know if it was his quarry or not, but it mattered very little - right now the only good vampire was a dead vampire, as the old saying went. He swung the samurai in a wide arc; it sung through the air towards the sound. It came up short, however, carving a shallow groove in the plaster wall, sending powder into the air, as the vampire moved quickly, circling behind him. David felt a powerful fist slam into his back, just to the left of his shoulder blade; the sword clattered to the floor as bones shattered.“Asche!” It had to be him; none of the fledgling vampires in the club had been this fast or this powerful. “Face, me, Asche!”
There was no warning as a second fist connected with his jaw, sending David sprawling backwards into the wall with a wrenching thud that ground his already broken bones to powder. He knew he could take a lot of damage, but he was unsure how much… He snaked his left hand inside the coat and grasped the blade he had taken from Jayna’s shop, and waited.
He knew Asche was nearby, he could sense him…but he couldn’t SEE him. He looked around, studying the room, the leaves on the floor. Most had become crushed, and ground into the hard wood by their feet. A few stirred, disturbed by approaching feet. David swung outward with the antique knife, and metal met flesh with a wet tearing sound. Asche suddenly appeared before him, staggering backwards, hands clutching the hilt of the dagger that was now protruding from his chest. David followed up with a roundhouse kick that sent Asche sprawling. He refused to give the vampire any time to recover, pouncing on him like a cat on its prey. He was met by a pair of strong hands that flipped him end over end, and sent him literally flying into the far wall.
David picked himself up quickly, and retrieved the sword; surprised that Asche hadn’t yet tried to wrench his head from his body. He glanced around; apparently the vampire had already bolted from the room.
“Come out come out wherever you are…” David glanced around; small specks of blood darkened the wood floor, and he followed the trail to the kitchen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He pushed the door open, and the scent of blood was so thick he could almost taste it. The table and one chair had splatters of gore on them, and smears on the linoleum lead to a walk-in pantry. David knew that there was no way that all of this had come from one dagger-wound, and he was right, opening the door he found two drained corpses, transients from the look of things. Someone was a messy eater, because already filthy shirts were torn and badly stained with browning blood.
David closed the door and looked around cautiously. Either Asche was hiding nearby or he was cloaking his presence again. Neat trick, he thought. He scanned the kitchen; immaculately clean save the darkening blood on the floor. Obviously it was unused.
He wondered where his guide had gotten to, about the same time as he got a flash from the surly creature. A tall, blonde vampire, holding his stolen blade, hands covered with blood. He waited in the next room, just outside the door, crouched and ready to attack. David flexed his shoulder - it was already healed. “Good. Let’s be direct, shall we?”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Asche waited, blood stained dagger in hand, the gaping wound in his chest already gone.
He recognized it as Egyptian, but he couldn’t even begin to guess at its age, save for it was far older than he, and probably priceless. He wondered where the undead…creature that was now hunting him had gotten such antiquities. Not every day did you have antique Samurai swords and Egyptian blades wielded against you. Perhaps Ravenstrom had sent this being after him.Using a zombie to kill off vampires. Ingenious, really, no one would be able to trace him back to the old fool, if he was indeed behind it. It didn’t seem his style, though, bringing attention to all the Kindred on J Street just to get rid of him? Ravenstrom had always seemed content to let his little enclave be, as long as they didn’t garner too much attention. The debacle with the cross shard had been pushing his luck, he knew it, and had sent his deepest apologies to the old man, borne by two of his people. They hadn’t survived of course, nor had he expected them. He was merely sending tribute to Crete.
Asche tensed as he heard heavy footsteps moving across the linoleum. The door swung outward, giving the vampire his first clear view of his intruder, who stood calmly in the doorway. He seemed to be waiting for something, and Asche decided to give it to him.
He hurled the stolen dagger with all his might, the gleaming metal stopping with a thud mere centimeters from David’s head.“Thanks.” David smiled, grasping the dagger’s hilt and pulling it from where it pierced his opposing palm with one deft movement. He regarded it for a moment before dropping it somewhere within the folds of the voluminous coat, then turned, grinning, to face the open-mouthed vampire.
“Now where we?”
Asche launched himself at the intruder with a scream.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“David?”
A soft, familiar voice called out to him from a great distance. He tried to focus on it.
“David?”
The same voice spoke his name again, with a slight quiver on the last syllable. He heard feathers rustling softly, and someone breathing. The voice was very close now, possibly even standing over him.
“David, is that you?”
David finally blinked away the darkness around him, and focused on the floor below him. Dried blood from multiple sources filled the cracks in the tiles, taking up his entire field of vision. He wanted desperately to look away but he was unable to move his head, and it took him several long seconds to remember what had happened. Asche was gone. The vampire was severely wounded, and was surely going for help. He himself could barely move; the vampire, in a last-ditch bid for survival, had managed to snap his neck.
He finally regained some range of movement, and pushed himself up from the floor; body, hands and even skin tingling painfully as his severed spinal cord knitted itself back together. Moving his neck was still out of the question, it protested with a chorus of pain when he tried to do so. He resigned himself to staring at the floor for a few moments longer.
“Oh my god.”
It was the voice again. Quieter, it seemed to almost be in shock. Soft footsteps shuffled across the floor, stumbling backwards. He turned, finally, somewhat recovered, towards the sound.
Infinitely bright green eyes stared back at him, wide with a mixture of delight and horror.
“Leah?”
Chapter 6
Green eyes across from him blinked back tears.
David focused solely on them for several long minutes. They were brighter and clearer and infinitely more detailed, impossibly more beautiful than the images he’d plumbed from the murky depths of his fragmented memory. He let his attention wander, taking in the face that framed them, milky white, smooth and luminous in the strands of moonlight that fell from the shattered window nearby.
Asche had no doubt exited through this window, but the rogue vampire was the furthest thing from David’s mind at this instant. His mission was forgotten, shoved to the back of his mind, unwanted, as he took in the sight before him. Leah was alive, here, in this very room with him. His mind was in turmoil, but the hows and whys simply did not matter right now. Only one thing mattered.
Leah was alive.
Leah, for her part, was just confused; mind whirling with so many questions she couldn’t find the words to express even one of them. Instead she slid down the wall, weak-kneed with shock, and sat, facing him, hands limp across her lap. She sat there, dumbfounded, for several minutes before even attempting to speak.
“David.” She repeated the name to herself, amazed. “You’re alive.” She managed, weakly, then paused. “How is this possible? I saw your body. What was left of it…they buried you…” She lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, taking her eyes from him and staring down at her own smooth, upturned hands. She could feel the warmth slowly draining from her skin, could see with powerful eyes miniscule flecks of blood under her fingernails. She prayed to any god that might possibly be listening that David couldn’t see what she was becoming. She blinked away half formed tears again, hoping he couldn’t see their slightly pinkish tinge…
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ Unbelievable. Simply unfrugging believable. ~
White feathers reflected a rising moon as dusk finally retreated and night stalked ever closer. It was a hunting moon, nearly full. Quite appropriate, all things considered. Below him, making a mad dash toward survival, was Asche.
~ Denn die todten reiten schnell, indeed! I’ve never seen a creature move this fast! ~ The bird swooped slightly lower to keep one beady eye on his prey as it ducked underneath a series of dead-end overpasses and bridges. The sound of splashing water carried on the breeze as Asche stumbled through a rain-swollen drainage ditch, heading blindly towards god knows what. The bird followed, patiently, waiting for Asche to stop. When the vampire finally entered a burned-out, partially boarded-up warehouse, his pursuer followed through a hole in the roof.
Perching on an exposed girder, well out of sight in the crisscrossing shadows, it preened and waited for David to reply to his summons. As the bird watched, Asche straightened himself up as best he could, slicking back his wet hair and straightening his muddy clothes. A motley assortment of creatures entered a few minutes later, more vampires, of varying ages and families.
~ Oh goody, even more of Asche’s little friends for us to kill. ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Let the meeting begin.” Called out an elder Nosferatu. With this statement, the already low murmur of conversation in the warehouse faded into silence. The half-dozen or so vampires gathered around the only furniture in the empty room, a small table illuminated by a single candle.
“Asche, you called this meeting, gathered us here this evening, to help you with a problem, this being that destroyed your club. Normally, anything that affects one of our families, affects us all. But…”
The elder halted, and a dark skinned female vampiress chimed in. Her long white teeth contrasted sharply against her black skin as she spoke in heavily accented English. “But given the circumstances, none of us, or our followers are in a position to help you. You know as well as I do, that Ravenstrom allows us to exist, our little splinter groups, because we amuse him. We follow roughly the same rules that he sets down for his people, and we don’t bring undue attention to ourselves. That is what keeps us active.”
“You have never followed Ravenstrom’s precepts, and you have insulted and ignored his people, first and foremost Kelegar. You have repeatedly brought attention to all of us, and thereby put us all in danger. The attempted acquisition of that holy ‘relic’,” sneered a younger vampire, leaning against the far wall, “did nothing but piss the old fart off. Kelegar contacted all of us very shortly afterwards. You are persona non grata, with all of us. It was made very clear, if we associate with you, help you in any way…”
“We go down with you when he and his come after you.”
“None of us are suicidal, Asche. You’re on your own.” Their voices echoed in the stillness as they left him to the whims of fate.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The bird called out to him, from far away.
In front of David, Leah sat, still with her hands out before her. She seemed to be crying, and the moonlight gave her tears an eerie luminosity and they trailed down her cheeks.
Every fiber of his being wanted to stay here, with her, and lose himself once again in her eyes, her hair, her voice. To try to make things like they were before, before he was reconstituted as this thing. A fools dream, he knew, but right here, right now, it did not matter. Leah was alive.
Alive.
This fact alone enabled him to resist the crow’s siren song of blood and vengeance, if only for a few, brief, agonizing moments filled with ‘what could have beens’. He no longer had any place with her, no right to hold on to her, a living, breathing reminder of his previous life, and he knew it, even if he didn’t want to face it. Staying here would simply prolong the agony for both of them. There was no point in that - and besides, he could never be that cruel.
The bird called again, shrill and insistent and he turned away from her.
“I’m not alive, not really, and just barely better than the creatures I’m hunting. I have to finish this, I have no choice, and then…I don’t know what happens. I can rest, I suppose, and you can go on with your life.”
He turned to leave, opening the door. “Just remember that I loved you.”
David was gone before Leah could voice an objection. She wiped her face as she stared out the broken window after him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
David ripped the boards from the entrance of the warehouse, and entered cautiously, sword drawn. His eyes took mere moments to adjust to the darkness, and as they did so, he caught movement to his side. The sword swung out and connected to a hand, which grasped it and held it still.
“You have no quarrel with us, revenant.” The Nosferatu spoke quietly. “Asche is gone; he has no support from us or ours. Continue your hunt unhindered.”
The vampire released his grip on the sword-blade, and it came away unsullied. The collected vampires wafted past him like mist into the night, as he watched in surprise.~ Dammit, catch up already…! He’s on his way to Leo’s! ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As the door creaked open the smell of blood was overwhelming. Zan stepped into the littered room, revolver drawn. "Jay," he called softly, jerking his head to the side, calling her in behind him. She stepped beside him sweeping her eyes across the darkened room.
"Clear..." She pointed to a spot in the distance. "That way.”
"Mike, cover the rear." Zan said creeping forward. Ciela swallowed hard remembering the caves of Orizaba; she steeled herself for the carnage that the scent in the air summoned forth.
"Zan." Jayna whispered. "There." She pointed to a young woman curled up sitting on the floor. "She's one of them."
"He's not here." She said softly, too soft for human ears.
"How long has he been gone?" Ciela asked. Zan turned to look at his teammate, she glowed softly, as though she were bathed in starlight.
"I don't know. I... can't say." Leah mumbled.
"We need to find him, before he gets himself... um."
"Killed? That's funny." Leah wiped her face hard, like a child who was too tough to cry.
"You can hear her?" Jayna asked.
"Yea. Can't you?"
"No." All three answered. Leah stood a little too swiftly for Zan or Mike's comfort.
"There's nothing you can do. We're all trapped. Like pawns in some twisted game. Like badly written fanfic characters on the internet." Leah wrapped the stained and torn curtain around herself and walked across the broken glass onto the patio.
"David, he's our... Well, he's my friend. I want to help him." Ciela followed. Zan reached to stop her but Jayna stopped him.
"We can't help her. She's too far gone, maybe Az can do something." Jayna softly whispered. Mike stepped back into the room. He had walked through the vampire's lair and didn't want to be here when the authorities arrived. "Az is out there." Jay told him.
A few minutes later Az returned. "There's nothing we can do here. David will not stop until he finishes Asche."
"What can we do?" Mike asked reaching for her.
"We can go to Ravenstrom’s; his people should be tracking David." Zan said heading for the door.
"Great," Mike replied, "we trade one threat for a greater one."